When hiking becomes meditation

"Just when I think it can’t get any better, another magical new day dawns on the Venntrilogie trail." Outdoor blogger Franziska Consolati spent three days exploring High Fens’ varied landscapes. Having trekked all over Europe, she now tells us what she loved most about East Belgium.

Text & pictures: Franziska Consolati (ins-nirgendwo-bitte.de)
Translation: Johanna McCalmont

A stream gurgles quietly beneath me. I can't see it because it's hidden from sight under the thick reeds of the high-moor bog, but it has been my companion for several kilometres this morning. The sound is almost surreal because the landscape before me is otherwise still.

The past few kilometres in the most wonderful autumn morning mist have felt almost like a meditation. I concentrate on the wooden boardwalk which leads me safely across the moor. I can only see a dozen or so metres to my left and right, the rest of the landscape hidden by the fog. Yet I know how vast it is. Yesterday I was captivated by the virtually endless horizon.

I set foot in this unique landscape for the first time less than 24 hours ago. Before then, it had been a landscape I could only vaguely picture. I had no idea how quickly it would enchant me - most likely due to the way I’ve been able to discover and explore it.

I'm on the Venntrilogie trail, a 109-kilometer hike through the ever-changing landscapes of the Belgian Fens. With six official sections, this long-distance trail includes magical moorlands, fairytale forests, heaths, fields of ferns, waterfalls, ravines and endless views.

While some sections of the hike feel like a meditation—such as this stretch along the wooden boardwalk through the High Fens—the landscape elsewhere changes so quickly that I find myself turning round to look back because I can hardly believe that, just a few meters ago, I was still merrily walking through the autumn forest but am now following a steep rockface along the winding the path.

The flat fens stretch out before me, mystical, magical like a fairytale. More than 100 million years ago, this was a mountain landscape. The peat bogs surrounding me formed over the impermeable, slate soil of the mountain crest that was once here. Over the course of several thousand years, the summit was worn away, becoming the biodiverse plains I cross several times along the hike. The High Fens that now stretch over a total area of around 5,000 hectares have been a nature reserve since 1957, making them the oldest conservation area in Wallonia and one of the most well-known reserves in Belgium.

Even though it was only yesterday, my starting point in Eupen feels much farther away than it actually is. It was a quiet autumn morning when I made my way through the narrow streets up out of the town into the forest, a few birds twittering here and there. The Hill river gurgled happily as I followed it for the first few kilometres. The deciduous trees had already donned their autumn colours but still had most of their leaves which glowed bright orange. As the trees gradually grew smaller, the grasses grew higher. The path crisscrossed with tree roots was soon covered with a wooden boardwalk in more and more places, and before I knew it, the view stretched out to the horizon. I had reached Wallonia's High Fens, where the grasses on the moors glowed the most stunning autumn shades. I continued for almost 7 km before reaching my final destination for the day, the highest hotel in Belgium on the edge of the fens.

That was my starting point this morning, a few kilometres ago. I would do anything to do relive those quiet moments of stillness in the middle of the fens, accompanied by the gurgling stream as the mist fell gently on my shoulders. If I had known then that in just a few kilometres the fens would transform into a fairytale forest, I'm sure it would have been much easier to leave that section behind.

The forest floor is overgrown with moss with a variety of ferns rippling across the ground between the tree trunks, and mushrooms popping up everywhere. I walk several kilometres through the Trôs-Marets ravine, also known as the 'Land of Springs'. The trail here is particularly varied. I cross small bridges over the river and follow steep cliffaces that rise up from the ravine. The Trôs-Marets river weaves through the valley via rocky passageways, down small waterfalls and through lush forests. One short section of the trail where the river cuts its way through the rocks even requires holding on to wire ropes.

The contrast with the morning spent in the fens couldn't be greater. Yet it was only a few hours ago, barely 10 kilometres away. Who would have thought, at this point in the trail, that the landscape would change once again?

My third day on the Venntrilogie trail feels like yet another world entirely. The fog has lifted overnight and given way to a clear blue autumn sky, which only makes it all the harder to say farewell to this landscape that has enchanted me along every kilometre.

According to the official Venntrilogie guide, today I'll hike Sections 5 and 6 from Malmedy to Bütgenbach. The first few kilometres take me up over the Calvary hill, out of Malmedy and into the Warche valley. Again and again, the forest opens up to offer a view of the surrounding rolling landscape. When I finally reach the Robertville dam, the landscape changes for the second half of this section of the trail. I leave the endless forests of the southern fens behind me and find myself out in large open fields again. As I complete the last few kilometres, crossing meadows with the Bütgenbach rooftops coming into view, I realise that although the landscape along the trail changes constantly, the feeling remains the same—the feeling that you've been completely immersed in a natural environment where time has stood still.

And that is precisely what makes a hike along the Venntrilogie so unique: exploring this diverse landscape which formed more than 10,000 years ago after the first ice age is like travelling through time, yet you also lose all sense of time. Rarely do I feel so connected with the present moment as I did on the wooden boardwalk in the High Fens. Rarely have I lost myself so fully in a lush fairytale forest yet been so present. This may sound like a contradiction, but I can't explain it. Perhaps that is the magic of the Venntrilogie.

What had you least expected? 

How incredibly vast the landscape in East Belgium is. This sense of endless space took my breath away more than once. I often stopped and spun round to soak up the 360-degree panorama. And each time, I couldn't believe that I had the landscape all to myself. That was also something that surprised me: the fact that I met hardly any other hikers in the national park. The trail is so well marked, with endless possibilities, that we often had the entire landscape to ourselves.

What are your tips for getting there?

On hikes where the start and end points are far apart, I always prefer to use public transport; then I don't have to worry about finding somewhere to park or how to get back to my car when I've reached the end. It was really very easy to get to and from East Belgium by public transport. Hikers from Germany, for example, can travel via Aachen train station, a major transport hub. Anyone coming by train through Belgium, from Liège-Guillemins, Bruxelles-Midi, or Gent-Sint-Peter for example, has good intercity train connections to Eupen and Verviers. The Belgian TEC transport website is very useful for planning travel routes.

How did you prepare for the hike?

On the one hand, I prepared myself for the hike by hiking, of course.😊 Making sure I had a good general level of fitness was important. It was also good that I could adapt the hike to suit my own needs by using the 'Plan your trip' function on ostbelgien.eu. I used it to select how many days I wanted to hike, how many kilometres each section should be and to find out about public transport options for the Start and End. The interactive trip planner then suggested the best route for me. It also included additional information, such as the type of path and the closest bus stops and train stations along each section.

And finally, can you sum up your Venntrilogie experience in three words?

Unexpected, unforgettable, magical.

You can read her second article on the Venntrilogie here: ins-nirgendwo-bitte.de/venntrilogie