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Date: Sunday, May 23rd, 2021
Path: Own route
Distance: 9,1 km
Ascent: 264m
Descent: 252m
Are you looking for something fun for children who can already hike well? Then the region of Comlain-au-Pont, at the confluence of the Ourthe and the Amblève is recommended. For this hike with my seven-year old son, I decided for a route between Poulseur and Comblain-la-Tour.
The start is at the train station of Poulseur. If you want to quench your thirst after the long drive up, you can do so on the little square in front of the church in one of the pubs. Being keen hikers, we start immediately and leave Poulseur behind us. We climb up along Rue du Vieux Château to the heights above the Ourthe river. This is also a very nice part between fields of rapeseed. The scent of the nectar immediately gets to our noses. A short distance through two small forests follows and then we descend towards Comblain-au-Pont on the GR57 trail. Before reaching the village we stop at the Roches Noires, which we climb to eat our lunch. The rocky wall consists mainly of dark limestone and that's where it gets its name. It offers a good view of a part of the Ourthe valley.
Afterwards, you go through numerous stone artworks to the Tour Saint Martin (12th century) and the cemetery that surrounds it. The cemetery is in decline, with graves dating mainly from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The oldest grave we found was from 1831, almost as old as Belgium. The tower is the only remnant of the old church that once stood here. In the middle of the 19th century, a new place of worship was built on the village square and so the higher located church became superfluous. Stones from the old church were used all over the village as building material. From the churchyard, you have a view of the whole village, the Ourthe and the limestone walls of Thier Pirard.
We cross Comblain and then follow the Ourthe upstream. We're now on the Sentier Géologique. And we're going to follow it for quite a while. At an old stone quarry we cross the Rue de la Batterie and start a climb along the hill slopes. Underneath all the foliage several quarries and mines are hidden that were part of the "carrières de Géromont". Sandstone in particular was mined here. Traces of human presence can be found everywhere. A local artist has also made a contribution by creating two "travel stones" of Asterix and Obelix. Quite fitting for this setting. Another passer-by left the kind of souvenir that I recently described in my article "Shitting outdoors in 6 steps".
Along a nice sloping path, we pass the Mur Géologiue. This 54-metre high work of art is simply made from the various rocks found in our country, in the order of their geological origin. Each metre of rock equals about 10 million years of history. If I understood correctly, it is not quite finished yet.
After a nice but fairly steep descent, we reach the Rue de la Batterie again. We follow the motorway towards Comblain-la-Tour, but have to walk some 700 metres along the road where there's hardly any room for pedestrians. Finally we arrive with enough time left to catch the 16h11 train to Liège.
Do you also want to try this beautiful walk? Download the GPX of it here:
By public transport: Start and finish can be reached by train. Please note: the trains only run once every two hours on weekends.
