The Croix Scaille is the
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
of a forested massif in the
Ardennes, in
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...
, bounded to the north by the valley of the
Semois and to the east by the
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...
. It is the highest point of the southern Ardennes, with a height of 504 metres above sea level and is located exactly on the
Franco-Belgian border on the edge of the French
département of Ardennes (commune of
Hautes-Rivières), and the Belgian
province of Namur (
Gedinne commune).
The wooded plateau is covered by the ''bois de Saint-Jean'' on the Belgian side, named after the stream that crosses the border from south to north, and by the ''bois des Haies'' on the French side, probably taking its name from the
beech trees (French: ''hêtres'') which are one of the dominant species here together with
oak and
spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ( taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the sub ...
.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the wooded area of Croix Scaille was a hotbed of
maquis resistance in the Ardennes.
The
Tour du Millénaire
The tour du millénaire ( French for ''tower of the millennium'') is a vantage point built in 2001 in Gedinne, Belgium just meters away from the French border.
The tower consists of two tripods fitted together (one upright, one upside down) wit ...
, which was erected in 2001, has 243 steps and enables a panoramic view of the Belgian and French Ardennes. The original wooden structure rotted and was dismantled in 2008 before being rebuilt in metal in 2012.
Plateaus of Europe
Mountains under 1000 metres
Mountains and hills of the Ardennes (Belgium)
Mountains and hills of the Ardennes (France)
Landforms of Namur (province)
Landforms of Ardennes (department)
Belgium–France border