The Seven Mazes of Deep City

A 'Condroz' walk in a rocky part of the Meuse Valley with challenging climbs, beautiful sights, and enough elevation gains rewarded with viewpoints such as the Belvederes of Siberia, Couleuvrinne, and the wonderfully beautiful Sept Meuses.

Lustin and the Meuse Island of Champinoit: 0km - 2km

Again to one of my favorite Belgian regions - the Condroz... A steeper geographical area in Belgium, where we this time try to explore this relief-rich region along the Meuse from Lustin. Lustin, a village located in the province of Namur and the home of French-speaking actor Benoît Poelvoorde - known from films such as: 'Rien à déclarer', 'Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques' and 'C'est arrivé près de chez vous'. It is also the only district of Profondeville on the right bank of 'La Meuse'. Since Lustin has a station, you can easily get there by train from Brussels-South, Namur, or Dinant.

We leave this Meuse municipality via Pont de Lustin, to take the left bank of the Meuse towards Profondeville. This car-free R2/R6/EV19 or Ravel between Dinant and Namur, is part of the unique 'Philosophical Path' along this stately river. Further on, we see the naturally formed island of Champinoit - a Meuse island of 1.7ha where a beach resort was located between 1945 and 1954.

 

 

Profondeville, the deep town by the Meuse: 2km - 4km

Arriving in Profondeville - which can be translated as Deep Town - we reach the height of Rochers de Frênes. A beautiful rock formation across the Meuse, where we take the alley towards the village center and the Saint-Rémy church.

This Meuse village is also home to the musician André Brasseur, French footballer Eliaquim Mangala of Standard, FC Porto, Manchester City, as well as the French national team and the Nobel Prize winner in physics, Baron François Englert. Through a tunnel under the N92 - Ch. de Namur and Rue de L'Oseraie, we arrive at the entrance to the arboretum of Profondeville.

 

 

From the Arboretum of Profondeville to Siberia: 4km - 7km

This arboretum has been located since 2013 in the forest of Petite Hulle as compensation for a drastic deforestation that caused quite a stir in this 'deep town' - Profondeville. We take several paths through this arboretum until we finally reach the sports complex - la Hulle.

We take Avenue Roquebrune Cap Martin to the height of the chapel 'Notre Dame Du Mont Carmel' - a chapel named after the Virgin Mary and Mount Carmel / Al-Karem from the Holy Land - to take a narrow path towards the steep flank out of this valley.

This nice, but steep path takes us further out of the valley of this "deep town" by the Meuse, to the viewpoint 'Belvédère de Sibérie'. A climb that requires some effort to reach this top or 'point de vue'...

Unfortunately, today's low-hanging cloud cover puts a damper on things. After catching our breath and being unable to admire anything due to these hanging clouds, you would have a distant view over the Meuse Valley and the quarry of Lustin. Since a private area prevents us from taking a few nice connecting pieces, we are forced to descend again along this same steep part GR 126 Membre-sur-Semois / Brussegem and GR125 'Tour de l'Entre Sambre et Meuse'.

With low-hanging clouds or dense fog, it is advisable to weigh whether to embark on this extra climb to 'Belvédère de Sibérie'.

 

 

Via Belvédère Couleuvrinne to Rivière: 7km - 11km

We continue along this nice path or GR125 / GR126 until we reach some natural springs. The wooded steep slope gives way to flatter pastures that bring us to Belvédère De La Couleuvrine - a viewpoint that owes its name to a medieval cannon - field snake, culverin, or clover. In the meantime, we have more luck with the largely dissipated cloud cover hanging over the Meuse Valley, creating a beautiful scene.

A short snack break while enjoying this beautiful Meuse Valley takes us further to Tiennes de Burnot - a peak of 165m, where we start descending into the valley of Burnot. This valley at the height of the 'Formation of Burnot' - a rock layer from the Early Devonian primarily consisting of thick layers of red congomerate and coarse sandstone - brings us to the village Rivière (River). A subsequent district of Profondeville on our path located in this picturesque valley of Burnot. Le Burnot, a tributary of the Meuse that we cross at its mouth at Ecluse de Rivière - 'Lock of Rivière'.

Here you can choose to shorten this walk to 10km and cross the Meuse via Ecluse de Rivière, heading back to Lustin

 

 

Nature reserve Vallée du Burnot: 11km - 14km

We continue walking through a park towards the Sainte-Trinité church and the village center of Rivière. In this village center, you can find some shops, such as a bakery selling sandwiches and a few cafés. A path next to the local school and the cemetery of Rivière leads us near the banks of Le Burnot. We follow this stream with an old water mill further upstream, to walk through the 'Collège de Burnot' - a school that stands on the site of an old priory and later functioned as an institute for priests of the Sacred Heart. Behind this large college, we arrive at the entrance of an old quarry with some abandoned buildings that has since been transformed into the Natura 2000 area - Vallée du Burnot. We leave the river 'Le Burnot' via this wooded mass on steep slopes where you might spot a black woodpecker or hear it in the background. This nature reserve between Rivière (River) and Arbre (Tree) offers us a beautiful view of the burnot valley in autumn mode. Not only a beautiful place to take a short break, but especially a green and unpaved connection to the next viewpoint on our path - Point de Vue Des Sept Meuses.

 

 

Les Sept Meuses and the paragliders: 14km - 17km

Arriving at the top, we first walk to the departure point of paragliders, before heading to the viewpoint of Les 7 Meuses. Here you can not only enjoy a unique view over the Meuse Valley towards Dinant but also the take-offs of paragliders diving into the depths.

A narrow path takes us right next to the restaurant 'Les 7 Meuses', where you can find the publicly accessible 'Point de Vue Des Sept Meuses' on the other side of this restaurant. Practically the same view as at the departure point for paragliders, but with much fewer people. Although it is unfortunate that these benches and picnic tables are almost located next to the restaurant terrace. Much is made up for by the beautiful view you get over the winding Meuse in this steeper valley, dotted with dozens of paragliders in the sky.

 

 

Annevoie-Rouillon and the castle with water gardens: 17km - 19km

After admiring this spectacle long enough, we take a wider forest path further, then choose a narrow path to start the descent until we reach a white statue of Christ.

Some houses on the edge of this forest mean we're coming close to the next village on our path - Annevoie-Rouillon. This district of Anhée is known to some for its 18th-century castle and especially the associated gardens of Annevoie. This castle domain of the 'de Montpellier' family features unique water gardens in French style, adorned with both English and Italian park elements.

All these fountains, waterfalls, and crystal-clear park ponds are naturally fed by 'Le Rouillon' or 'Ruisseau D'Annevoie' - a stream formed by higher positioned springs, which eventually flows into the Meuse through this castle park. You can visit this domain during one of the various events held here or in the summer period upon paying an entrance fee. A gîte in the old smith's mill of this domain offers the chance to spend the night at this special location by the Meuse.

Via Rue de Marly we reach Rue des Jardins d'Annevoie or N932. It seems like an event is taking place in the castle domain of Annevoie since there is a huge traffic jam. Further along on the N932, we take a staircase to Chemin des Forges, to arrive back at the banks of the Meuse. A small car-free stretch of Ravel takes us via a tap and Pont de Rouillon - a renovated bridge from 1907 - into Godinne.

 

 

Godinne - Lustin along the Meuse: 19km - 22km

Godinne, a municipality that is part of Yvoir and owes its name to Goudines, which means 'land of Goldo or Goldius'. This beautiful piece of 'Land of Godinne' features a castle or the Priory of Godinne, the Saint-Peter's Church and the old castle farm "La Vieille Ferme", located right by the banks of the Meuse. Unfortunately, we arrive a bit late on this shorter autumn day, and it has become almost completely dark to take some nice pictures.

As we continue downstream along the banks, we see the Belgian island group 'Îles de Godinne' lying there. These three Meuse islands together form a nature reserve of approximately 3 ha. La Grande Île - the Big Island, La Petite Île - the Small Island, and an even smaller island between La Petite Île and the right bank of the Meuse, mainly consist of Alder forest with rather rare plants such as the highly toxic yellow monkshood and the wild pennywort.

At the height of this first large island, you can choose to walk towards the station of Godinne and take the train to Lustin, making the hike approximately 20.5km. Alternatively, you can choose to continue the hike along the car-free Meuse Trail next to the Namur - Dinant railway line.

Returning step by step to the beginning, in Lustin! And with a beautiful 22 hiking kilometers richer...