Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), drawn by Global Adventurer.
The walk
From the car park on the Cordemois road, follow the red rectangles of walk 7 past the Pont de Cordemois and climb by sometimes steep paths to the belvédère, with its view over Bouillon and the Semois. The path then runs along the wooded ridge to the viewpoints of the Épine and of the abbey church, drops to the Moulin de l'Épine on the river, and comes back upstream, past the abbey of Cordemois, to the start.
It is 7.2 km round with 268 m of ascent, counted on the unsmoothed heights of our line; allow about 2½ hours. The tourist board's box for its walk gives 7.3 km, 2 h 30 and 459 m of ascent, and calls it Hard, while its text says average; our ascent is 42% below its figure. The grade is Moderate on our scale: the time alone would make it Easy, but the tourist board rates the walk Hard with 459 m of ascent, so we hold it at Moderate. The main climb is from the start at 216 m to the belvédère at 364 m, and there is a second climb of about 50 m after the abbey; the rest is track, lane and path. At about 4.3 km the path crosses a stream at a ford mapped in OpenStreetMap.
On the day of a drive hunt, hunters can ask for the public roads and paths through a forest to be closed; a closed path has a red-background poster at its entrance. The Walloon government's hunting map (ChasseOnWeb) shows our line crossing two hunting territories, one over the ridge between the belvédère and the Moulin de l'Épine and one around the belvédère and the abbey of Cordemois. The Walloon government's page on forest use also asks walkers to stay on the paths, keep dogs on a lead and make no fire.
A mapped car park lies beside the Cordemois road, about 650 m in a straight line from the Pont de Cordemois (at the end of the Rue de la Poulie), where the tourist board starts the walk; our line reaches the bridge's west end at about 0.7 km.
Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.
Good to know
- The tourist board presents the walk as one that takes in Bouillon castle, a thousand-year-old fortress made famous by Godefroid de Bouillon and his crusade to Jerusalem, though our line stays about 350 m from the castle and does not go up to it
- The loop is waymarked with red rectangles, walk number 7
- The tourist board's page for the longer walk 'La balade du Géant' names the Moulin de l'Épine on the Semois as a very pleasant picnic spot
- Bouillon lies in the Semois Valley National Park, recognised at the end of 2022
Getting there
Start: Car park on the Cordemois road, Bouillon. 49.79076, 5.05747
Directions to the start
Places to stay nearby
Rooms in and around Car park on the Cordemois road: Booking.com → Expedia → Hotels.com →
Affiliate links: if you book, Global Adventurer earns a small commission at no cost to you.
Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line is drawn along OpenStreetMap paths and the figures are worked out from it; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.
