Ardennes on the wild side or... the importance of planning

This tour took me in one of the most well known tourist sites in Belgium, Han-Sur-Lesse in the Ardennes. Its famous limestone cave and river flowing underneath is the largest in Belgium. In spring and summer the place maybe crowded, but in winter the nature reserve and caves are closed to the public, and wild animals graze in peace. I didn't know any of this....

Preparation: I looked up a guide book and decided to tackle the 24km roundtrip which would take me along and around the Lesse valley starting and leaving in Han-Sur-Lesse. A T2 outing and I was hoping to do a bit of offtrack T3 and maybe even T4 if I would find the odd rock in the Ardennes forests.

Getting there: unfortunately one of my tires exploded on the highway driving there (and I had no spare). But I was longing for nature so I didn't go back home and after fixing the tire continued my drive. I eventually was able to start in Han Sur Lesse at 1:30pm... No problem I thought, in this area I would shorten the roundtrip whenever needed...

The adventure: So off I went, with a book including a small 1:25000 map piece of the itinerary. Starting on very green pastures with lots of water interdispersed with hills of max 200m height which are normallly covered with dense mixed forest - the woods remind me a bit of some areas of Ticino.  The sun was very warm and typically low for January and there was a mild feelig to the day.

After 30min walking and jogging on a valley path I decisively deviated into the pathless forest in order to steeply climb the first hill. The feeling of having found some rather steep terrain (T3) was great although it lasted only for some 15min until I was atop the hill. From there I started finally to appreciate the beautyful area I was in... finally a place with a view :-) I continued along the hill and discovered on the opposite side of a small valley another hill, so I dropped down and up again (off track) on the other side until I reached another viewpoint at the top of hill #2. (short T3). So I kept going up and down 4 hills and was going round what looked to the central area where the river formed the cave. I was having lots of fun also jogging parts of the trail. after a thorough look at the Rapides de la Lesse my plan was to look at the river forming the cave. This was the main goal since the beginning.

However I encountered a massive fence ! w/o thinking I climbed the 3m fence saying 'keep out' danger' - and walked the short strech over to where the river went underground - I vaguely registered the troop of wild horses running away at a distance and it was almost dark (6pm). Still I did not realize where I was.

When the sun went down I started hearing all sorts of wild animals including wolves and hedgehogs which made this quite spooky. I started to realize, by now it was dark, that I had locked myself inside the nature reserve dotted with wild animals and fenced with a 3m high fence... now I understood why the fence and the Jurassic Park effect was perfect. I was completely alone inside the reserve at night, w/o any flashlight. Great !

After encountering a pair of yellow eyes in the forest and running away from them, I found the public cave, which I visited briefly (I did not have any frontal lamp...). Only the flash of my camera was able to see what was there... the carstic cave I learned later, is more than 2km long ....

Once outside again, I figured the quickest way out is to walk along the small rail tracks until I traverse the reserve. I climbed another time over the fence and this time was relieved to be outside, although many hedgehog sounds in the dark left me with some sense of danger. I continued to the village of Lesse, past the park amenities, etc, which were obviously having a winter break.


....in front of a MORT SUBITE  reviewed the day  - a fantastic experience, although one should really not distrurb wild animals in winter (mating...), particualrly if it is wolves and wild boars, but I din't realize where I was until it was too late....