Belgium's highest point is a gentle bump in a moor, and the country is rather proud of it. Signal de Botrange stands at 694 metres in the Hautes Fagnes, a high plateau of peat bog in the east of Wallonia near the German border, and it is so modest that a short stone staircase was built on top to give it a little extra height. Climb the steps and you reach a round 700 metres, which is, technically speaking, as high as anyone in the kingdom can stand, and the view across the heather and the fir trees is an unexpectedly open one.
The Hautes Fagnes, known in German as the Hohes Venn, is a nature reserve of raised bogs, heath and spruce, and it has a bleak beauty. Wooden boardwalks cross the wettest parts, so that walkers can keep to the paths and the fragile plants and mosses beneath. The weather here is famous for being foul, with fog, rain and wind far more common than sunshine, and temperatures several degrees below those of the lowlands. In winter, cross-country skiers use the plateau, and there is a small cafe and a visitor centre by the car park, where waffles are served to people with cold hands.
For a rider, this is a lovely part of the Ardennes, a landscape of forest, moor and small valleys, with roads that wind between villages and cross the plateau in long, flowing bends. The surface is usually good, the traffic is moderate, and in summer the heather turns the moor purple. Fog can come down quickly, so keep your visor clean and your speed sensible, and watch for patches of damp on the shaded stretches. The famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit lies a short distance to the west, and on race weekends the roads are crowded with motorcycles and cars.
Malmédy, about ten kilometres to the south, is the nearest town and has fuel, restaurants and a famous carnival, the Cwarmê, that takes place in the weeks before Lent. The old town is a pleasant place for a coffee, with cobbled streets and a church, and the nearby Eupen and Monschau, across the German border, make good extensions to the ride. The area has a mixed culture, with French, German and a local Walloon dialect spoken in different villages.
Go on a clear day if you can, and carry a layer even if the valley is warm, because the plateau makes its own weather.