G1 - Gaudru - 8km

Parking and departure at the former Gembes station.

Boots are essential.

The path follows the former Graide–Wellin local railway line. The Gembes station was the main stop on the line for timber transport. Traffic ceased in 1952. This route was considered one of the prettiest in the Ardennes.

At the foot of the village of Gembes lies the Pré Lavaux. In the past, part of this meadow bordered “the free water of the Lords.” The Lord levied certain rights on the use of the water there, for example for watering livestock. The spruce plantations have changed everything.

The valley narrows between rocky escarpments. An oblique dam in the river, the Vanne Schérenne, marks the start of an old irrigation ditch that runs along the path for a kilometer. At the Pont de l’Ermite, now in ruins, the irrigation channel passes through a tunnel in the bridge foundations. From the local railway bridge, the Pont de Fer, looking upstream gives a better view of the layout and function of the meadow irrigation channels.

On the opposite bank (marked “AF” along the path), a leveled circular area about 12 meters in diameter marks the site of a former Aire de Faulde. Charcoal burners produced charcoal there by slowly burning wood under a layer of earth, with logs stacked vertically on several levels around a central chimney.

The Ri de Gaudru separates the municipalities of Daverdisse and Wellin. The Virée des Soudards recalls that Roman armies are said to have camped here. The terrain suggests the shape of burial mounds. At the Ri de Bissu, kaolin destined for earthenware factories was still being extracted.

Return to the village via the Old Gembes Path, the former Gallo-Roman route from Lomprez to Gembes. The troops of the French kings Henry II (in 1554) and Louis XIII (in 1635) passed this way during the wars.

The Douaire, at the entrance to Gembes, refers to land that provides income for the parish priest. In the village, the walk passes in front of the school, a neoclassical building intelligently renovated in 1990.