Pleasure tour 18 – The Fens of Sourbrodt

It’s not one history and one language that have influenced Sourbrodt, but two. Down in the valley, the village is Belgian through and through. But in the district around the station, its German origin cannot escape you. When you look at the station building, you can easily imagine one of the old locomotives coming in, puffing out clouds of steam over the Vennbahn.

At the end of the trail, beyond the last windbreak of spruces, the biotope of the High Fens extends. The route runs directly to the Rur, black like all the streams in the high country. A windbreak of conifers grows around Troupa Fen. This uninviting, steppe-like area was the Waterloo of Russian prisoners of war: a Russian orthodox cross reminds us of their desperate struggle for survival.

On the way back, the landscapes bear the familiar characteristics that you can discover in the albums of the comic artist Didier Comès, who was born here and created an eternal memorial to this landscape with his art.