Laifour, Les Dames de Meuse à Laifour et Revin

A canyon like valley
In its passage through the Ardennes, Meuse is at the bottom of a very deep valley. Such a canyon, the river slides 300 meters below the summit of the hills. Steep slopes covered with forests surround the narrow valley. A harsh landscape that bore terrible legends ...

À Laifour

A - Les Dames de Meuse à Laifour et Revin Voir sur la carte

The Meuse comes up against three huge rocks. It’s an amazing sight, providing a vision of another country. So it’s hardly surprising that few people went there: it was said that the devil held diabolic meetings there…

The legend Voir sur la carte

The year 1080 was a time of jubilation in Hierges. The three sons of the lord were marrying Hodierne, Berthe and Ige, the three loveliest daughters of the Count of Rethel. But the idyll was not to last: the first crusade carried the three brothers away to their fate as warriors. Love chases love away when absence persists. On the day when Godefroy de Bouillion and his loyal followers seized Jerusalem, the three sisters betrayed their love with three knights of Hierges. The lord, showing no mercy, changed the three adulteresses into rocks.

Tip Voir sur la carte

Les Dames de Meuse appear to best effect when following the superb green track from Revin or Monthermé. There they stand motionless, frozen for all eternity.

Walking Voir sur la carte

From Laifour, a path joins the majestic ridge and leads to the Dames de Meuse beauty spot.

Practical details

Distance: 14 km

Waymarking: yellow/red waymarking

Difficulty: middle

Duration: 4h

Start: From Laifour railway station, follow the road up. Cross the D1 and follow the signs to “Les Dames de Meuse”

See the route of the walk

To go further afield Voir sur la carte

Topo guide, The Ardennes on foot, published by the French Hiking Federation. Walk No 15

À Revin

B - The city of iron

Lying at the heart of the valley of iron and the forest, the city of Revin is skirted by two bends of the river: a superb location. The city is inextricably linked to the metallurgy industry which has left its mark on the landscape. It linked its destiny to great captains of industry, such as Arthur Martin who, in 1884, started manufacturing his first cookers. When Rimbaud stopped there before going to Belgium, he was astounded to see haggard men, women and children, exhausted after their heavy labour in the depths of the foundries.

'You will close your eyes, so as not to see, through the glass,

The evening shadows pulling faces.

Those snarling monsters, a population

Of black devils and black wolves.'

Extract – Poem by Arthur Rimbaud “Rêvé pour l'hiver” (A Dream for Winter) (7 October 1870).

Tip

Revin is home to countless legends. The tourist office has produced a very fine brochure containing the Gestes and myths that are never very far away in Revin.

À Revin

C - Mont Malgré-Tout Voir sur la carte

In Revin, the hill becomes a mountain. The summit can be reached by following a breathtakingly steep path, worthy of the Alps. This backbone, crushing Revin by its very power, is the story of the stubbornness of a certain Murquin who, despite all opposition, is said to have built his house on this path that makes your head spin…

LDid you know? Voir sur la carte

Georges Sand fell under the spell of the city and the site and took inspiration from Mont Malgré-Tout for one of her novels.

À Revin

D - The spanish house Voir sur la carte

Industrial on one side, Revin becomes gentler once you cross the bridge that leads to the town centre. Along the banks of the Meuse, an authentic district dating from the 16th and 18th centuries is concealed from view. The finest of the buildings, the wooden-walled Spanish House, recalls that the city, at the crossroads of invasions, was once under Iberian domination… This remarkable building has now become a museum of local heritage. The history of industry in Revin will never be forgotten…

Learn more

Maison Espagnole2 Rue Victor Hugo
08500 Revin
Tel : 0033(0)3 24 41 55 73
Web : http://www.ville-revin.net

À Revin