Who doesn't know them? The GR hiking trails, the Grandes Randonnées in France and in Wallonia, the Grote Routepaden in Flanders, the LAW trails in the Netherlands, the long distance hiking paths ...
You'll notice them everywhere in Europe and even far beyond. You recognize them by the omnipresent white-red and yellow-red signs at the most beautiful and interesting places. Sometimes the signs represent hiking paths of a few thousand kilometres long, stretching through several countries and regions. Some of them are famous and notorious. Think about the GR 5 that runs from the North Sea all the way up to the Mediterranean, or the GR 20 throughout Corsica, or the GR 10 cutting through the Pyrenees from coast to coast. GR hikers often go through long preparations and spend numerous holidays, spread over several years, to finish one of these trails. Some even do it in one go, walking during months on end.
But you can also get to know the GR hiking trails in a more modest way and much closer to home. All it takes is a day or half a day now and then to go hiking. In our small country there are over 8000 kilometres GR hiking trails signposted, of which 5000 are in Wallonia. Maybe you even live along one of these trails without knowing it. Anyway, you'll never need to walk far to find one.
Years ago we started to walk the Belgian GR paths. First in Flanders, then in Wallonia. We immediately fell in love with the concept and at the same time had found a healthy, relaxing and cheap new hobby. Not only that, we also got to know are own country a lot better. With every new hike there is always something new to discover and to experience.
The hobby soon became a passion which we happily shared with other hikers. We did that during 8 years with the lumaj.be website (Hiking GR trails with Luc and Maj).
With this website we continue to tell you about our GR hikes, although now we concentrate mainly on Wallonia, the French- and German-speaking part of Belgium.
We present all our hikes per GR trail. That way you first get a general impression and information on the trail, followed by the individual hiking reports.
The reports focus on our impressions and experiences during the hikes. It's never our intention to publish descriptions of the itineraries. Those you can find in the topoguides and on the websites of the GR organizations. In Flanders that is groteroutepaden.be, in Wallonia it is grsentiers.org. On both websites you can download the gpx-tracks of the GR trails for free.
You'll also find pictures that give you a pretty good idea about a hike, and a map showing the trail. We also tell you how we organized the hike with public transport means and eventually (cheap) lodging.
Public transport is one of our pet topics. Use it! Even if it may not always be easy, you'll be surprised to find out where you can get by bus, train and tram. The environment, your ecological footprint and the next generations will thank you. And who knows, if we do it massively, it may force our politicians to reverse the downward spiral and to invest in an efficient and future-oriented public transport system.
See you at one of the many GR trails in Wallonia?
