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Cake in the Condroz

— After a week of very warm weather, there were finally hints of spring: buds on the trees, early bees and even a red squirrel.”

Haut-le-Wastia (“wastia” is a cake in the Walon language) is a small village on the Meuse plateau in the Province de Namur.

Along the way and after a week of very warm weather, there were hints of spring: buds on the trees, early bees and even a red squirrel. We’ll have to wait a few weeks yet for Wallonie’s verdant landscapes to catch on but the signs are already there!

On the route is the ruined Château Fort de Montaigle. Standing on a unique site above the Molignée, this is the last in a long line of castles that goes back at least to 900AD. It was home to important vassals of the Counts of Namur and is expressly mentioned in a nuptial agreement between Guy de Namur and Marguerite of Lorraine signed in 1311.

• Walking route: Haut-le-Wastia – Salet – Sosoye – Foy – Haut-le-Wastia (loop) detailed commentary
• Distance: 15km
• Slight modifications from the original route by Gert Sonck at Originele wandelingen in België

Detailed commentary

Larger map of this route

With the church behind, go left on the Place des Français and follow the Coron des Trys to the end, turning right then immediately right again onto the Rue de Bayère, dropping down through woodland.

Cross the railway at the bottom and turn right onto a path running between the rail track and the Molignée river. At a bridge, cross the river and join a road (Rue de la Molignée). To the left of the house opposite are two paths, so follow the right fork that runs behind the house. At the road, cross over onto a narrow path that climbs into the village of Salet through woodland then a field.

Joining the road, turn right and follow it into the village (Rue des Bruyères) and turn left at the square onto the Rue de la Fontaine. Go right just before this road reaches a t-junction. The road soon becomes a track, initially running along the edge of the woodland (Bois de Ronquêre) then heading straight into it at the corner of a field.

On eventually reaching a wider track, turn left: this is a GR route. In the distance, the Abbaye de Maredsous can be seen, then the track re-enters the woodland. At the end of the woodland, there’s a chapel and open fields ahead but here go right instead back into the wood and downhill.

On reaching the edge of the woodland follow the road as it bends briefly to the left, then take a gated track to the right (Chemin du Champ). This track runs into the open ground of a nature reserve “La Montagne” above the village of Sosoye. Turn right at the edge of a spruce wood (Chemin des Pins), then take the first right (Chemin en Sous-Bois), arriving back at the Chemin du Champ. Head right, back to the gate and turn right onto the original road.

When the road turns right, go left instead on a narrow path which runs through the trees, along the edge of a field and bends right again back into the woodland. Go straight on and emerge once more from the wood as the track runs through fields. On reaching the junction with a road, turn right.

Go straight into the hamlet of Foy, taking the left fork through it and then turning right at a large farm now on the edge of the hamlet. This track overlooks the ruins of the Chateau de Montaigle and drops down into the valley.

Cross the road at the bottom then go over the Molignée onto a small road running through the hamlet of Le Marteau. Follow the road until it runs out just after the Flavion, a tributary of the Molignée. Follow the path through woodlands and eventually it emerges at a wider track. Turn left here.

On reaching a memorial, cross the road as it bends right and go straight at the junction. After about 500 metres turn left and head into the woodland. Once in the forest, the track eventually bends sharply to the right but turn left here on a path as far as the first houses of Haut-le-Wastia. At the t-junction, turn right and almost immediately after take a left onto a narrow path between meadows. On reaching the road, turn right and head back to the Place des Français.