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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. |
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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.
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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!
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