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Half the tour leads through the High Fens, where forest areas alternate with expansive peat bogs. The other 20 km takes you past open pastures around the Warche and Robertville reservoir, which you cross twice.
Download GPX fileStarting and finishing point of the tour: Botrange, Nature Parc Centre, route de Botrange 313
www.botrange.be
Description of the route: Follow the cycle route nodes: 76> 77> 78> 89 > 81> 45> 44> 43> 42> 38> 72> 71> 86> 83> 80> 51> 52> 50
Parking: Free car park at Botrange Nature Park Centre
Public transport: Vennliner 394: From Eupen via Botrange to St. Vith or from St. Vith via Botrange to Eupen
www.infotec.be
An 800-metre walk at Robertville reservoir leads to the castle dating from 1354. It rises up above the Warche valley in an imposing manner.
The Botrange Nature Park Centre is the beating heart of the High Fens-Eifel Nature Park situated on Belgian territory. Starting from the visitors’ centre, you cycle through dense forests into the Bayehon valley, which has carved its way deeply into the landscape. You then ride through the open countryside around Robertville. A reservoir was built here on the Warche in the 1920s to provide Malmedy with drinking water. The dam wall is 55 m high and retains almost 8 million m³ of water. The reservoir has meanwhile developed into a tourist attraction and an Eldorado for water sports enthusiasts. Cows and pastures alternate with quaint and charming hamlets, and you reach the disused railway line when you have crossed the lake for the second time. You follow the Vennbahn cycle path for ten kilometres from the source region of the Rur to Kalterherberg (D). When you reach Sourbrodt, the Vennbahn leads you in solitary fashion through pastureland as far as the eye can see, then alongside areas of the Fens and finally parallel to the burbling Rur. Between Sourbrodt and Leykaul, on the tracks next to the cycle path, you will encounter draisines or railbikes travelling to and fro over a 7-km route.
Safety information
Between node 80 and node 51 you will find yourself on a forest trail, part of which does not offer ideal cycling conditions. Please show consideration for hikers between nodes 51 and 50.
Along the route
Botrange: Fagn’eteria (Nature Park Centre), Tel. +32 80 44 53 59, open daily
Kalterherberg (Leykaul): Waffle Time: Stop off here for a drink and something to eat in a former railway carriage
www.railbike.be