The cliffs of Neviau are situated on the east side of the Meuse just Nouth of Namur (Jambes) and North of the small village of Dave that is well known for its castle on the river Meuse. The cliffs are the same kind of limestone as the cliffs of Marche-les-Dames : a dolomitic limestone characterised by steep and overhanging portions with a lot of fractures, cracks and small ledges. Between the differents sectors you find corridors with a lot of vegetation and trees. The central sector with its big overhangs and steep slabs offers a lot over demanding routes. On the others sectors you can find easy routes that are a good preparation for mountaineering. Be always carefull for loose rocks as the cliffs are very much fractured. The amount of cracks allows also for the training for nuts placement.
Be aware that on the left cliff (Autrichiens), top rope and abseiling is strictly forbidden due to the risks of small falling stones on the road just under the cliff !
Unfortunately the environment may be quite noisy with the road, railway, motorboats for water skiing and jet-boats !
Climbers are part of the landscape for the numerous tourists on the other side of the river with the small shops selling the famous "Wépion strawberries" and the walking path along the bank of the river.
The first climbing routes on the Neviau dated about the same period as in Freyr or Marche-les-Dames : beginning of years 30 with Count de Grunne and King Albert 1er, but also Camille Fontaine (geologist from Leuven University). During WWII local climbers (A. Focquet, A. Pierlot and the Didot brothers ) are opening the first ascent with aid and the equipment of the cliff continued with different generations of climbers : the first free difficult routes in the 70ies and mainly 80ies with most actual routes. The most active climber who opened or equipped a lot of difficult routes is Philippe Lacroix, known as "Bibiche". The CAB began from 2017 the renovation of the equipment to better follow actual standards, even if the clilmbing in Dave still request a minimum of "commitment" as bolts can still be at some distance. A lot of work was also needed from some local volunteers climbers to clean older routes that were dissappearing under vegetation. The work is still ongoing.
The area is access sensitive!
As for all Belgian climbing sites, you must be a member of Club Alpin Belge or KBF if you are living in Belgium. If you are living in another country and just stay some days in Belgium, you must be a member of your national climbing federation (NKBV, FFME, FFCAM, DAV, OAV, BMC, ....) and covered by liability insurance. The main reason is that in Belgium CAB and KBF are each year paying rent to the different owners of the climbing sites and that is paid with the yearly contribution of the members.
The climbing on the north face of the left cliff (Autrichines) is strictly forbidden due to the risk of falling rock on the road. Top-rope and abseiling is also strictly forbidden on this clif (Autrichiens) for the same reason (hauling the rope let fall small stones that can arrive on the road !).
Top rope is mainly allowed on the central portion with difficult routes. On the other cliffs, you need to climb multi-pitches to the summit. From the summit follow the path direction North (Namur) - red arrows- that leads down to the bunker and back to the foot of the cliffs.
Use of magnesia
Magnesia is totally useless on the easy routes where you have a lot of hand-holds. Since the time the cliff has been climbed, some foot-holds can be quite slippery, but magnesia is no help for that, clean well the sole of your shoes ! In the central overhanging part, the rain cannot carry the magnesia away, instead humidity transform magnesia in a slippery paste. Restrict magnesia where it is really necessary and ... brush the holds after climbing !!
Access by road
Most climbers will arrive in Namur using the Highway E411 from Brussels to Luxembourg. The easiest is to take exit 14 (Namur Sud) and drive down to the city of Namur. At the entrance of Namur (Porte du Luxembourg - traffic lights after the tunnel of railway), turn left and 500 m further at the roundabout turn left to cross the river Meuse (Pont des Ardennes), at the next roundabout, turn right and continue straight direction Yvoir on the RN 947, you will cross another main crossroads with traffic lights then a railway crossing and when you pass the last houses of the suburb Jambes, you will see on your left a parking just in front of the cliffs.
Address for GPS rue de Jambes, 5100 Namur (Dave)
To access the different sectors (look at the map, first photo of sector Autrichiens)
Be very carefull when crossing the road as cars are driving quite fast. Use the crosswalk in the middle of the parking. You arrive at the foot of the left cliff , a small footpath continue to the foot of the others cliffs. Juste after the first left cliff, behind a bunker (former small fortification of the Namur fortification before WWII), you have on your left the footpath to gain access to the sectors Chat and Czardas, but this is mainly the path you will use after the climbing to come down. This is the only path you can use to come down from the summit after the climbing on the others cliffs.