Between Wellin and Daverdisse

In the north of the province of Luxembourg, on the border between the Ardennes and the Famenne, a hike in the Great Forest of Saint-Hubert to discover the serenity of the forest, a few historic buildings and beautiful views.

Details

837346
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 11.55 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 30 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 431 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 436 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 382 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 199 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Car park in Neupont at a place called "Gare de Redu" on the N40. Very close to the Daverdisse Ravel, large car park near a secluded restaurant.

(S/E) The restaurant is on your right, turn left towards Wellin. In the bend, look for the path on the other side of the road.

Blue Cross signposting

Cross carefully and walk up the path.

(1) At the fork, go left. At the path, continue left.

(2) At the next fork, keep left and pass in front of the "Les Glaumonts" property for the best view of the castle on your return on the other side. Descend to the N40. Pass in front of the Baligan, a former coaching inn and now private property.

(3) Continue to the right along the N40. On your left, you will see Les Forges de Neupont through the vegetation.
Cross the bridge over the Lesse, take care and continue. Cross the Parfondevau stream.

(4) Turn left into the street and immediately turn left again to take the forest path. Pass in front of the Le Neupont pond and continue to the gates of a private property.

(5) Take the path continuing to the right of the gate. Further on, the path narrows slightly, turns and climbs.

(6) You will see a fairly steep path ahead of you; start climbing. Ignore the markings during the climb (if you are afraid of heights, take the path turning to the right and follow the markings to rejoin the trail at the top).
At the top, pick up the markings again and turn left. Pass in front of the place called "Les Mînires". At the road, turn left and ignore the markings for the straight section.

(7) At the next junction, turn left, pick up the markings again and follow the road to the picnic area and shelters.

No Markings

(8) At the end of the picnic area, leave the road and take the path leading into the forest on your right, well before the barrier on the road. Then keep left and descend. Go through a large barrier and close it behind you. Turn left at the next intersection. Go uphill. At the crossroads, make a round trip to the right towards the Tienne de Chassepierre viewpoint. Retrace your steps and continue along the forest path on your right.

(9) At the T-junction, turn right. The path turns sharply. At the next intersection, continue to the right. Pass in front of a deer feeding station.

(10) At the end of the path, go up to the left towards the Wéri (or Wéry) viewpoint. This is a two-level viewpoint with views of the Lesse valley and the Château des Glaumonts. Retrace your steps and continue downhill to the left.

Blue Cross markings

View of the Château des Glaumonts during the descent to the "Point de vue de Wéri" viewpoint.

(11) Turn right. Viewpoint over the Lesse valley and the Ri de Wéri. At the hunting lodge, behind the fence, turn right and carefully descend along the fence. At the forest path, turn left. At the road, turn right, cross the Ri de Wéri and take the road on your right. At the fork on the left, stay on the main path.

(12) At the next fork, continue left. Descend to the road. Cross carefully, turn right and walk along the picnic area. Turn left and cross the Lesse via the Maria footbridge. Return to the car park via the concrete path (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 217 m - Parking at Redu station
  2. 1 : km 0.65 - alt. 271 m - Turn left at the fork
  3. 2 : km 1.25 - alt. 274 m - Turn left at the fork
  4. 3 : km 1.97 - alt. 207 m - Le Baligan. Towards the bridge at - lesse (rivière) - Belgique
  5. 4 : km 2.97 - alt. 206 m - Stream
  6. 5 : km 3.81 - alt. 246 m - Gate
  7. 6 : km 4.71 - alt. 295 m - Path straight ahead
  8. 7 : km 5.72 - alt. 325 m - On the left
  9. 8 : km 6.29 - alt. 378 m - Shelters
  10. 9 : km 7.41 - alt. 370 m - Turn right at the T-junction
  11. 10 : km 8.22 - alt. 315 m - On the left Belvedere
  12. 11 : km 8.85 - alt. 276 m - Wéri viewpoint
  13. 12 : km 10.01 - alt. 264 m - Fork
  14. S/E : km 11.55 - alt. 216 m - Parking at Redu station

Notes

Shelters at (8)
Bench after the Wéri viewpoint after (11)
No water on the route
Waterproof walking boots with good tread
Muddy ground in wet weather
Difficult passage on the descent after (11)

Worth a visit

During

After (1), you will be on the Marie-Thérèse road, built in the 18th century to link Namur to Luxembourg.

The Château des Glaumonts

Le Baligan:
formerly a coaching inn where the stagecoach stopped to change horses, spend the night and eat. In the early 1900s, stagecoaches became less common, but the roads remained busy, so this inn became solely a guesthouse. Today, the building is a second home.

The Neupont forges:
On the N40, after Le Baligan, on your left through the vegetation. In 1736, S.-F. de Baillet, master ironworker in Habay-la-Neuve, renovated the old Neupont forge (15th century), transforming it into a refinery. The beautiful architectural ensemble dating from this period includes the forge, the master's lodgings, the ice house and the vast pond with its banks lined with centuries-old lime trees.

Mînires viewpoint:
Leaving the Ri de Parfondevau valley, you will see the Calestienne landscape to the east of Wellin. Witness: the Resteigne quarry. On the horizon, Grupont and its forests.

Tienne de Chassepierre viewpoint:
The landscape forms the foothills of the Ardennes and overlooks the Wéry valley. On the left is the Lesse valley.

Wéri viewpoint:
Magnificent view of the Lesse valley and the Ry de Wéry valley. On the hill opposite, you can see Château Glaumonts, the only human habitation visible.

Wéri viewpoint:
On the far left, Glaumonts Castle is the only visible dwelling. At your feet, the Ri de Wéry flows into the Lesse on the left.

Maria footbridge: picnic area. The former wooden footbridge has been replaced by a metal structure with a wooden slatted deck.

Reviews and comments

4.2 / 5
Based on 8 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.4 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
3.9 / 5
lazzerini
lazzerini

Hello Olivier 5100,
Thank you for the information regarding the starting point. I will correct it right away.

Best regards

Machine-translated

Olivier5100
Olivier5100

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 18, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike full of pleasant surprises and some absolutely exceptional views... I would mention Les Minires (after Pt 6), which appears suddenly after a steep climb. Further on, the Belvédère de Wellin viewpoint is also worth seeing. Don't hesitate to climb above the metal tower.
Then (after Pt 11), be careful on the descent to the Wéri stream as it is quite steep and narrow.
PS: Just for your information, the isolated restaurant mentioned at the starting car park has been replaced by a lodge called "Le Ry des Glands".

Machine-translated

RJM56
RJM56

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 02, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely ride, but you'll need a powerful engine for the hills.

Machine-translated

spatzy
spatzy

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 21, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Fine, but muddy paths due to logging operations

Machine-translated

Jean-Damien
Jean-Damien

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 19, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

It is preferable to start the walk in the opposite direction. The Wéri viewpoint is magnificent.

Machine-translated

dtaussie
dtaussie

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 13, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Thank you for mapping out this lovely walk.

Machine-translated

fzutterman
fzutterman

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 01, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Many beautiful, fairly wild places, but one rather ugly spot too (the huge clear-cut area at the top of Tienne de Chassepierre). The section along the N40 is unpleasant (fairly heavy traffic, lorries, no possibility of walking away from the road). An alternative that largely avoids this road is to start in reverse, passing through points 12 and 11 to point 10, descending to point 4 via a marked path, and resuming the route at point 4. But this isn't very elegant, as you end up doing the route between S/E and 10 in both directions. The section along the fence is indeed tricky (luckily you can hold on to the fence!!), but not very long. It's a shame there isn't a nice winding path at this point.

Machine-translated

Julien Salaets
Julien Salaets
• Edited:

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 06, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

Overall, a good hike. The road section is a little less pleasant, but that's due to factors beyond our control (barking from what appear to be hunting dogs, several times as we pass them, and a section on a fast road with slightly crazy motorists).
If you set off early in the morning, with a bit of luck you may come across a group of deer at the very start of the hike. A little treat to start the day off right!
The forest sections are also really nice, despite one where there is mud everywhere on the marked trail (go around it by walking on the edge of the trail; you'll have to walk through some thorns, but it will prevent you from getting too muddy!).
I also spotted a pair of buzzards at a certain point (which I'll keep secret ), which were very pleasant to watch.
In short, a nice route, accessible to all and with some great views.

Machine-translated

lazzerini
lazzerini

Hello effemair,
1 km out of 11.6 km isn't that far. Unless you walked along the road from the car park and didn't turn into the woods opposite?

Machine-translated

effemair
effemair

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Dec 06, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

The main drawback is the long walk from the car park along an unsafe expressway to reach the forest section of the trail.

Machine-translated

Other walks in the area

For more walks, use our search engine .

The GPS track and description are the property of this route's author. Please do not copy them without permission.