Odysseus Abroad: Durbuy, Belgium

Durbuy - Belgium

Ursel Castle of Durbuy

People were crashing everywhere Good Friday afternoon of 2022 adding an hour and half to my drive from Leiden to Durbuy, Belgium, but I got there safely and my old Citroen CX was greeted with smiles and waves along the country roads making a nice end to the trip after turmoil on the highways around Antwerp and Brussels. Luminous yellow fields of rapeseed along the way set off against a clear blue sky reflecting Ukraine's national flag on the 52nd of Russia's tragic war in the country which was on everyone's mind in Europe. Les Roques Monastery was my destination for long weekend, met there my Marcel, the apartment manager who explained the conditions of the lower floors, molded and water damaged from severe floods July the prior year. Lacking a fluency in common language did not hinder the passion with which Marcel showed me the water level reached on the ground floor walls, all in a matter of 10 minutes, dwellers having to run from their rooms, clothed or unclothed as they were at the time, the water rising so fast. July 2021 brought unusually severe flooding in The Ourthe River which rund through Durbuy, but also throughout Europe, as I monitored the news then from my hiking in Colorado. Now I heard the evidence based on Marcel's surprise at the speed at which the water rose putting residents at risk. The weather now was good and forecast dry for coming days, but Marcel advised not to park in the lower parking area in fear of the risk of flash flooding. Much of the town was flooded then at least to the ground floor, but there were few signs of remaining damage, but for the renovation work in the monastery.

Old town Durbuy is shaped by water, the Ourthe river having carved out the rock and exposed 300 million years of geology in the famous anticline structure which buttresses the compact city. Like the Meuse, it is likely the Ourthe originally formed as a south flowing river, but reversed after ice ages. The original village and castle there stood on an island between two tributaries of The Ourthe, but the eastern side has long since been filled in with only a small lake at the anticline as a reminder.

Saturday, after coffee in town my day hike started northward up a steep incline to the high green plateau, the Bronfort Damien, a popular hiking area and continued into woodlands thereafter trying to navigate around the private holdings. Eventually I found a clear long route west toward the town of Tohogne, a wonderful mind clearing hike through forests emerging through spring, with green shoots expanding, but not yet enough to block the light. Emerging eventually on the grasslands over Tohogne, I descended through the quiet village and on down the riverbank woods to the trail along the Ourthe which would bring me back to town.

Durbuy was important enough to be elevated to status of a city by 1331 - today the city claims to be the smallest in Belgium. On a rock above the river stands tall Durbuy Castle, held by the Ursel family today. A prominent location on The Ourthe River along with an advantageous geographic layout was recognized back to Roman times. A castle was destroyed in 900AD, rebuilt and destroyed by fire in 1156, rebuilt and attached by the people of Leige in 1237 and 1317, when the town was positioned as the northern flank of the Duchy of Luxembourg. In 1492 the castle was destroyed by war, rebuilt and by 1628 was acquired by Anthony II Schetz, a commander under the Spanish military, who passed it on to the Ursel family whose line still own the castle today by Comte Jean-Michel d'Ursel. Again destroyed by war later in the 1600's the castle was rebuilt in 1731 by the Ursels and modernized in the 1800's. The castle is open periodically for visits, but not during my visit.

There was a holiday weekend vibe in the town buoyed along by warmth and sunshine and for some, the men swimming naked in the river below, copious alcohol. Across the river people ignored them as families wandered the topiary park stood in full bloom of spring. Saint Nicolas Church nearby stood silent and empty, but brightened by the afternoon sun rays colored by tall stained glass windows. In town the facade of the historic Corn Exchange building stood as it was when built in 1540, reflecting the importance of commerce in the town then. The building today houses an art exhibit in which the visitors seemed to have little interest, allowing me to have the place to myself. Nearby in the town plaza was a weekend market of products from Normandy where I bought wine from the Loire Valley, a Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil which we had visited many years before. Mornings or evenings were best to tour the town of stone buildings and cobblestone streets with fewer people and angled light.

On my second day hike starting up the peak of the anticline, heading south into vast woodlands, which I had mostly to myself but for a few deer, and tadpoles in the ponds hoping to grow quickly enough to depart before the ponds dried up, I turned westward, eventually emerging to cross the river to the town of Deulin. I was attracted there by a grand chateau on the hill, Chateau Duelin, built in 1758 by Guillaume Joseph de Harlez and still owned by the family and run as an event center. From there I turned back to find another forested route back to Durbuy covering about 20km, another beautiful day in the woods. I took country roads on my departure the following day, rather than the highway, hoping to absorb as much of the wonderful countryside of the Ardennes, which I had started exploring during the lockdowns of Covid pandemic, when I could manage to reach by car and a welcome break from the flatlands of the low-country Netherlands.