Braine-le Comte – Ronquières: forest, a slope and … surrealism

This day walk starts at the station square (Place Branquart) near the historic and protected station of ‘s Gravenbrakel and walks past the railway viaduct to a roundabout where we pick up the white-red (GR 121) trail. A bit further, it connects to the GR 12 which leads us into the Drève du Chasseur Le Bois de Houssière. We follow the white-red trail for about 3.5 km in a northeast direction along a beautiful (straight) forest path that coincides with the local Sentier de la Voie du Tram and then the Sentier de Virginal. When the sign Sentier du Charly-des-Bois appears, we leave the GR 12 which continues north out of the forest. We cross into the northern side of the forest on a narrow path heading southeast. Anyone thinking this is a flat walk is in for a surprise. Two marshy stream valleys put our calf muscles to the test. Eventually, we leave this vast forest along the eastern edge and descend via the paved Chemin Charly des Bois towards Rue Pied d’Eau in Ronquières, a district of Briane-le-Comte. Here, we join the old railway line Chemin de Fer N°106, a RAVeL in progress, up to the N533 (Rue de Chenu) where the white-red of the GR12 and 121 re-emerges. White-red directs us to the bridge over the Brussels-Charleroi canal - with an excellent view of a unique, gigantic, and ambitious achievement: Le Plan Incliné (the Inclined Plane) of Ronquières - where we (temporarily) say goodbye to the GR 12, which follows the left bank southwards.

We walk a bit further on the GR 121 towards the right bank of the old Charleroi-Brussels canal where... surrealism reigns. Barely recovering from the surprise, we turn back along the other bank, cross the broad canal again, and pick up the GR12 which takes us between gardens to the left bank of the stream La Senette. We meander with the winding water until we climb the bank at a bridge and rejoin the old Chemin de Fer N°106. For about 2.5 km, we walk on the railway bed, straight as an arrow, with sometimes the right side but mostly the gracefully meandering La Senette as our red thread. We mostly walk on unpaved paths and cross a few quiet agricultural roads and barely recognize the small station of Henripont. It is delightful walking on this (pre)RAVeL.

As the hilly village of Henripont comes into view, the white-red trail leads us via a panoramic path back into the Bois de Houssière. On a beautiful forest path, we walk out of the forest on the other side and come to the end of the GR adventure. We choose a lovely field path towards Etangs Martel, a series of medieval fish ponds, and reach the railway viaduct where we started once again.