フィリップヴィルの天然記念物・トップ20

Walked past here today. Completely closed off with barbed wire. And inaccessible.

Ancient medieval castle. Visitable after a short walk.

View of the village of Olloy. A little blocked by the trees, but standing on the rocks you can see the village very well.

Just below the chapel is a spring, which drains into the path below: a unique botanical phenomenon of limestone tufa can be admired here.

“Carrière Prosper” is the name of the place that now houses around twenty climbing routes ranging from level 4C to 7A (more for experienced climbers). Adapting the quarry took around five hundred hours of work. “We have to remove the unstable stones, carefully inspect the quality of the rock and possibly fix it, and only at the end do we start drilling holes to install what we call ‘the pins’, i.e. the belay points,” explains Koen Hauchecorne, head of rocks at the Flemish Climbing Federation (this federation manages this site and a dozen others, and it’s more or less the same for its French-speaking counterpart).

The Fondry des Chiens in Nismes, also known as the Belgian Grand Canyon, is a natural hollow formed by the seepage of rainwater through the limestone bedrock. It is a unique geological phenomenon and one of the few places in Belgium where you can see such natural gorges. The hollow is approximately 100 metres long and 20 metres deep. The area is surrounded by limestone grassland and dotted with rocks, crevices and caves. The site is rich in rare flowers such as wild orchids and ball daisies, and offers a habitat for various butterflies and lizards. The area is recognised as a nature reserve and is protected because of its vulnerable flora and fauna.

The Luve (or Ruisseau de Luve ) is a Belgian-French river in the Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse , a tributary of the Viroin and a tributary of the Meuse. Over a largely wooded course of about fifteen kilometres, it drains part of the water from the southern part of the Viroin-Hermeton nature park . Its source is in the 'Bois de Franche' south of the hamlet of Regniessart. It rises towards the north-east and crosses Oignies-en-Thiérache and passes south of Le Mesnil. Then, during a long forest route, it crosses the French-Belgian border and flows further north into the Viroin at Molhain, in France, just a few kilometres before the confluence of the latter with the Meuse.

Starting from the church of Le Mesnil, a small typical village in the municipality of Viroinval, take the route that goes down between large meadows to reach the Ardennes forest. For the record: Le Mesnil is the least populated and most picturesque village in the Viroinval region. The route runs along the stream “Deluve” before crossing it and taking a very beautiful path that follows the border between Belgium and France to reach the place called “La Folie”. This place evokes the audacity of these men who went into the forest to open an oasis of light and life. The return to the village is via a charming stone path in the forest.