Apply lotion to your calves for a beautiful bike ride in the province of Liège. Quiet roads and some steep climbs take you past eight castles and impressive square farms. In the gently hilly landscape, you regularly discover magnificent views.

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Text and photos by Stan Verelst
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The Route
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Meet at the Place de l’Eglise in Villers-le-Bouillet. Depart with the church on your left. Turn left into Rue Fays. Ignore Rue du Ruisseau on your right and continue straight at the fork until the next T-junction, turning left, then right and immediately left again. At the end, turn left onto Rue de la Sablière until N684. Turn right towards Fize-Fontaine. At the T-junction, turn left. When you arrive in Fize-Fontaine, take the first street on the right and turn left at the next fork.

Continue through Rue Bas Pierremont and ignore Rue Eau Morte on your right. At the fork, turn right and continue uphill until the T-junction. Pass by the village sign of Bodegnée through Rue Gerbehaye on the right. Ignore the left way to Verlaine Centre and turn left into Rue Massy at Ferme de Gerbehaye (16th century). You pass the village sign of Bodegnée and continue ascending until the fork. Left until the church of Bodegnée with a Lourdes Grotto. In front of you is an enclosed courtyard.

Enchanted Castle
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Turn right into Rue Bois Léon, with a steep climb through the woods and then continue until the T-junction. Go left until the fork. Turn right. You wind between some houses and enter the open landscape. At the end of the village sign of Bodegnée, Tilleul del Motte, and the village sign of Jehay, continue to the intersection with Rue El Motte. Go straight and at the next fork, turn left into Rue Petit Rivage. Ignore the side streets and ride past the Brasserie Le Tambour and a fountain honoring electrical engineer Zénobe Gramme, who was born in Jehay.

At the T-junction left at the fairytale castle of Jehay (1). You can see little of it, as it has been covered with large sails. Work will continue for a while. Turn right with the road and ignore the left path leading to the castle grounds. Continue straight ahead to N614. Go straight towards Stockay. On your right is Ferme de Mâle Gueule (18th century).

Cross straight over a small intersection and continue until a fork with a one-way street on the left. Turn right into Rue Arnold Lecrenier. At the mini roundabout, turn left into Rue Reine Astrid, towards Engis. Ignore the side streets and ride past a small square. When the road bends to the right, cross over Boulevard des Combattants. This continues into a beautiful avenue with Ferme de Warfusée on the right until the intersection before Warfusée Castle (2).

Church of Verlaine
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Left towards Verlaine. Then ignore the path to Verlaine and follow the wall of the castle grounds until you can turn left towards Awirs. You pass the castle of Oulhaye (3). After the castle grounds, turn left into Rue des Dix Bonniers. Before the first house, turn left into Rue du Potay.

You travel through a sunken path, cross a stream and climb to the fork with a dead-end on the left. Right. Follow Rue du Potay until the end. Left and then at the next junction left again towards E42. Then turn right into Rue Albert Ier and ride past the church of Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse until the intersection at N614. Go straight towards Verlaine. Cross E42 and then turn left at the first street. This is Vinâve des Stréats.

Cross the small intersection with Voie du Bosquet straight ahead and continue until the end of Vinâve des Stréats. Left and then immediately after, right towards the center. At the fork with a chapel with a cross on the right, ignore the Rue du Lavu on your right and go straight ahead to the mini roundabout at the intersection at the church of Verlaine. Go straight towards Waremme. After a short climb, turn right into Rue Buisson la Fleur, towards Waremme.

Small Model Airfield
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Ignore the Clos des Saules on your right and go straight at the fork. You come onto a wide road and follow it to the left. Ignore the Voie des Maquets on your left and continue straight ahead over Grand Route. Ignore the path to Oudoumont/Haneffe on the right, at the corner the Tombe de Verlaine, a tumulus from Roman times. Continue straight ahead until you can turn the first street to the left just before a square farm. You pass the end of the village sign of Verlaine and turn right at the first street before an orchard. At the T-junction, turn right.

You pass a small model airfield, ignore a side street on the right and continue straight to the T-junction. Turn right. Just after the village sign of Chapon-Seraing, turn left into Rue Lambotte. Ignore Rue du Trîche Madeleine twice on the right and wind your way until you reach the church of Chapon-Seraing. On the left is a one-way street, so you have to go around the church.

Continue straight along the village school and at the T-junction before the square farm, turn left and after the church, turn left again. At the T-junction turn right and at the next T-junction turn right again, towards Vaux-et-Borset. At the next fork, turn left and immediately after that right through Rue Fize-Fontaine until N65. Go straight towards Vaux-et-Borset.

Castle of Vieux-Waleffe
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You pass the village sign of Borset and go straight at the small intersection towards Vaux. At the next fork, turn right, along the village sign of Borset and through the space between the castle (4) and the castle farm of Borset. Ignore the Rue de Borlez on your right and turn left with the road. You cross the Chemin des Parapluies, passing the village sign and cemetery of Vaux.

At the fork with a brick chapel to the right, go through Rue du Monument, past the football field of Vaux-Borset. At the end of the road turn right through Rue Hubert Hanot. Then left onto place M. Grandgagnage and just before the church of Vaux turn right into Rue de Vieux-Waleffe. Ignore the road next to the church and climb through a sunken path to a fork with Rue Lambert Delava diagonally to the left.

Continue straight ahead, along the end of the village sign of Vaux. Then dive into a hollow path. When you come out, you pass the village sign of Vieux-Waleffe and come to an intersection. Ignore a street to the left and at the T-junction turn left immediately after, towards Hannut. At the small intersection with a square farm with a portal tower of three floors to the left and the church ahead, turn right into Rue Bon Secours. You pass the castle of Vieux-Waleffe (5) and then ascend through a sunken path until you reach the fork with the chapel of Beau-Secours (18th century). Left until N64. Left and then immediately after, right.

Lost Station of Fallais
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You pass a chapel under linden trees and the village sign of Fallais. At the first small intersection on the right, towards Latinne. Just before the village sign of Latinne, turn left into Rue du Chardon for local traffic. Disembark and take the descending street straight ahead at the fork with a one-way street on the left.

You pass the old water windmill and the church of Fallais, ignore the street next to the church on the left and cross the small intersection with the column of Saint-Rochus straight ahead. At the next fork, turn right into Rue de l’Eglise. Ignore a street on the left and turn into Rue Hubert Krains at the next small intersection on the right. Cross the Ruisseau des Etangs and go until the old railway bed of line 127. The station of Fallais was here. The last freight train ran through here in 1982.

Left over the old railway bed. You drive between two rows of trees and cross a paved road straight ahead. At the next crossroad, turn right. Ignore a street on the right and turn left at the next fork, towards Fumal. You pass the village sign of Fumal and ignore a road to the right near a chapel. To the left, there is access to the castle of Fumal. At the next small intersection, turn left into Rue de la Vieille Cense. You pass the church and the castle of Fumal (6) and go between two posts. Cross the old railway bed straight ahead and enter the road for local traffic.

You cross the Mehaigne and ignore a road on the right after a climb and continue until you reach the bend of another road. Straight along the end of the village sign of Fumal until N64. Cross this and go straight towards Warnant-Dreye. Ignore all side roads and ride past the castle and the castle farm d’Oultremont (7) to the small intersection. Turn right into Rue Feron. Follow this until the roundabout. Turn left and then right into Rue de Fize, towards Villers-le-Bouillet. Ignore a path to the left and right and turn right at the next intersection into Rue de la Prale. Go under the E42 and then straight to the priority road. Left and at the next intersection right back to the starting point.