Discovering the eductional trail of the Botrange and revisiting the boglands

Since May 2018, a new educational trail opened near the Maison du Parc naturel Hautes Fagnes-Eifel.  It's 700 meters long with 9 information stops about the landscapes, the wildlife, the plants etc that are typical in the nature's park.  It provides a lot of information and has enough interactive panels to keep the children happy even though they don't understand everything yet. 

The trail has been developed in a clearcut area from 2013 that pushed back the ever growing/invading non-native pine woods and tries to restore more of the boglands and create corridors between the boglands. It'll be a challenge since the little pines are pushing up already everywhere. 

We continued on the same walk as we did with friends at the end of October, climbing through the woods to the boglands behind Belgium's highest point at the Signal de Botrange.  We progressed very slowly with 2 children that had to stir in each puddle and poke in each patch of snow etc...or simply didn't want to walk anymore.   What's new, right?

The bomb crater was interesting as always and we hunted in vain (at the wrong spots at the wrong moment, I know) for some salamanders.  We were all disappointed that the typical wooden crossings were closed for (needed!) repair but to the relief of the children we knew the small detour and brought them back to the Botrange for a rewarding pancake.  

Back at the Nature center, we played briefly in the playground before returning home. In the mean time we could feel the sun getting lower and the temperatures dropping rapidly. It's still winter!