Sleeping out in the Ardennes.

Kilometre 280. The light drops over the Famenne, and so do your legs. A forest track opens on the right: pine needles, total silence. The perfect place to unroll the bivy.

Except that in Wallonia, the forest is not yours for the night. The Forest Code forbids it, DNF rangers patrol, and every abuse closes one more site. Here are the rules, the places you can sleep, and what can shut the way.

The forest is not a campsite

• No tent in the woods. Article 19 of the Walloon Forest Code bans temporary residence outside the sites designated by the Department of Nature and Forests (DNF). Tent, hammock or a simple bivy: it all counts. The rule applies to public and private forest alike.
• Stay on open ways. The Code forbids leaving roads, tracks and paths. Even on foot, even for fifty metres.
• Outside the forest, camping on public land is banned. That leaves private land: a meadow, a garden, with the owner's consent. Municipalities can add rules of their own.
• It costs. In Yvoir, for instance, bivouacking outside a designated site carries a €125 administrative fine.

Bivouac sites

• 29 sites, 211 pitches across Wallonia (as of August 2025). 26 must be booked. Access is free.
• One night, not two. Arrive late, leave early: depending on the site, 4 pm to 10 am, 5 pm to 9 am or 6 pm to 9 am. No tents in daytime.
• No water, no toilets, most of the time. Everything leaves with you, rubbish included.
• Bikes are not welcome everywhere. The three Entre Lesse et Lomme sites (Libin) are for walkers only. Hertogenwald, Deux Ourthes, Nassogne and the Sentiers d'Art take cyclists. On the Chimay network, ask the managers.
• Sites can close. The DNF shut Gileppe on 4 August 2025, indefinitely: fires lit in high-risk weather, rubbish left by the bagful, motor vehicles in the forest, noisy groups. Two remain in the Hertogenwald: La Soor and La Bergerie.
• New ones are coming. The Semois Valley National Park announced four new sites for spring 2026. Check they are open before you rely on them.

Finding water

• Sites have none, and Wallonia has little. Free water points are still rare in Walloon public space. Fill everything you carry at every chance.
• Where to look. Village fountains, church taps, springs and pouhons (in Spa, they run for everyone). The community site EauPotable.info, started by a developer from Houyet, lists them: the map above shows those within 2 km of our routes.
• The cemetery. Wallonia has nearly 3,500 of them, and many have a tap for watering the flowers. The Scout federations themselves point to it for finding water. The map shows every one: zoom in and they appear. Nothing guarantees the water is drinkable: read the sign, and filter when in doubt. In winter the tap may be shut against frost. Walk in quietly, fill up, ride on.
• Drinkable, really? These listings guarantee nothing, and municipalities seldom say whether a natural spring is drinkable. A mains tap is the safest bet. Filter spring water. Respect any “eau non potable” sign.
• Stations. SNCB is installing free water fountains in a growing number of railway stations.
• People. A café terrace, one coffee, bottles refilled. Or a doorbell and a smile. It nearly always works.
• Never just one point. A tap can be shut, a spring dry. Always plan the next one.

Fire

• No fire in the forest, except in fitted fire pits (article 45 of the Forest Code). Outside it, no fire within 25 m of a wood without the owner's consent.
• A few sites have a fire pit: Le Golet, Gives, Les Traqueurs. In normal weather only, never in dry spells or strong wind. At La Bergerie, fire is banned at all times.
• Stoves are allowed at some sites (La Soor, La Bergerie, Entre Lesse et Lomme). But in hot, dry weather, the Region asks you to carry no flame in the forest or within 100 m of it. Stoves included.
• The High Fens can close overnight. The red flag shuts sensitive zones in drought. On 18 August 2026, Spa closed all access to the Fens on its territory, bikes included, during a wildfire.

Hunting

• From October to January, the forest is shared. In 2025, stalking opened on 21 September and driven hunts on 1 October. Drives run until the end of January.
• A red poster at the entrance of a track means no entry. For everyone, cyclists included.
• Check before you go on ChasseOnWeb, the regional map of hunting grounds and dates. It is for information only: on the ground, the poster rules.
• Some sites close during the hunt, such as Trois Fontaines near Nismes.

Riding in the forest

• Roads and tracks: yes. Paths under one metre wide: no, unless waymarked for MTB.
• Firebreaks, skidding tracks and hunting rides are not open to the public.
• The High Fens nature reserve has its own rules, revised by a decree of 5 February 2026. Check access before you ride in.
• Across the border, our routes run into the Eifel, Luxembourg and France. The rules change there; they are not covered here.

Before you go

1. Book your site. Some open up to three months ahead.
2. Note the hours: arrive late, leave early.
3. Carry your water, and mark the refill points on the map.
4. Fire only in the fitted pit. Never in dry weather.
5. Autumn to winter: ChasseOnWeb, then the posters.
6. Keep a plan B: gîte, B&B, campsite.
7. Leave with everything.

A site lives by the way it is left. Gileppe learned that.
Leave nothing. Not even a tyre mark off the track.