In the Hainaut boot, starting from Macon

Car park on the right-hand side of the church, opposite the Macon castle farm (walking sign).

(S/E) Go around the back of the church, turn left and head towards a remarkable lime tree.

No signposts

Take a wide alleyway on the right/left, leave it on the right, take the steps to reach a street, follow it to the left towards the N 593 road.

(1) Cross carefully and take the path opposite. Join Rue Auguste Philippe, follow it to the left and take the first street on the right, Rue Champiaux. Follow it, after a sharp bend, pass by some ponds and reach a crossroads.

Yellow rectangle signpost

(2) Turn right/left onto a gravel path and pass under a power line. At the end of the path, take the road to the right and you will reach a monument dedicated to the first American soldier who fell in 1944.

(3) Take the road to the left, join another road at a chapel, and take Rue Entre Village to the left. Reach the church and the square in Monceau-Imbrechies. Leave the yellow rectangle signs that go to the right and take Rue du Village to the left. At the end of the square, walk along the left side of the school. The asphalt path may make you think you are entering private property, but this is not the case. The asphalt gives way to a narrow path.

Yellow rectangle signs

(4) Join a street, Chemin de la Potelle, and follow it to the left. At the next crossroads, turn right onto Rue R. Enjolenne and walk to a white house. Leave the yellow rectangle signs, which continue straight ahead, and take the dirt track to the left, which leads to the edge of the woods. Before the path turns left, turn right onto the path that enters the woods. Reach a T-junction and turn right onto a street, follow it to the right and reach a crossroads.

(5) Turn left, ignoring a street coming from the right, a dirt track and a less clearly marked path on the right, and follow a left-hand bend onto a wide stone path that leads back into the woods (here you are following the Yellow Rectangle route in the opposite direction). Further on, pass a wide path on the left and continue to the Ravel trail on the old Chimay-Anor line 126, which you take to the right.

(6) Follow the Ravel to a wide path that branches off to the right (Sentier des Pins bivouac site).

^GR®® signposting

(7) The trail follows a wide path. Follow it until you reach a "No horses" sign, then follow the trail that runs along the left side of the path (some muddy sections in wet weather). Do not stay on the path, which is impassable. You will reach a crossroads of forest paths where the^GR®® turns left; continue straight ahead.

Yellow rectangle signposting

(8) Stay on the main trail until you reach the edge of the woods and arrive at a caravan site. Follow the road to the right and you will reach some ponds.

^{GR®® sign}post

(9) Turn onto the path on the left which runs alongside several ponds. Leave them on your left. At the end of the second pond, use the footbridge on the right and reach the next one. The path turns to the left.
Leave the path leading to the pond and continue along the path that climbs opposite. Walk along an orchard and reach a street, then turn left onto the path that descends (leaving the yellow rectangle signposting) before climbing back up to the right. After passing a sign announcing a bivouac area, leave the^GR®® trail and turn right.

(10) Cross a mountain bike playground to leave the woods via a small path. Reach a crossroads and head left until the next junction.

Yellow rectangle signpost

(11) Follow the road to the right, passing two roads on the right. Before reaching the N 591, turn right at a house onto Rue Le Fourneau. Continue to Rue Les Roches and a few metres further on, you will reach Rue R. Lamblot.

(12) Turn left onto this street, continue to a large grassy square, walk along the left-hand side and you will reach a chapel. Leave the yellow rectangle signposting on your right and take care to turn left at the corner of house no. 8 onto a tarmac path.

(13) At the end of the path, take Rue Numa Dupuis to the right. At the junction with the N 593, cross carefully and follow Rue de la Laiterie opposite. At the end of the street, climb a few steps to reach a street and follow it to the left to reach the car park (S/E).

The hike follows much of the Yellow Rectangle marked trail, called "Promenade de la Vallée de l'Helpe" (Helpe Valley Walk), but deviates from it several times to follow smaller paths.
Picnic areas:
Near the church in Monceau-Imbrechies
Sentier des Pins campsite (7)
Large grassy area before the (13)

Visit to the 40-44 museum