Intro:
If you're into forest hikes, this is one for you. And what's more, the trees never become boring. There's enough variation to keep it interesting: sudden panoramic views, ruins, forgotten industrial glory, wide forest lanes, narrow winding paths, and a healthy portion of ups and downs ...
Half of this hike coincides with the GR 12 trail, a long distance path we already covered before. So, we knew what to expect.
Back and forth:
Start and finish of this hike can be reached by train.
We traveled to Charleroi-Sud and there took a local train heading for Erquellines. Get off at the station of Lobbes.
We arrived half an hour in advance in Antwerpen-Centraal. That was our luck because due to delays the previous train to Charleroi hadn't even left yet. Moreover, it wouldn't even come to Antwerpen-Centraal. We had to get to Berchem station with an other train. Finally we left there with half an hour delay. If we had missed that earlier train we surely would have missed our connection in Charleroi. On the train different messages were dispatched: the locomotives lacked power to get up the slope from the underground platforms in Antwerpen-Centraal, there were problems with the Amsterdam - Brussel train, there had been a suicide between Antwerpen and Mechelen ... Murphy's law, or the train company's law?
In Beignee there's a station where trains for Charleroi stop. Mind you, that's only valid during the week, there's no weekend service.
The hike:
(click the picture for the full series on Picasa)
From Lobbes station we walk up to the church that overlooks the place from above. From the powerful and influential abbey that used to exist here during more than a millennium, only a part of the surrounding wall, some farm buildings and the church still exist. It's strange when you know that Lobbes used to have the same reputation of the famous abbeys of Cîteaux and Cluny. History can take strange turns.
The church we can admire today is not even the main church of the abbey. The real abbey church was devoted to Saint Peter and from the early days it possessed a number of his relics. Therefore the church was considered too important and too holy to serve as a burial ground for the common monks of the abbey. So, very soon a second church was built where the monks could be buried and where the normal day-to-day services could take place. This secondary church survived the devastations while the main church dissapeared. The one we see today is devoted to St-Ursmer, one of the most famous abbots in the long history of Lobbes. It was a 'Collegial church', which means it was managed by a college of canons. Now that's history too. The 'Collégiale St-Ursmer' is a common community church with a sober interior. Only the long chancel part of the church still points to its collegial past. The chancel had to provide sufficient room for the two long rows of chairs where the canons had to be seated, hence the unusual length.
Having left Lobbes we follow the slope of the Sambre valley and are rewarded with some nice views of the city of Thuin. From what we can read about it, the place would be more than worth a visit, but our GR 129 trail ignores the place.
The path goes down to the river and for a while we walk on the tow path. Then we have to do some guess work to find the correct trail leading us to an outer quarter of Thuin: Waibes. We guessed right and soon we're all surrounded by the vast Bois de Waibes. We stay inside this forest for a few kilometers. Il looks like the perfect place to hear the roaring sounds of deer. Unfortunately those are typical thoughts of ignorant city dwellers, the region is too populated and the forest too small. But one never knows ... with a powerful PA system it should be possible to create that illusion?
We arrive at the small hamlet of Hourpes. All there is to see, are a fantasy castle, a water tower with a hole and a fistful of decripit houses. Yet, this once was the birthplace of the metal industry in the Charleroi region. In the 15th century the first melting oven was built here and in the 18th century a blast furnace was in use. Hourpes was at its industrial hight by the end of the 19th century when the Bonehill Frères company produced 48.000 tons of cast iron and 53.000 tons of cokes each year. Thomas Bonehill was a captain of industry having moved here from England. His importance for the region is often compared to that of the Cockerill's for the Liège region. He had the castle built inspired by an example he once saw in Bohemia. In between the two worldwars the company went broke. The installations were dismantled and transfered to Ireland ... an early case of dislocation.
Today Hourpes is a rather spooky place. The hamlet is associated with the Gang of the Brabant Wallon Killers because of a VW Golf that was dumped and torched not far from here. In the castle large quantities of weapons and ammunition would have been found during a police raid. However, from the outside it all looks rather innocent. A good thing we didn't know about all these things while we were quietly emptying our lunchbox, seated on a bench outside ...
Time to move on. We're hiking through the Bois de Leernes, and a few kilometers further we arrive at the place where our GR 129 trail meets the GR 12 trail. From here both trails run along together for 10 km. We still remember this part from an earlier hike on the GR 12 trail: Anderlues - Ham-sur-Heure.
A rough descending path now leads us back to the river. On the other side are the ruins of the abbey of Aulnes. Suddenly we see the place in a different light. Last year we didn't know that this abbey was founded by the same Landelin that also founded the abbey of Lobbes. The guy must have been a real 'christian-entrepreneur-avant-la-lettre'.
We can't resist the temptation to taste a good ADA beer. Meanwhile, we wonder about the dog we met here last year. Hopefully the poor animal survived.
After this break the hike goes on through the woods for another 10 km. Finally we arrive at Beignee where our GR 129 path separates from the GR 12 trail. We decide that this is a good place to finish today's hike. The train station of Beignee is situated less than a kilometer from here.
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