Stop at the customs house (Hestrud)

Starting point in Hestrud: the Musée-Café de la Douane car park. Follow the yellow signposts.

(S/E) From the car park, turn right and cross the bridge over the Thure; turn right onto the RD280 towards Cousolre, then immediately left onto Rue de la Carrière. Walk past a blue stone wayside shrine. At the next junction, turn right.

(1) At the next junction, head down to the right onto the road. Continue to the next crossroads and turn left onto Rue de Bérelles.

(2) Before the bend, take the stony track on the left for 1.6 km, ignoring the paths to the right and left.

(3) At the junction, continue to the left, passing farm buildings, until you reach another junction. At this junction, turn right twice.

(4) Follow the RD962 to the right for a few dozen metres before heading down Rue de Gravelines to the left as far as La Thure. Use the footbridge and head back towards the village.

(5) Turn right onto Rue Saint-Druon. Head up the dirt track opposite.

(6) You are now in Belgium. Carry on straight ahead until you reach the road. Cross over (take care) and join Rue de Rance on the opposite side.

(7) Turn left and walk down Rue des Fauvaux (passing a street on both the right and left). At the bottom, turn left onto Rue du Marché.

(8) Cross the road and head towards Rue Gobert on the opposite side. Turn left twice, pass the cemetery, then head left towards the church at Grand Rieu.

(9) At the road, continue to the right, then turn slightly right into Rue de la Libération (down below). After 500 metres, head up to the left and, before the house, turn right into Rue de l’Église. At Hestrud church, carry on straight ahead and head for the Customs Museum (S/E).

Route listed in the PDIPR (Departmental Plan for Walking and Hiking Routes).
Follow the yellow signposts.

Short alternative route: 5.5 km
(5) Continue straight on to the Café-Musée de la Douane.

Café Rando Nord
Halte à la Douane café and restaurant in Hestrud
http://www.tourisme-avesnois.com/sejourn...

Customs Museum
Established in 1996, the Customs Museum Café – which serves as a restaurant, café and museum in one – is a welcoming venue that traces the history of the customs service and the successive borders that led to the region’s incorporation into France.
Through old photographs, documents and uniforms from the 1850s, it brings to life the daily lives and work of customs officers. Numerous artefacts bear witness to an era when smuggling was rife, as the Avesnois region was surrounded by boundary markers.

On 14 June 1815, Napoleon, who was travelling from Avesnes to Beaumont on his way to Waterloo, stopped at Hestrud. A monument, the Emperor’s watering place and a memorial stone commemorate this event. The chronicle reports: ‘Whilst his horse was drinking from the Thure, the Emperor called out to a young boy, asking him
if he recognised the man speaking to him. The lad nodded, adding: ‘You believe victory is always at your heels, but it passes and vanishes like the water in this stream. If I were you, I’d stay quietly at home, for tomorrow your star will surely have faded.’"