La Vecquee - Stoumont

The Vecquée is an originally Gallo-Roman road in the Ardennes southeast of Liège that runs from Bronromme (north of Stoumont) via Berinzenne over the Col du Rosier and via Malchamps to Hockai , where the road joins the Via Mansuerisca at the Barque Michel.

The road crosses a plateau at an altitude of about 500 m. The vegetation is comparable to the High Fens. During the ancien régime, the Vecquée formed the border between Liège, Limburg, Luxembourg, Stavelot-Malmedy and Gulik. Between 1815 and 1920, part of the Vecquée formed the border between the United Netherlands (later Belgium) and Prussia.

The name Vecquée comes from the French word évêque meaning bishop, which refers to the prince-bishops of Liège who used this road to reach the abbeys of Stavelot and Malmedy.

Willem Vandenameele