Climbing and snake along the Ourthe

The route starts from the gravel car park at Poulseur station in the Ourthe valley and follows a clockwise direction. Another starting point could be the village of Comblain-au-Pont (note: there is a market on Thursday) and the northern loop on the Côte de Mont/Sart/Poulseur could then be cancelled, bringing the route to 96 km). Or the southern loop Durbuy - Durbuy lets you down and the route ends at 76 km (starting from Poulseur). The route crosses the regions of Condroz, Famenne (a limestone border) and along the river Ourthe.

The route starts in the Ourthe valley and you first cycle along the Ourthe, partly on a concrete cycle path directly along the river. In Comblain-au-Pont, the concrete slabs are in a slightly worse condition than elsewhere. Near Comblain-la-Tour, you leave the Ourthe and climb via the regular and not steep coast of Xhoris to the village of Xhoris and a little higher to the beautiful region around the hamlet of Godinn.

You go down to Filot (leaving Filot the road is a bit bad) and then you go to Vieuxville by a fast descent and in the descent you have to take a secondary road! You now enter the valley of the river Lambrée which flows into the Ourthe at Domaine Palogne. Here you cross the Ourthe by a bridge that you can only go up and down with a staircase. Then you follow the concrete bike path heading north and pass two beautiful rock formations. Just beyond these rock formations, some concrete slabs are in poor condition.

You now move away from the Ourthe valley via the Côte de Verlaine-sur-Ourthe and at the top of this hill (also called stem) you have the typical views of the Condroz: vast agricultural landscape interspersed with bushes. Via the village of Herbet, you descend to the Ourthe near Bomal and follow the excellent concrete and asphalt cycle path (interrupted by a piece of main road near Barvaux). You pass another rock (Rocher du Glawan) and towards Durbuy you leave the Ourthe because further on the cycle path becomes unpaved. The climb out of the valley is steep (up to 16%) and the road is not so good but easy to do in the direction of climbing.

You go towards Durbuy and have a beautiful view of this very picturesque and touristic village. But you don't go down. If you want to shorten the route, get off at Durbuy and you will resume the route very quickly (36 kilometers will then expire). The route continues through a forest area of about 280 meters above sea level. Google streetview images in April 2023 of this road are still dated from the year 2009 showing that this road is in a deplorable state. However, on the Internet, I found that the road was resurfaced in 2011 and this is also true: even in April 2023, this road is still in good condition (I can say after pedaling this road on April 27, 2023).

Via good roads through beautiful rural areas around Biron and Ny, you cycle to the Ourthe valley at Hotton. To avoid some main roads, take here a good secondary road that crosses a stream just before the end in Melreux: well the stream (Rau de Naive) flows on the road here, a ford (in French: gué ). There is a narrow iron bridge that you can take with caution so as not to get the wheels wet.

Near Monville, you pedal again along the Ourthe which flows through a wide valley. In Deulin, you unfortunately have to travel a kilometre on the busy N929. But it is only short and you leave for good quiet roads partly along the Ourthe. Some roads have recently been resurfaced here. You go up via Petite Enneille and after a short descent you climb further to the Petite Somme in the Condroz region, where there is a castle. At the castle, you turn left and a wall looms in front of you: Côte de Petite Somme which rises here on 800 meters of 12%. If you want to go around this wall (and miss the beautiful view at the top), continue straight to the castle (the route will be a little shorter by about a kilometer).

You descend to the Ourthe via the Champ des Hêtres, a quiet road along a beautiful forest and meadow. And then you are quickly in the touristy and picturesque Durbuy. Here there are plenty of opportunities for food and drink. There can be a lot of people here. After passing Durbuy you move away from the Ourthe valley towards Tohogne and Hermanne, after which you arrive by a beautiful descent into the Neblon valley. The main road to the Neblon valley is quiet and takes you back to the Ourthe valley near Hamoir. Instead of following the cycle path along the Ourthe, you follow a quiet inland road just above the Ourthe which ends a little further on the cycle path and via the cycle bridge at Fairon you cross the Ourthe. You arrive now (50 meters) on a dirt road and on a bad road in Fairon about 200 meters. This is followed by another steep climb, Au Delà de Mont, which also has slopes of 12-14% over a distance of 500 meters. The descent has a hundred meters of bad road and then takes you in front of a nature reserve in an old sand excavation. You go up a little more and then the real descent follows on a road in good condition (and entering Comblain-au-Pont, you have to be careful: threshold and gutter on which you pedal).

From Comblain-au-Pont follows the ascent of the beautiful Côte de Mont. The descent takes you almost to Poulseur (in the wooded part of the descent the road is in less good condition), but the route takes a small climb to the hamlet of Sart before descending to Poulseur.