Countryside and forests around Ourt

The Ardennes is, of course, all about the forest. But it’s also about the countryside!The traditional image needs to be slightly nuanced, and the circular route presented here is a fine example: half countryside, half forest, the route offers a wonderful variety of landscapes and passes through forests of various species, alternating between deciduous and coniferous trees.The Belgian icing on the cake: a few signs placed on either side of the starting point remind us that Belgium is the birthplace of the comic strip.

Set off to explore Banibois, in the heart of the woods crossed by the stream of the same name. This walk will take you through hundred-year-old oak trees, majestic beech trees and spruce plantations. You will also enjoy vast meadows on the edge of the woods.

Several series of ponds strung together like a string of pearls stretch between Freux, Bougnimont and Séviscourt. The hike takes you to those near the magnificent Freux-Suzerain castle. The others are even more hidden away at the bottom of vast private estates. For the rest, this hike is rather rural on the north side and very wooded on the south side. The end of the wooded section crosses the pretty marshy area of Golo.

This unpretentious walk allows you to wander around the villages of Freux and Bras, through pastures and along country roads. The walk starts in front of Freux church, where there is a large car park.

Is the walk awful? Not at all! The route winds through the countryside and forests of north-eastern Libramont. And when the magic of winter appears, it can take many forms! Even when there is no snow! Frosty fog can adorn the vegetation with a magnificent display. Another completely different natural phenomenon is the formation of white filamentous ice on dead branches caused by a fungus that releases water which freezes in the form of silky filaments. In summer, the atmosphere is inevitably different... and so are the landscapes! You are unlikely to have the chance to observe a stray deer in the middle of the meadows near the ponds of Château de Freux for long.

Troufferies: a Walloon word meaning peat bogs, i.e. a place where peat is extracted. Peat was extracted in Libin from the Middle Ages until the 1930s. Come and stroll through a forest landscape of marshes, peat bogs, mud flats and moors... unusual in this part of the Ardennes.

As you follow this circular route, discover the hidden gems of Neufchâteau and its villages: Keppler Mill, Étang de Bergh, Bois d'Ospau, the German mausoleum, the astronomical observatory, a replica of the Lourdes Grotto, the remains of an old slate quarry and, finally, the lake.

This hike takes you on a journey of discovery through the rural and forested Ardennes east of Bertrix, completely off the beaten track. Apart from the surroundings of the Herbeumont slate quarry and a few crossings of main roads and the Bertrix-Athus railway line, used mainly for freight transport, it is completely peaceful and surrounded by nature. Don't miss the two castles in Biourge... go and admire them from the driveway of the first and through the porch of the second.