Intro:
The long awaited new edition of the topoguide on the Walloon part of the GR 12 trail is available!
We experienced firsthand how difficult it had become to follow the trail with the old topoguide, because of the many road changes over the years.
On Saturday 12/12/2009 we tested the new booklet on the trail part between Godarville and Anderlues, which happens to be one of the regions where the trail has undergone significant changes. No more problems, no more getting lost, trail and topoguide were a perfect match.
Back and forth:
To get to the bridge over the canal Charleroi - Brussels (reference point 30 in the old topoguide, nr. 33 in the new one) we took the train to Godarville. For us that meant taking the train in Antwerpen to Charleroi. One hour and a half later we got off at Luttre. Fifteen minutes later a local train took us to Godarville (direction La Louvière). That last ride only took 10 minutes.
From the station it's a 1,5 km. walk to the bridge. With the map in the topoguide it's easy to find.
We ended the hike at reference point 40 (on the N59 road). From there it's only a few hundred meters walk along the N59 to a crossing named Au Roi des Belges (At the King of the Belgians). On Saturdays bus 91 drives to Montigny-le-Tilleul. You have to get off at the next stop (that gives you hardly the time to pay, better take a ticket right away to the train station of Charleroi-Sud). At that stop you can take tram 89, it passes every hour.
Even if you're used to trams as an urban means of transport, this one is quite an experience. The tram often rides through open landscapes over an elevated bedding. It takes you to Charleroi-Sud in half an hour. From that station there's trains going to Brussels and Antwerpen.
The hike:
Looking at a map you'll notice that this hike winds itself through a region which is situated exactly in between the cities of Charleroi and La Louvière.
Those cities are almost automatically associated with the former coal industry, with decay and coal hills ... not really an attractive region for a nice hike. That image is partly confirmed, although during the first half of the hike there was very little that reminded us of the coal industry. Yet, decay and gloomy expectations are impressions we couldn't get rid of during this hike.
(click the picture for more images on Picasa)
The least we can say about this hike is that it became a surprising discovery tour in a world that was completely new to us.
We hiked through little wildernesses that seem to thrive wonderfully well amongst the industrial ruins. We also visited villages still breathing the times when the black gold was what made them function. It's a region still searching how to recover from the hard economic blows it received several decades ago. Certainly near the former living quarters of the miners we couldn't help but notice the large amounts of waste and rubbish left everywhere around the place, illustrating the gloomy prospects of the inhabitants. No wonder that traditions such as carnival are still deeply rooted here. They're the straws people catch themselves at to try and forget the day-to-day problems.
GR 12 passes by the domain of Mariemont. In Flanders we hardly ever heard about the place, but a little digging into history told us how important the site used to be.
Mariemont literally means the 'Hill of Mary'. The name refers to Mary of Hungary. In the 16th century she had a hunting pavillion built in this place. Her brother, the emperor Charles V had appointed her Governess of the Netherlands (at the time Belgium and the Netherlands were one region). As such she used to reside in Binche, only 10 km. away from here.
Since then the domain and the castle went through turbulent times. During a border conflict it was destroyed by the troops of the french king. Shortly afterwards it was rebuilt by Albrecht and Isabella, her successors appointed by Charles' son Philips II. In the 18th century the domain became the property of Karel Van Lorreinen, the new Governer of the Austrian Netherlands. Again, everything was rebuilt, adding even more splendor and grandeur to the place. The man loved partying and this was the ideal spot for it. Unfortunately the French Revolution put an end to this period and turned the place into ruins.
At the beginning of the 19th century the whole lot was bought by the Warocqué's, a Walloon family of rich captains of industry. They strongly influenced the economy and the socio-cultural life of the region. For more than a century they provided the successive mayors of Morlanwelz, the community that harbours the domain of Mariemont.
They preserved the ruins and built a new castle in the domain, integrating them in an English style romantic park. The importance of the Warocqué family is illustrated by the fact that the first three belgian kings all stayed at the castle at one time or another.
The last Warocqué (Raoul) was a true benefactor and spent an important part of the family fortune on projects that benefited the region. Schools and libraries were built, all kinds of social initiatives were developed, and during World War I a lot was done to relieve the suffering of the local population. He was also a passionate art lover. He built up collections of antiques (Greek, Oriental, Egyptian, ...) that today are estimated to be of invaluable worth. At a given moment he had to enlarge the castle because there was not enough room to stock all the objects.
He died at the age of 47 without leaving any heirs. He left all his possessions to the Belgian state. In 1922 the site became the Musée de Mariemont. In 1960 a fire destroyed the buildings but the invaluable collections were saved. The castle was never rebuilt, but replaced later on by newly constructed exhibition spaces.
Today the museum is a living testimony of the grandeur that once characterised this region.
Whereas Mariemont is completely unknown to most people in Flanders, in Morlanwelz we run into a much better known phenomenom: the 'gilles'.
We usually associate the harlequinesk figures with their high hats made of ostrich feathers with Binche (the Binche 'gilles' were awarded the status of Cultural World Heritage by UNESCO in 2003). But they're not only linked to Binche. Also in places like Morlanwelz they've been part of the carnival traditions for centuries.
We ran into their (portrayed) bodies when we decided to have a drink at the café Le Combattant (opposite the church). On the walls we noticed the beautiful posters dating from the years 1910 - 1930. The landlord, seeing we were interested, put aside the book he was reading and took us to a sideroom to proudly show his favourite poster. The café serves as the headquaters of a local group of gilles, Les Règuènères de Morlanwelz. They celebrate their 50-year anniversary in 2010. He reckons there will be about 100 gilles attending the carnival show in the morning session. At that time they're masked and not wearing the hats. Only in the afternoon they put on the famous hats and distribute oranges and tangerines to the public.
Not every gille possesses a hat. They're expensive objects, hard to maintain and heavy to wear (about 3 kg.). The landlord thinks there will be some 40 gilles with hats in the streets. There's no lack of candidates. It's an honour to be a gille and some of them have been attending the festivities for several decades.
The carnival show in Morlanwelz is known as the Feureu. The name refers to a bonfire that is the climax of the carnival. It symbolises an old tradition which consisted of throwing burning straw torches in fruit trees to kill the vermin.
Finally before ending this hike you can't escape one of the most visible features in the landscape: the mine hills.
They're the silent witnesses of the coal industry that made this region into what it still is today. The mines have been closed long ago, not out of environmental considerations, because that kind of arguments didn't exist at the time. The coal exploitation simply wasn't profitable anymore. The mine owners had made their fortunes and started investing their money in other activities. In order to avoid massive unemployment, the state was forced to subsidise the now loss-making mines. The rest of the story is wellknown. Even the state finally had to admit that it was no use anymore to continue pouring money in these bottomless pits.
The mine hills are the most striking witnesses of the region's past. There's a complete GR trail dedicated to Wallonia's mining past. GR 412 visits most of the former coal mining centers over a distance of 280 km. from Bernissart to Blegny. Shortly before reaching the finish of our hike we cross this trail.
The hills are not the only witnesses. Old bridges, small tunnels, half disappeared railway tracks, old industrial brick buildings, ... they all reveal the once hectic activities that shaped this region until half a century ago.
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