HF2 - Sclassin - 7km

A walk for lovers of wide-open spaces and sweeping landscapes, mostly along paved country roads.

The Estrèles are located in the kaolin extraction area, which continued to be mined after the 1940–45 war. The ponds on either side of the two roads bear witness to this activity. The walk crosses the meadows and the Champs d'Auge. Owned by the church, they were nationalized in 1795 during the French occupation but returned under Napoleon I by the Concordat of 1802.

The area occupied by the hamlet of Scottons was a land-clearing zone before 1850. The name Scottons appears around 1800: tradition has it that the crops were ravaged by invasions of insects that “scotched” the ears of grain. In the woods, slightly lower down, lies the hidden Goubierdure Spring, one of the sources of the Ri d'Ordenne, a tributary of the Almache.

At the exit of the hamlet, a vast landscape of meadows, fields, and woods unfolds in harmonious alternation. This is Grani, “the large nests.” On the left, the Ordenne valley, like a wooded ribbon, descends toward Gembes. At the Child’s Cross, it is said that long ago a child was devoured by wolves.

At the bottom of the descent, the route crosses the Banal Wood, formerly owned by the Lords of Sclassin. The Burnefontaine stream, crossed by the Gembes–Haut-Fays road, is closely tied to the history of Sclassin, as its waters supplied the successive castles of the Lords. The Castle of Sclassin, residence of the Lords of Sclassin, was destroyed in 1554 during the war between the King of France, Henry II, and Charles V.

There are two curiosities in Sclassin: the watering troughs and the Halmidon Spring. The double watering trough is set against a retaining wall. The Halmidon Spring is arranged with a few flat stones, and the women from the Mont used to go there to wash their laundry. The route returns to Haut-Fays through meadows and fields.