The best traffic-free bike rides around Modave

The 'Duivelssteen' of Haillot is a menhir. It is an upright stone, carved by our Neolithic ancestors in the 3rd millennium BC, more than 5000 years ago. Preventive excavations carried out in the summer of 2007 by archaeologist Christian Frébutte and his team from the Walloon Association for the Study of Megaliths, prior to a future housing project, definitively confirmed the stone's origin. According to his findings, the menhir was deliberately felled at a time yet unknown and, as evidenced by plough marks, lay there for a considerable time. In the 19th century, probably because it obstructed the construction of the road, it was moved again and buried in the ditch, but partially submerged. The excavations revealed the precise location where the stone had stood, confirming its origin as an upright stone. A polished fragment of a volcanic rock axe, typical of the 3rd millennium BC, found at this location, also bears witness to the Stone Age. The more or less pronounced anthropomorphic appearance of most menhirs leads archaeologists to believe that they were used for ancestor worship or to represent a tribal chief or important figure during his lifetime. Whether they served as territorial boundaries, funerary monuments, places of prayer, or places of devotion remains a mystery. Source: geneadeg.net/

Very idyllic stretch of Ourthe, beautiful side arm

Durbuy is first mentioned in 1078 (as Dolbui) and in 1084 (under the current name). The first traces of habitation are found during excavations in the Anticlinaal cave by Count Pierre d'Ursel. The d'Ursel family still inhabits Durbuy Castle. Before the current castle, there were already others. Based on the archives of Luxembourg, a castle was destroyed and in the eleventh century, another was built by Henry II the Lame, who had received the domain from his mother Rageline, sister of Pope Stephen II, and her husband Albert II of Namur. Around 1156, that castle was severely damaged by flames and during the succession wars of the Duchy of Limburg, it was destroyed several more times. From 1412, Durbuy came into the hands of the House of Burgundy and at the end of the fifteenth century, the then-existing castle was destroyed by Maximilian of Austria, like all the castles of the la Marck family: besides Durbuy, these also include the castles of Logne and La Roche. In 1628, Baron Antoine Schetz of Grobendonck leased the Durbuy estate for 40,000 gold marks, a very considerable sum. Besides being a baron, he was also Count of Grobbendonk, Lord of Tilburg and Goirle, Pulle and Pulderbos, and Wezemaal. He was in the service of the Spanish and had led the defense of 's-Hertogenbosch during the Eighty Years' War. At the age of 71, he was also governor of the city of Leuven during the Siege of Leuven. And he was the first in a long line of the d'Ursel family who, to this day, inhabit the castle. In 1731, the castle was rebuilt by the then Duke of Ursel. Countess Auguste d'Ursel, who acquired the d'Ursel family's possessions in Durbuy, then modernized the castle from 1880 to 1882 with the help of architect Thirian from Namur. During the Second World War, the castle was occupied several times and in 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, it was used as a field hospital by the American liberators, with the billiard table serving as an operating table. Sources: historical overviews in Word documents on the website of Count Jean-Michel d'Ursel, current resident, at https://www.chateaudedurbuy.be/historique.html

Today, the castle is part of the Radhadesh estate, which also includes a more recent residential center and several even more recent agricultural buildings. Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen (Flanders Public Art Agency) calls it a spiritual community, where the new residents have thoroughly restored the castle and transformed it into a true spiritual oasis where you can explore the colorful culture of Indian traditions. Specifically, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (formerly the Hare Krishna movement) has a base and residential community there. There's also a vegan restaurant, a shop, a museum of sacred art (MOSA), and you can take a paid tour. The temple is accessible without payment. There's also a 2.8-kilometer "spiritual" walking trail. More at https://www.okv.be/museum/radhadesh-kasteel-van-petite-somme I'm not mentioning the domain's website because of a virus alert on my computer.

Built in 1888 and now in its neo-Gothic style, the castle served as a field hospital during the First World War, where the Jourda family cared for wounded and also sheltered local residents whose homes had been destroyed. During the Second World War, it housed American soldiers during the Rundstedt Offensive. From 1946 onwards, it became a holiday center, a school for people with intellectual disabilities, a youth hostel, a campsite, and a hotel-restaurant, all under the initiative of mayors Jean Andrieu of Herstal and Denis Deghaye of Oupeye. After the initiative's bankruptcy, a Brussels real estate agent, Serge Frankovich, bought the property in 1975, leaving it vacant for five years and plundering it. The Hare Krishna movement then purchased it and turned it into the Radhadesh estate. Sources: - https://www.castles.nl/petite-somme-castle - https://www.burchten-kastelen.be/provincies/luxemburg/002%20Kasteel%20van%20Petite%20Somme/Kasteel%20van%20Petite%20Somme.html - https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite-Somme

Since 1980, the castle of Petite-Somme has housed a temple of the Hare Krishna movement, which today operates as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The dilapidated castle, of course, has a longer history. The current castle is also not the original and dates from 1888. The first mention of a castle on this site dates back to the eleventh century, when a certain Gozélonde Montaigu owned it. He was also the first Count of Montaigu. The County of Montaigu was quite influential for a time. It included the County of Duras in the Sint-Truiden region, the County of Clermont-sous-Huy, the Lordship of Jodoigne, and the village of Marcourt. The Counts of Montaigu were also vice-patrons of the Abbey of Sint-Truiden. Ecclesiastically, it belonged to the diocese of Liège. The castle was reportedly donated to the Abbey of Saint Hubert by the wife of Gozélon de Montaigu as penance for his husband's alleged plundering of the abbey's property. In the fourteenth century, a certain Jean de Bohême was said to have owned it, adding a tower to the castle, which became part of Luxembourg's defensive line. In 1461, the castle became the property of the de Hamal family, a Dutch-Belgian noble family that also appears in the histories of several Limburg villages and lordships (including 's Herenelderen, Grevenbroek, and the land of Vogelsanck). The de Hamal family held the lordship and castle of Petite Somme until 1774. Several noble families then succeeded one another. First came Albert Joseph de Favereau, born in 1750. De Favereau demolished the house that had served as the Hamal family's residence and built a brick manor house on its foundations. The new castle remained in the family's possession until 1877. Other sources claim that the demolition was carried out by the Count de Vaux, Aimable-Alexis de Jourda. What is certain is that the de Favereau family building was also demolished by a certain Louise Marie Eulalie, a relative of Baron Victor Albert de Favereau. And whatever the exact details are: it is certain that the current neo-Gothic castle stood there in 1888. Sources: - https://www.castles.nl/petite-somme-castle - https://www.burchten-kastelen.be/provincies/luxemburg/002%20Kasteel%20van%20Petite%20Somme/Kasteel%20van%20Petite%20Somme.html - https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite-Somme

Beautiful place, it feels like you've stumbled upon an English estate. Yet, you're driving right through it on the public road.

I didn't get any further because of new asphalt, probably two weeks after my post there is fantastic asphalt here!!