Beautiful Belgian Walk: 150KM from Andenne to Andenne

Our Wallonia is bursting with various talents. Often unknown, they nonetheless form a cultural heritage that is just waiting to be (re)discovered. This April, we will be focusing on Olivier Degée. Does this name mean anything to you? Perhaps the name Jean Tousseul will sound more familiar...

The town of Andenne will be our starting point. The town of bears is welcoming. Charles Martel is said to have killed a bear here in the 8th century when he was only 9 years old, one that terrorized the town. Since then, the animal has remained the emblem of the town. An exhibition at the ceramics museum humorously dedicates itself to the bear of Andenne. Don’t hesitate: it ends on April 19! To make things easier, the walk begins at the Linden square in front of the town hall (note that Fridays are market days and access to the square is blocked). We leave Andenne heading south. We pleasantly ascend the slope to reach a gently undulating plateau. Condroz, we have arrived!

The Delicacies of Goyet

Strud can be happily admired. The church, perched on a rocky spur, overlooks the entire village. The closely packed sandstone or limestone houses (the famous local stone with a bluish sheen) mostly date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. A few kilometers down, we reach Goyet. This hamlet in the village of Mozet is known for its caves. Carved out by the Struviaux, an underground tributary of the Samson, these caves form a significant prehistoric site in Wallonia. Goyet is also known for its castle. Unfortunately, it cannot be visited. When we reach the Chaussée de Gramptinne, the famous valley of the Samson, we stop to fill our backpacks. The Fromagerie du Samson offers true delights. To share with loved ones and friends upon return, if one can resist these flavors. Be careful, the bags will smell of cheese when you get home! A few hundred meters after crossing the Samson, we ascend back up to Mozet on the left bank.

Everything but the highway!

The place well deserves its spot among the “Most Beautiful Villages of Wallonia.” One cannot resist the temptation to stop at the Marchand farm, which dates back to the 17th century. The hedges are neatly trimmed with shears, and the place is a beautiful example of preserving a wonderful heritage. The road winds gently, leading us to Wierde (pronounced Vièrde, not Wiirde, as is often heard too much. This is not Flanders, my goodness!). We cross the E411; motorcycles truly have little charm on these long fast roads. We prefer to glide gently towards Andoy. Fort Andoy was part of the defense of Namur during both world wars. The Meuse valley awaits us: we meet it again via a detour over the grand Chaussée de Liège. We quickly leave it to ascend towards Loyers. For a few hundred meters, one could almost believe they were in the mountains; the climb is so steep! Since 1977, the Miaou festival has been held in Loyers, celebrated on... August 15. On this occasion, the Miaou is enjoyed, an original drink made from fruit juice and gin. Soon after, we reach the village of all Triumph lovers: Bonneville. Seriously, the place houses a castle from the 15th century. Since 1690, the estate has remained in the same family from generation to generation. We pass in the shadow of the pretty little church. At the edge of the village, the view over the Mosan settlement area is impressive. In the distance, Andenne and its bridge can be glimpsed. Some large inland ships regularly create waves on the water's surface. From our vantage point, these freighters, as they are called, look like models, and the entire landscape could be a sprawling slideshow! We reach the right bank of the river. The N90 is tempting, and the right wrist itches. But beware, aside from the regularly present radar points with their costly photographs, this place is "prone to accidents." The bridge of Namêche allows us to reach the left bank.

Karière and Saint-Materne

We take a little tour of the village. The view of the quarries leads us directly to Jean Tousseul. Namêche boasts a long tradition in the extraction of limestone and dolomite. The municipality has many limestone worker houses dating back to the 19th century. Take a look at them as you pass by. While today’s church dates from 1858, the founding of the first one is attributed to Saint-Materne, but has nothing to do with the jams of Edouard Materne from Wépion in 1890. Saint-Materne was the bishop of Treves and also founded the churches in Walcourt, Dinant, Hastière, and Ciney. We follow the course of the Meuse. Just before the command bunker, the road elevates towards Marche-les-Dames. Our stomachs cry out for food. We deviate from the route for a moment to reach Live-Sur-Meuse on the right bank and grab a bite to eat. The Best Western hotel-restaurant offers the option for a quick, but tasty meal, allowing us to get back on the road in no time. We pass close to the famous camp and its "parade ground" under the huge blocks housing the "Tarzan courses," Via Ferrata, and other monkey bridges, where soldiers train. After a few bends, we are already in Vezin. The village hangs on the cliffs of Sclaigneaux, known to numerous climbers who defy the 35-meter high vertical minerals. Vezin is at the heart of a long history of oligist extraction in the 19th century. All this brings us closer to Jean Tousseul, who was also a quarry worker.

The Birth of a Writer

Landenne will be our next stop. Here, Olivier Degée was born in 1890. After his death in Seilles in 1944 and at his wish, he was buried at the foot of the church. In the village square, there is a monument honoring the worker-writer-self-taught. In Seilles, we arrive at the banks of the Meuse. The river has an astonishing allure. Every weekend, motorcyclists ride in large groups through the region. The road has little charm, except for the name of the village Java, which allows us to escape the impression of a succession of cement blocks housing the companies of the region. In Bas-Oha, we take one last loop on the left bank towards Moha and its limestone quarries before crossing the bridge of Wanze. The structure is worth a detour. Built in the 1980s, its roadway is hollowed out to ease the structure. Forty tension cables connect the roadway with the central pillar, which is 93 meters high. The Pont Père Pire is named after Dominique Pire, a Dominican who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958 for his work on behalf of refugees after World War II and who also initiated the famous "Peace Islands."

We find pretty landscapes and pleasantly undulating fields on the right bank. The municipality of Marchin, which lies by the Hoyoux, has several castles. We follow the meanders of the Hoyoux to get to Grand-Marchin. Take a look at the church and its leaning tower. Over the centuries, this tower has twisted of its own accord due to the wind and the work of the wood! Struck by lightning, it was intentionally rebuilt crooked in 2005. We have a few pleasant kilometers left to reach Andenne. We enter it by discovering the collegiate church of Sainte-Begge, named after the great-grandmother of Charlemagne, who founded a monastery in Andenne around 692. The condition of the collegiate church leaves much to be desired. We conclude this walk where we began it: at the Linden square, where we raise a traditional glass of friendship. The return is eased by the nearby E42 for the hurried ones or, with joy, by following the Meuse and its majestic meanders for those who wish to enjoy. Safe travels and be cautious, always!

Gourmet Stop

- Andenne: L’Inédit is a tavern whose terrace is very pleasant on nice days. L’Inédit, Linden square, 52 in 5300 Andenne. Tel.: 085/84.21.76.

- Fromagerie du Samson: the place is both a cheese factory and a dairy. The cheese factory produces about twenty varieties of raw milk cheese (from cow, goat, and sheep). The adjacent dairy sells these along with other Belgian, French, Italian, or Spanish cheeses. The charcuterie is highly recommended. The Fromagerie du Samson, Chaussée de Gramptinne, 37 in 5340 Gesves. Tel.: 081/58.36.66, www.fromageriedusamson.com.

- Hotel-Restaurant Best Western in Lives-sur-Meuse: offers simple but tasty cuisine. A tartare, a burger, and a daily dish pleased our palates, all served quickly and at reasonable prices, with the Meuse view as a bonus. Best Western New Hotel in Lives, Chaussée de Liège, 1178 in 5101 Namur. Tel.: 081/58.05.13.

Jean Tousseul, a writer who should be rediscovered

Jean Tousseul – Olivier Degée in civil status – was born on December 7, 1890, into a working family in Landenne-sur-Meuse, a small locality near Andenne, which should not be confused with Landen (Flemish Brabant). Five years after his birth, his family moved to Seilles, the “gray village,” which bears the title of the first of five volumes of the river novel of the writer “Jean Clarambaux,” a partially autobiographical work. Of weak health, young Olivier, who dreamed of becoming a teacher, had to abandon his studies at the age of 14. Consequently, he taught himself botany, anthropology, geology, astronomy, and sociology. He discovered Greek and Latin authors. He read Rousseau, Tolstoy, and Romain Rolland. To earn a living, he held various jobs: laboratory worker, quarry worker in Seilles, guard, paymaster, accountant… His literary career began very modestly: he wrote reports about bike races for a local paper. He also penned some pacifist articles when the war broke out, which landed him a stay in prison (in Saint Léonard in Liège, then in Forest). Ultimately, he was acquitted in 1919.

With his wife Magdeleine and his daughter Yvette, born in 1913, he moved to Liège. There, he worked as a journalist and union activist. In 1920, he left his wife and moved in with his new partner, Mathilde, whom he would marry in 1928, in the Brussels region. The couple then lived in Machelen, where Jean Tousseul wrote most of his works. He worked during the day, among other things as a worker in a nursery – and wrote the rest of the time as if stung by a tarantula. So describes it in his beautiful introduction to “Cell 158” the Liège writer René Henoumont, whom we hold in high esteem (he is always mentioned when one of our BBB passes near Hamoir, in this valley of the Ourthe that he loved so much...) and who discovered Tousseul in his youth: “Illegally forgotten after his death in January 1944, when he was the most read and most translated Walloon writer of his time, it can be said that he remained steadfastly loyal to his Mosan land, beyond his deviations and political engagements. As a working-class writer, he stands far above the narrow regionalism in which some wanted to confine him. The best Tousseul is at the heights of Meuse, in the land of Landenne, which is no longer Hesbaye and not yet Condroz.” Nevertheless, Jean Tousseul remains a soul plagued by doubts and pessimism. He is a person torn apart, whose pen still speaks to us today. Similar to Maupassant, he illustrates the power words can possess, even and especially when they are simple and modest, to depict the lives and feelings of the common people from our homeland.