Ligne 109/2

Your route starts in Thuin, in the heart of the Thudinie region and the Sambre valley, where you can admire the hanging gardens or visit the Musée vivant du Tram Vicinal (tram museum). This is a great addition to the RAVeL, which starts just next door on the old Belgian railway line No 109/2. So you’re off for ‘more RAVeL, more pleasure! 

Following Line 109/2, you gradually enter the Botte du Hainaut through pastures, fields of crops and small valleys, where silence reigns supreme. You pass peacefully through Thuillies, Ossogne and Strée, villages of brick-built thatched cottages typical of the region. You approach the French border through the bocages of the Hainaut fens and reach Beaumont, a medieval town whose Salamandre Tower still stands proud, recalling its military past.
You then wander through the state-owned forest of Sivry-Rance, a centre for red marble quarrying and the Pays d’entre-lacs region. When you reach Froidchapelle, if you have a sudden desire to bathe, you can pop over to the Eau d’Heure lakes along the Lakes cycling route.
Having crossed what is certainly the greenest region of Hainaut, you finally reach the end of your expedition in the City of the Princes of Chimay, where you will have earned the right to sample, in moderation, a famous Trappist beer, carefully brewed by the monks of the Benedictine abbey of Scourmont.