GOING AWAY by MARION DESCHAMPS

Hunting in France and Belgium
ST. HUBERT is the patron saint of hunters, and November 3, which is his name-day. marks the opening of the stag-hunting season in France and Belgium. In many of the large churches the music on the first Sunday in November' is played on hunting horns. While on the day of the Opening of the chasse in the hunting districts it is one of t.te most important days of the year.
In the small chapels there is a special service during which the hounds are brought inside to be blessed by the priest. while the huntsmen play hunting tunes on their horns.
To see them as they prepare to set off • hounds • and huntsrnen followed by cars, cyclists and even enthusiasts on foot — is a colourful sight and an occasion of great excitement since if they are unsuccessful on the opening day it is supposed to indicate the ill humour of St. Hubert.
So far as is known Hubert was the son of one Bertrand of Guieune and popular tradition relates that he was a functionary at the court of the frankish king Theodoric, but so passionately did he adore hunting that he often neglected his official duties in favour of the lighter pleasures of la chasse.
He even went on Sundays and holy days until one Good Friday he was out hunting in the Ardennes hills when, at a place called Audain, a stag appeared to him wearing between its horns a gleaming crucifix. The beast admonished him for the levity of his present life and his unnatural love for hunting and pleaded with him to give it up.
So moved was Hubert by this vision that he decided to give up his functions at the
palace and to withdraw into a retreat for a period of contemplation.
After a while he was converted and set off on a pilgrimage to Rome. Little is known of how he spent his time there. except that the Pope Sergius consecrated him Bishop and on his return he received from the heavens a miraculous star that possessed extraordinary powers.
He died in 727 and long afterwards, so the legend tells, his body was found still undecayed. In 827 he was canonized and his body buried in a Benedictine monastery named Ardenne, whose name was changed to St. Hubert.
The place of A udain, in Belgium, where he encountered the miraculous stag, bears his name today, and Brueghel le Vieux's representation of the episode of the miraculous cross is to be seen in the Berlin museum.
For many centuries the name of St. Hubert was held in high esteem by rich and poor alike. On his name day great hunting feasts were held at the courts, while many believed that St. Peter had entrusted him with the key to the cure of possessed persons and those bitten by mad dogs.
The Belgian Ardennes cover an area of 220 kilometres, stretching from the soulce of the Oise to Aix-la-Chapelle. Many abbeys were founded there during the middle ages. including those of Orval, Stavelot and Malmedy as well, of course, as that of St. Hubert.
Along the forest roads the frequent notices to beware of stags soon remind one that this is the heart of the hunting district, and should you be there in late autumn at the opening of the hunting season there is an impressive pilgrimage to the Basilica at St. Hubert.
Although the Ardennes are excellent for a holiday in both spring, summer and autumn, I think they are really at their best in the autumn for the wonderful colours of the trees.
There are many delightful centres for a holiday. One such is Remouchamps on the banks of the Ambleve, where there are well-known grottoes. When we were there we followed a road, little more than a track, to Chevron, of mineral water fame, where a friendly manager showed us round.
Southwards we visited the thundering waterfalls of Coo and braved the chair-lift across
the Ambleve to the top of the Lancre, from where we were rewarded by a magnificent view.
Northwards, a picturesque route took us up to the beautiful lake of Gileppe whose dam, constructed a hundred years ago and dominated by a lowering lion, is one of the oldest in Europe.
Another good centre would be Malmeciy, in pleasant wooded countryside, from where one could visit the baroque Michel. one of the highest points in Belgium and popular with ski-ing enthusiasts in winter. Or .explore the Warche valley with its unspoilt villages as far as the old town of Stavelot. whose spring carnival processions are one of the most colourful in Belgium.
There is much else to visit ILS well, The magnificent grottoes of Hans-sur-lesse are internationally celebrated. The elegant watering town of Spa. made famous by crowned heads of Europe. including Queen Christina of Sweden. Peter the Great and Marguerite de Valois, should not be missed. Nor should the old city of Liege, birthplace of Simenon and of Cesar Franck, which needs a whole day to itself.
While to the south lies the beautiful Meuse valley, with Dinant. known as the pearl of the valley. now a popular resort, but who first owed her importance to her fortified position. A mile to the south rises the pointed rock which the legendary horse Bayard was supposed to have smashed with his hoof when it barred his way. And Namur, dominating the Meuse, is a picturesque old cathedral town.
It would, I think, be difficult not to be enchanted with this district which is so different from the rest of Belgium, different not only geographically but because its people, the Walloons, who are French-speaking, are more akin to their Latin neighbours in race and character than to their Flemish compatriots. They are akin to the French, too, in their love of revelry, whereas Flemish Belgium inclines more towards religious processions, and on St. John's Eve the Ardennes are alight with bonfires, a survival of the old pagan custom of the celebration of the birth or summer.
Moreover, you will find the Walloons fiercely and intensely proud of their heritage as well, and this with reason, of their beautiful countryside.