Between Ourthe and Condroz

Start from the car park at the Anthisnes municipal offices.

(S/E) Leave the car park and turn left onto Avenue de l’Abbaye, heading towards l’Avouerie. However, after 30 m, turn left down Rue du Vieux Château, towards Hamoir.
At the bottom of the street, at the crossroads, turn right onto Rue du Moulin, heading towards Hamoir, Ouffet and La Rock. Follow the street along a well-maintained gravel path lined with birch trees to reach a junction after 350 m.

(1) Turn left towards So les Beurs and follow the tarmac path, between fields and meadows, alongside the Blue Diamond cycle route and a Red mountain bike route. After a detached house, the path becomes stony and then a narrow grassy track, first between fences and then between hedges. When you reach another isolated house, head down a wider path to join a road at No. 5.

(2) Follow it to the left with care to cross the hamlet of La Rock. Pass two streets on the right, leave La Rock and, 350 m further on, leave the tarmac at a wide bend to the right to turn left onto a wide stony path that climbs into the woods. Continue to^{the first} junction.

(3) Take the path on the right and, a good hundred metres further on, at the three-way junction, continue uphill on the left-hand path. At the next three-way junction, a few metres further on, turn left and, after just under a kilometre, you will come out onto a road.

(4) Follow it to the right until you reach a place called Drève de Tolumont (monument in memory of Nicolas Compère, the first Belgian resistance fighter to be shot in May 1940).
Cross a major junction of forest paths and head down the opposite slope, following the red and white markings of^{the GR®®} 57 and the blue diamond, green diamond and yellow rectangle signs until you reach the three-way junction a few dozen metres further on.

(5) Leave the wide path and continue the descent to the left along a dirt track. At the bottom of the descent, you emerge at a place called Ferme de Tolumont. Turn left onto a wide, stony path which soon becomes enclosed and descends to a small road.

(6) Ignore the^GR®® 57 markings and go straight on along the tarmac, following the local and Red MTB markings, entering the Comblain-au-Pont area and then passing by the Sablière de Larbois State Nature Reserve (where you can take a short walk).

(7) At the end of the reserve, leave the tarmac and all markings to head left into the woods after passing through a metal gate. Follow the reserve’s fence, then veer right to leave it behind and continue along a grassy path. At the junction with a wide path ascending from the left, continue straight ahead uphill. At the top, go through a metal gate and emerge onto a wide forest track in the heart of the Bois de Comblain, where the walk rejoins the^GR®® 57 markings and a Green mountain bike route.

(8) Follow the wide track to the right and leave the Bois de Comblain, continuing on the tarmac alongside several mountain bike routes and the Blue Diamond and Green Rectangle marked routes. At the four-way junction ahead, turn left onto a stony track. As you continue, there is a viewpoint over the Cobouhy and the Raideux farm. When the path leaves the woods, it becomes tarmac and descends to a junction with a small road on the right.

(9) Continue straight on, leave the tarmac, cross the Vallon du Cobouhy and continue along the path which widens just after a grassy track branching off to the left. Continue straight on between the fields until you reach the imposing Raideux farm.

(10) Facing the entrance porch, turn a quarter of a turn to the right and then right again to set off, still following the^GR®® and the Green Rectangle and Yellow Cross signs, along a stony track that becomes a grassy path, between the fields. After 900 m, having passed close to the Raideux sinkhole, enter a small wood and head down to the entrance of the Grotte de l’Abîme. Cross the car park then head down the access road.

(11) At the junction with Rue de la Havée Madeleine, continue down Rue des Grottes to the right until you reach a roundabout. Continue to the right and pass in front of the local school. Shortly after this, turn left onto a cobbled road, Rue de l’Égalité, opposite No. 11.

(12) After a few metres, leave this road and climb a flight of steps on the left, still following the^GR®® and the Green Rectangle sign. Pass through a metal gate and then, on the climb, after four steps, turn right to arrive in front of the entrance to the old cemetery (where the Saint-Martin Tower stands). Turn left and cross a park with stone sculptures. After 150 m, still following the^GR®® and Green Rectangle signpost, turn left and follow a wide stony path to the hamlet known as ‘Au pied des Roches Noires’.
(13) Continue straight on along a grassy path, between the meadows. Pass through a turnstile and then tackle a steep climb into the Roches Noires Nature Reserve.

(14) At the top, at the place known as Au-dessus des Roches Noires, you’ll come out onto a wide path. Follow it to the left for about thirty metres, following only the^GR®® 57. At the next junction, turn left, leaving the GR®® markings behind^. Walk past the large farm buildings of the Deux Monts cheese dairy and, at the junction with the tarmac road to Entre-deux-Monts, continue straight on along Rue de la Chapelle, following the Red Rectangle sign. Ignore a small road leading down to the left and then the Chemin des Prés Masotte to the right, and walk past the chapel in the village of Mont.

(15) Shortly after the chapel, head up to the right onto Rue du Village and follow it to the end. At the junction with Rue de la Forge, ignore this road and continue to the right, following the Blue Diamond, Yellow Cross and Red Rectangle signs. Keep to the right where Rue du Village meets Rue des Béolles and reach the next junction, at the hamlet of Au-dessus de Mont.

(16) Turn left onto Rue du Petit Bois, following the Yellow Cross and Blue Diamond signs and a mountain bike route. The road begins to descend and reaches a three-way junction.
(17) Continue left following the Blue Diamond signpost, along a wide path that soon begins to wind its way uphill through the woodland. You’ll emerge onto a cross-path at the edge of a meadow.

(18) Turn left following the Blue Diamond and Yellow Cross signs and a Red Mountain Bike sign, between the edge of the woodland and the meadow. Go through a metal gate and continue straight on along a wide stony track to reach the hamlet of Al Bégasse. Continue straight on with the Blue Diamond and a Red Mountain Bike, along a wide gravel track. Go through a metal gate, leave the woods and continue along the gravel track between the edge of the woods and the meadows to reach a crossroads.

(19) Turn left onto Rue du Sacy, following the Blue Diamond sign and two Red Mountain Bikes. Pass a road on the left where the Blue Diamond sign leads off, then continue downhill with a single Red Mountain Bike. Reach a junction and leave the markings to climb to the right onto Rue de la Citadelle. At house no. 4, reach a fork.

(20) Turn left onto a narrow tarmac path between fences which, after about 300 m, leads onto a small street between houses no. 12 and no. 14.

(21) Turn left downhill, then immediately left again onto Thier des Vignes, a road closed to all vehicles, alongside the Red Rectangle sign. Continue for a few metres and, just before the first house on this steeply sloping street, turn right down a narrow lane that runs between the gardens and also leads onto a street. Cross it to continue opposite on Rue de la Brassine and, when this turns left, carry straight on up a tarmac lane which leads out opposite the car park entrance at the start, on Avenue de l’Abbaye (S/E).

Note: throughout the description, you will see “PL” followed by a geometric shape and a colour, such as “PL Blue Rectangle”.
This refers to the signposting for the Blue Rectangle Local Walk.

TEC stop: Vieux Château (lines 90, 92, 93 and 97).

IGN map 49/1-2 "Esneux".

(S/E) Avouerie d'Anthisnes (comprising a 12th-century keep and a main building added to it in the 17th century), brewery, Beer and Pèkèt Museum and shop selling local produce. Tel: +32 (0)4 383 63 90

(5) The Sablière de Larbois Nature Reserve, established in 1998.

(9) Le Cobouhy, an outcrop of dolomite, a rock similar to limestone.

(10) Raideux Farm, formerly owned by the Prince-Abbots of Stavelot-Malmédy.

Between (10) and (11) - Doline du Raideux, a circular depression in a karst landscape, i.e. a limestone plateau.
- Grotte de l'Abîme, discovered by chance in 1900. It offers surprising treasures of colour and form. A visit helps visitors understand the mechanisms behind the cave’s formation.
Enquiries: Place Leblanc, 1 – 4170 Comblain-au-Pont – Tel. 04 369 26 44.

Comblain Cave.