Gedinne (‘Croix Scaille’ and the Elves Path )

Who has not dreamed of walking through untamed land, recharging their batteries, going on for ever, taking a breather? This untouched region around ‘Croix Scaille’ is just the place to realise this dream. Happiness guaranteed…

À Gedinne

A - The 'Croix Scaille' and the Elves Path


The route climbs constantly, finally reaching the highest point in the province of Namur. This is a totally different land, a land of high plateaus where the wind blows and nature reigns supreme. The hiking trails, outstandingly well marked, reveal the loveliest paths through Scaille forest and nearby France. There are two walks with commentaries, one across the duckboards of the ‘Fange de l’Abime’ nature reserve and the other following in the footsteps of the maquis, the Resistance fighters.

And then there is the Franco-Belgian network of hiking trails, ‘L’Espace de Loisirs Forestiers Européen’ (ELFE) which covers a distance of over 80 km between France and Belgium. It includes a number of superb hikes from Croix Scaille to Fumay in the Meuse Valley.

This network also has two walks based on a fun-filled treasure hunt, one at Croix Scaille, the other in Hierges.

Discover the walk online

À Croix-Scaille

B - The Millennium Tower


The 42-metre-high Millennium tower is an amazing structure. It’s as if you were at the top of a ship’s mast, with the view spreading 30 kilometres beneath you across an ocean of green: the Ardennes forest!

À Croix-Scaille

C - Walking

The 'Fange de l'Abîme'

Upon leaving the 'Ferme Jacob' farm, the last rows of spruce trees stand guard over this plateau of peaty mires. Duckboards open up the way towards pure nature: enter with humility. Beneath your feet, the water gurgles and streams spring up.

Rousseries stream flows over its bed of black peat at the point where two duckboards cross. Cold and acidic, it hides among the birch trees and the peat moss. Twilight falls over the Fange de l’Abîme. There’s not a glimmer of light on the horizon. Nothing to betray a human presence. The isolation makes you tremble.  

The walk is enhanced by panels explaining the botany of the area and takes you to one of the last remaining peaty moors of the western Ardennes.

Practical details
Distance: 7 km
Waymarking: yellow (walk No 41)
Difficulty: average
Time: 2.30 h
Start: Millennium Tower

To go further afield

Gedinne walking map on sale at the Namur Ardennes Tourist Office

Did you know?

The ‘Ferme Jacob’ farm, together with the neighbouring villages of Vieux-Moulins-de-Thilay and Neuville-aux-Haies, were centres of the resistance movement. Their remote location and the protection of the forest made them ideal hiding places for the maquis, the Resistance fighters. Marguerite Fontaine, who lived in Vieux-Moulins, saved many escaped prisoners and allied pilots whose planes had been shot down.

Tourist reception site

Office du Tourisme de Gedinne- www.gedinne.be