A sunny Easter Monday at the boglands of the Signal de Botrange

Easter Monday offered us sunshine and blue skies.  We drove towards the Botrange to check out the accessibility (the N-road across is closed for 9 months!) . From Ovifat/Sourbrodt it is possible to pass a couple of road blocks and drive towards the Centre de Nature where we parked on the almost empty parking lot or to even drive to the Signal de Botrange (with hardly any parking). 

We parked at the Centre de Nature and headed into the woods, enjoying the fact it was warm enough to walk in a sweater (or even a T-shirt if you were brave). 

Then we turned off at the Fagne Neur Lôwe to climb up to the westside of the Signal de Botrange, Belgium's highest point.  The trails were completely dried out which is quite a rare event...usually walking here requires shoes that are mud-proof.  These are marches and lands full of springs after all. 

Not surprisingly the red flag has been raised this week and these fagnes/ boglands are currently not accessible anymore.  A red flag in April is not uncommon, but after such a dry March, it is quite necessary.   It's been 11 years since the fagnes lost 1000 ha in a blazing fire and nature has just about recovered from it there. 

We always love walking on the wooden trailheads but there are not many left.  It's almost impossible to maintain them in this harsh humid climate. 

We passed to Signal the Botrange and climbed bravely the staircase at Belgium's highest point (694m) to wave to the world at 700m.   And we checked out the road blocks that send us in a detour home for the remainder of the year. 

On the eastside of the Botrange we viewed the wide Fagne Wallonnne. The air was exceptionally clear and we had a very far view into Germany.  I could even spot the damp clouds from the electricity central in Eschweiler, D I think.  Maybe there's one closer to the border.
But the German approach to energy was quite obvious...from our viewpoint I could count over 100 windmills turning. Over 100!  I've stated it before but the German Eifel is full of green energy. 

Spot the border: the windmills are in Germany

We descended back to the Centre de Nature where we visited the free tri-lingual exposition on the wolf in Belgium.  The children had a fun little assignment booklet.  I learned quite a few things about the wolf and its habitat. 

There was also some time to chill in the garden.