From the Alps to the Ardennes

[Riverman]

3 - 5 August 2017 - Aosta valley - 20km - 1164m ascent - 10 hr

The week after my trip to the Monte Rosa with the Belgian Alpine Club my wife and I stayed in the Aosta valley and spent a few days in Cogne. I was pretty exhausted and didn’t think I’d have the legs for any more hiking but we had a couple of really nice walks.

The first day we walked a fair way up the path from Cogne towards the Rifugio Vittorio Sella. On the way up we had some great views of Gran Paradiso. By my reckoning we reached an altitude of about 2300m where the path crosses a significant torrent. We were really not that far from the refuge (which sits at 2588m) but decided not to continue as we were both lacking in energy and I certainly felt under no pressure to gain cols, huts, summits or any other objectives given the previous week’s exertions.


Gran Paradiso

For our second hike in Cogne we walked east to the impressive waterfalls at Lillaz, climbing steeply up to Bioule (1756m). On our final day we headed back to Valnontey to admire the magnificent alpine botanical garden there. We spent more time trying to capture photos of butterflies than looking at the plants!


Lillaz falls

Cogne is a really beautiful little town in the shadow of the Gran Paradiso. I hope one day to see it winter when I imagine the town would look even more magical under a blanket of snow. Being relatively high up we were never subjected to temperatures higher than 26 degrees in Cogne even when the thermometer was hitting 37 degrees in Aosta as a heatwave swept across Italy.


Alpine garden

For any WHers interested in exploring the hiking trails of the Aosta valley I would heartily recommend Cogne as a perfect base.

10 September - Trois Ponts - Stavelot circuit - 21.7km - 708m ascent - 5hr 52min


Back in Belgium

More than a month after returning from holiday I decided it was time to stretch my legs in Belgium again. So last Sunday I made it to the Gare du Midi before 7am for an early train to Trois Ponts, a small town on the Ambleve river to the south east of Stavelot. This area was the scene of bitter fighting during the Battle of the Ardennes in December 1944.

At Trois Ponts the Americans succeeded in halting the German advance. By stopping German tanks from crossing of the Ambleve river the defenders of Trois Ponts frustrated German attempts to unlock a route to the strategically important Meuse river. It was a pivotal moment in the battle.

The German units that attacked near Trois Ponts were the same ones that had murdered dozens of US prisoners of war at Malmedy. In nearby Stavelot they committed more dreadful atrocities and as I walked through Stavelot near its ancient abbey I noticed the memorial plaque recording the names of 133 civilians who were murdered there by the SS. The plaque recorded names and ages and it was disturbing to see the youngest age on the list was just 1, and that two young brothers aged 4 and 7 had perished with their parents. Everywhere one walks in the Ardennes the memories of 1944 are never far away.

I continued west from Stavelot to the impressive Coo waterfalls. I arrived at Coo by descending a very steep hill where I saw something quite unexpected: a chairlift. No ski slopes here but more an extension of the amusement park that sits at the bottom of the hill near the falls. It certainly amused me to find such a vestige of the Alps out here in the Ardennes.

I arrived back at Trois Ponts railway station just in time to see the train leave without me. Stuck for two hours until the next one I was forced to sit lazily in a cafe drinking great Belgian beer. So no hardship really and I was still back in Brussels in time for dinner. While I miss the hills of Wales and Scotland it's good to know that I can still get a decent hike in on a weekend with a fair amount of ascent.