Rolling Condroz

Meet at Leignon station (V), district of Ciney. There is ample parking and you can easily get there by public transport. Ciney is on a direct line from Brussels-South and Ciney, you have a dozen train connections to Leignon during the day. Walk to the right and along the main road on the railway. Ignore the Route des Marches and continue 50 m to the right, on the stream of Fayau and soon climb towards the center of the village. At the T-junction, turn left towards the church. The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin dates from 1845. From the cemetery you have a beautiful view of the castle of Leignon 1. The castle was built between 1895 and 1900 according to the schedule: 365 windows (365 days), 4 towers (4 seasons), 52 rooms (52 weeks) and 12 stairs (12 months). The associated riding school is now used for the youth holidays of the organization Top Vakanties asbl. A few hundred meters away is the Ferme du Château 2, an imposing fortified farm in the grey limestone typical of Condroz. Walk higher and at the fork diagonally to the left (the left road is private). The forests on the left and right are unfortunately not accessible, but the panorama will soon become open and wide. After about a kilometre, walk right on a wide field road (sign GR577 Tour de Famenne). The road goes up and turns right. The view is for miles. At the top of the intersection, turn left onto the asphalt. In the young plantations on the left, you can see a beautiful sample of native trees and shrubs with, among others, ash, pedunculate oak, willow, red dogwood and wild pink. Walk right at the T-junction. After 500 m you are at the Ferme d'Auwez 3, another fine example of the local farmhouse style. Leave the paved road here and walk straight on a wide field road. The stream below is the Lincia stream. The typical hilly landscape is beautiful. The creation of the Condroz landscape is quite peculiar: it concerns sedimentary layers of sandstone and limestone (from ancient seas) that lie side by side rather than on top of each other due to intense pressure from the south. They now form the parallel valleys and hills that all stretch from northeast to southwest. The Condroz forms a buffer zone between the Ardennes and the rest of Belgium. Cross the main road and continue straight. Half a kilometre further, you are at the Ferme du Pays de Liège 4. Here again, leave the paved road and continue straight on a wide field road. This road takes you under the railway and goes up into the Bois des Six Fréres. After 250 m, leave the forest on the right (green mountain bike sign). If possible, the views become even wider. After 500 m, walk straight along a hawthorn hedge and turn right onto the main road. There is enough space on the side of the road. After about a kilometre, walk right onto Rue du Pont. It takes you under the railway and towards the church and the centre of Chapois. The beautiful imposing church of Chapois 5 would have been originally a Protestant building. Keep walking down Rue de l'Eglise. At the bottom of the fork, continue straight ahead and then into Rue des Campagnes. First, and after about a kilometer left along the Via a fence out of the forest and right on the concrete road, return to the first entrance of the Heidebos and a little more left on the forest path earlier. A few hundred meters on the well-known road, but on the T (right at the floristry) you walk straight. Cross the old railway to the narrow path, which becomes a wider agricultural road, back to civilization. You come from the Puttestraat on the Kalve district (with Wachtebeke agglomeration sign). Just left on the sidewalk, then through the busier Kalve, to Kalvebrug Street. A few hundred meters away is the Kalvebrug 3 itself: a protected monument. Above the Moervaart you pass the Kano & Kajak Center - at bike exit 83 - turn right onto the concrete towpath (with some benches) along the water. The Moervaart - only recreational - takes you effortlessly back to Wachtebeke. For hikers, cyclists and canoeists, it is a few kilometers away to enjoy the picturesque shores with pollard and weeping willows, along the marshy nature reserve De Reepkens with its coves, left in the distance Puyenbroeck and an information panel about a cycling excursion in nature. With the Ghent canal area in the distance, you reach the Overledebrug, with a bench and a picnic table. On the bridge you can go directly to the church. But for a good detour, turn left at the café Het Loze Vissertje and follow the dead end Meersstraat after the marina and the rest home. Where the Langelede flows into the Moervaart, turn right with the water, pass a pumping station to a wider road. Cross and follow the bank on the road. From here you have a beautiful view of the village of Leignon with the church and the castle. You will soon walk next to the railway tracks. Turn left onto the railway tracks and left again until you reach the Leinon train station car park.