Ardennes: Glorious Walk in Winter Sunlight

Recently me and my partner visited the Ardennes region in Belgium. It is a lovely wooded area, with rolling hills and perfect distance from the Netherlands for a trip! As you can see in the picture we chose a glorious sunny day to go for this walk, which was about 15 km in length.

The Mind

Just as a bit of background, I have been struggling with my body and mind a bit lately. I shall spare you the details but after a severe pneumonia I still have some complaints. The physio told me: exercise, exercise, exercise. Nothing too strenuous but cycling and walking would be perfect he said. So we grabbed our hiking boots and our rainjackets and headed to Belgium for a week of walking!

The route we set out to do was about 15km long and started in La Roche-en-Ardenne, the heart of the Ardennes region. We would walk through wooded areas, come down into a small village called Maboge at the river, follow a stream to the tiny village of Borzée (4 houses and a church) and then a forest path back to the starting point.

The Walk

Man, it was a glorious walk! The sun was shining and you could feel, despite the cold wind, that spring is slowly creeping up on us! We walked up into the forest, and then down into the village where we arrived by the Ourthe river.

We had our sandwiches at this incredible river view. During the summer the Ardennes is heaving with people, but in winter we didn't come accross a single person on the entire 15km walk! In the summer many people kayak this river or go for walks in the forest. The area also holds many caves (we love caving, but my poor chest is not yet ready) and also some climbing areas. The Ardennes are easy to visit from parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France and there are plenty opportunities to stay! The paths for walking are generally good, though can be a bit muddy after periods of long rain.

Have you done any lovely travels lately?