Go
RAVeL!
RAVeL is a network of pathways reserved
for non-motorised users: pedestrians, cyclists, persons of reduced mobility,
skaters, horseback riders (wherever
the width of the track allows), etc. An independent network, RAVeL
offers itineraries on reserved paths away from roads used by motorised
vehicles.
This comfort, this safety is made possible by the six hundred kilometres of towpaths that pre-exist along the navigable waterways – or previously navigable waterways – of Wallonia and that constitute the essence of the currently practicable network, in particular along the Upper Escaut, the Meuse, the Sambre and the Hainaut canals.
Those itineraries can also be found by users along a series of former railway and tramway lines redeployed for this purpose. In the longer term, railways and tramways will represent two thirds of the RAVeL network.
Meanwhile, RAVeL constitutes a formidable
leisure area, favourable for outings, encounters and discoveries. Far
removed from the trials
and tribulations of everyday life, this network immerses hikers in
nature and lets them discover an entire historical and cultural heritage,
whether situated along the itineraries or in close proximity to them.
In this sense, RAVeL gives glimpses of another Wallonia, with its people,
villages and of course it’s regional produces.
RAVeL is not only some kind of Time Machine but the network also offers urban routes that brings additional independence and safety for children going to school, to people who likes to cycle or who quite simply prefer to do their shopping on foot.
In the towns (Namur, Liège, Charleroi,
etc), the RAVeL sections are not closed, introverted worlds. They constitute
a remarkable framework
on which cycle paths are making genuine room for urban cycling. In traffic-congested
centres, RAVeL is therefore laying a real stone in the building of future
mobility.
In a more general manner, RAVeL constitutes an alternative for an undoubted segment of the Walloon population. It improves access to basic services for the non-motorised. The itineraries will, furthermore, be linked to community-based infrastructures via direct, signposted and attractive connections. Among such infrastructures: schools, playgrounds, employment zones, public administrations, and medical, commercial and sports centres, etc.
Alternating towpaths and former railway
lines, RAVeL is well and truly an independent network, conceived away
from the traditional highway
network.
Nevertheless, there is some inevitable overlapping between the latter
and the RAVeL itineraries, to the extent that these cross certain regional
and municipal roads.
In such cases, the planning and signposting have been studied with care, in order to ensure the safety of these sensitive areas where, it is hardly necessary to say, the greatest possible prudence remains the order of the day. The same is true for the cycle paths alongside roads that are occasionally used to connect separate RAVeL sections.
Apart from safety, in the strict sense, RAVeL’s key word remains, evidently, conviviality. All along these areas of relaxation, pedestrians, cyclists, skaters and at times horseback riders rub shoulders. . These various categories of Ravellists should share the space, in a genuine spirit of harmony, while keeping an eye out for anglers and other “static” users of the RAVeL.
Just Go RAVeL…and find all you need!
