Blaugies, between two worlds
A route that runs between fields and woods, to the discovery of a lovely valley and an industrial heritage.
Far from the stereotypes, the Borinage is a green country. Blaugies is a village that lives with the rhythm of hay-making. We move along the country paths, towards the Saint-Ghislain woods which from the 19th century had been the border between two worlds, less than a kilometre apart. On the hand, that of small-scale farmers, on the other, the mine. We are aware of it treading through the woods, here on clay soil, there on coal dust... In the woods, the stream plunges us into a wild world – we even surprise a deer. And yet, going up the path, on the right are found the ruins of the Sauwartan mine, witness of an era when dust, pollution and noise invaded the woods. So things justly return – near the ruins, daffodils appear in season. The black of Borinage is no more...
Longueur du parcours: 7.28 km