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We
could tell you plenty on the subject of cycling
in Luxembourg,
but -this time- rather than us telling you, we have given over the stage
to Graham Finch to give you the low-down of his own experiences while
cycling across the Grand-Duchy. His article recently appeared in the UK
magazine "Cycling Plus", and we are most grateful indeed for
Graham's support. Please do get in touch if
you would like to see your Luxembourg write-up on our web site.
See below
for further information about cycling in Luxembourg
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Tour
de Luxe
Luxembourg
may be small,
but it’s perfectly formed for cyclists
says
Graham Finch
Laid
flat on the table, it measures nine inches and brings a smile to
my wife’s face. Yes, the map of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s
topography reveals lots of little lanes to explore and no big peaks
to slog up – perfect for a gentle tour.
Those nine lateral inches on Michelin map number 534 equate to just
58km and it’s only 84km from Luxembourg’s French border to where
the country juts up into the southeast corner of Belgium. Put it
another way – it’s an eighth the size of Wales and is the sixth-smallest
country in the world. In fact, most maps have a problem printing
the country’s 10-letter name within its boundary.
With
it being so dinky, you would be forgiven for thinking Luxembourg’s
probably okay for a day trip, but not a week-long tour. That’s how
it seemed when Debbie and I cycled over its eastern border on our
way from Germany to France. We’d nonchalantly decided to pop in
just to notch up another country ridden, but it turned out to be
a gem – awash with quiet cyclepaths, bijou towns and villages, forested
and rolling Ardennes, medieval castles and superb food – a microcosm
of the very best of Europe.
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Three
rivers and more
After following the Mosel’s twisting course we cross into Luxembourg
at Wasserbillig, a small town boasting ExxonMobil’s largest petrol
station (in case you’re wondering, many Germans drive here to fill
up as fuel is cheaper).
Of far more interest is PC3 – Piste Cyclable 3 – also known as ‘des
Trois Rivières’, which fringes the town. This is one of 20-odd bicycle
routes that dissect the country, and this one traces the Sauer river
and part of the Mosel. (Or as the French call the rivers – La Sûre
and La Moselle.) |
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Riding
north along the tree-lined bank of the Sauer, we arrive in historic
Echternach by mid-afternoon. The country’s oldest city is still
encircled by medieval walls – the town grew out of a Benedictine
monastery founded back in 698 by a monk from Ripon.
The
centre, although hit hard during WWII, is now a pretty square and
– as we happen to have turned up during its annual music festival
– we find it buzzing with live music. After locking up our bikes
at a central B&B, we follow brass bands and solo performers
down the narrow streets, soaking up the atmosphere.
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learn that the town is famous for its Roman Catholic dancing procession
that’s held each Whit Tuesday – reputed to be the only one in Europe.
As many as 15,000 people take part, including around 8,000 dancers,
and there could be even more this year, as 2008 marks its 1350th anniversary.
I’d only ever heard of Radio Luxembourg! The Sauer forms a border
with Germany for about 50km and in the morning we continue riding
along it via PC3, which leads us into Diekirch, apparently the first
city in Luxembourg to have a pedestrian zone. We push our bikes up
it but meet a barrier and large crowds. |
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As
luck would have it, the town is hosting the finish of the four-day
Tour de Luxembourg. Yes, it even takes those speed freaks four days
to get round this little country…
Without any background info, we have no idea who is in the race, let
alone leading, but we stand kerbside and watch the riders whiz by.
Big teams such as Rabobank and Credit Agricole are present and the
pack does a few loops of the town’s outskirts, meaning there are action
replays every 15 minutes or so until a manic sprint flashes across
the finish line. All I can tell you is someone out of a group of six
or seven wins. |
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The Tour de Luxembourg is run by the Union Cycliste Internationale
and is used by professionals as a warm-up for Le Tour de France. Now
approaching 70 years old, it’s been won by such influential big-name
cyclists as Freddy Maertens, Bernard Hinault, Steven Rooks, Max Sciandri,
Thomas Voeckler and Lance Armstrong – a forgotten 1998 win before
he dominated the Tour de France with seven consecutive yellow jerseys
starting a year later.
But loyal neighbourhood folk will always give pride of place to local
hero Charly Gaul – also affectionately known as The Angel of the Mountains
– who not only won the Luxembourg tour a couple of times but also
the Giro d’Italia in 1956 and 1959, and the Tour de France in 1958
– thrashing firm French favourite Louis Bobet. |
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| Given
Luxembourg’s small population, it’s surprising that Luxembourgers
have won the world’s toughest and most famous bike race four times,
while mighty Germany can only boast one winner. Of course, Britain
has none. The Grand Duchy’s role of honour includes two-time victor
Nicolas ‘The Locomotive’ Franz – the first man to lead the Tour from
start to finish (in 1929), and François Faber, who in 1909 became
the first non-Frenchman to pedal to victory in Paris. |
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| Hostel
territory
The
Tour de Luxembourg’s pack of riders had sped across the countryside
around Diekirch, a rolling swathe of southern Ardennes farmland
that during WWII was pivotal in the epic Battle of the Bulge – a
brutal two-month-long onslaught that cost the lives of countless
thousands of US infantry.
The
town’s old brewery is now the National Museum of Military History,
which not only details the soldiers’ crossing of the Sauer on a
cold night in 1945 as they counter-attacked, but so much more.
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crowds thronging Diekirch, we decide it’s best to pedal out of town
to find a bed for the night. One of the country’s top tourists sites
– the millennia-old Château de Bourscheid that looms over the winding
Sauer– is just 20km north, but we instinctively ride south. We get
to Larochette’s newlooking youth hostel, one of 10 spread around the
country, to find we’re the only guests. |
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Gone
are the days when hostelling meant nights cooped up in an austere
dormitory at nine o’clock, mulling a list of chores to do the following
morning.
On the contrary, our chatty host shows us a pristine and tastefully
decorated warm room, and after a help-yourself breakfast in the morning,
where we pigout on cereal and yogurt, all we have to do is put our
empty bowls on a tray. |
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White Ernz flows through the pretty town and curves below a ruined
castle that’s perched on a rocky hilltop. We take a snap as we ride
past along PC5, which veers eastward towards ‘Little Switzerland’,
an area officially called Mullerthal. Its nickname comes from its
craggy and forested terrain, which is criss-crossed with clear streams.
Although there are no lofty, snow-covered peaks, it’s a beautiful
place – and mysteriously devoid of other tourists. Unfortunately,
it’s drizzling, so we just do a quick loop and find cycle route PC2
that heads into the capital. |
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Site seeing
Boasting
– among various other institutions – the seat of the European Union
and the European Investment Bank, Luxembourg’s 75,000-or-so citizens
are said to have the world’s highest GDP. And to help them spend
their cash, it has a record number of Michelin-starred restaurants.
It
feels quite a metropolis compared to the rural riding and is all
a bit much to take in. We pedal straight to the city’s youth hostel,
an impressive new complex right next to the old fortress walls.
It’s spanking clean and run by a bunch of friendly and informative
staff. We get a room to ourselves and opt to stay a couple of nights.
There really is so much to explore.
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up, for obvious reasons, is the Fortress, a World Heritage Site dating
back to the 1600s. The formidable ramparts are part of a bridge over
the Alzette Valley and provide a great, albeit dizzying, view of the
city. Luxembourg wasn’t known as the ‘Gibraltar of the North’ for
nothing. Underneath is a subterranean network of defensive passages
that step down to lower levels, some of which are up to 40 metres
below ground. |
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panoramic vantage point makes a great picnic spot and we sit and gaze
out across at the Monastery of the Holy Ghost and the curving flow
of the Pétrusse and Alzette rivers. Within the city are historic gems
such as the Notre Dame cathedral, the Grand Ducal Palace and a couple
of national museums. |
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the evening we wander around the near deserted cobbled pedestrian
centre and pop into what appears to be a quiet looking bar but once
inside we discover it’s packed. Maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised.
A decade ago, a survey found the city had the world’s highest consumption
of alcohol – about three beers a day for every man, woman and child.
Except children don’t drink! Not to be antisocial, we sample the locally
brewed Bofferding Battin Extra, which is a bit of a headbanger. We
follow that with a Simon Dinkel, another Luxembourg brew, and begin
to realise why they guzzle so much – this stuff is pretty good. |
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down
Things
are less clear in the morning. Wearing sunglasses even though it’s
overcast, we ride out of town on a busy road before finding a hilly
backroad. You
wouldn’t think anyone could actually get lost in tiny Luxembourg,
but we do, and it’s noon by the time we pedal into cute Remich,
a town nestling on the bank of the Mosel.
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This
is wine making territory – not that we’re in the right frame of mind
for any more drinking.
We
find the PC3 that hugs the broad Mosel as it makes its way from
France to the Rhine. It’s less than 10km to the border, where neighbouring
Germany forms part of a triple junction.
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Given
a choice between the three countries, most cyclists would probably
opt for France, yet the tiny Grand Duchy has all the elements that
make for a great cycling destination: an extensive network of bike
paths, historic sites, and a fantastic selection of food, wine and
beer, all among a scenic landscape.
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“We
want to remain what we are,”
states the country’s philosophical motto,
which is easily understood once you’ve toured it.
Graham Finch
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Further information about cycling in Luxembourg
- Réseau
national des pistes cyclables
presented by the Luxembourg Department of Highways and Byways.
Excellent resource with lots of maps, pictures, descriptions,
sadly only available in French, but then again, do maps require
translations?
- www.tours.lu
- Sadly only available in French and in German, this is an excellent
site to plan your cycling trip around Luxembourg
- www.lvi.lu
- The Luxembourg Cycling Initiative. Although much of this site
is only available in French and in German (with some bits presented
in English), it offers a calendar of events (e.g. bike trips around
Luxembourg and neighbouring countries), travelogues, contacts,
addresses and an excellent pdf map of Luxembourg's
cycle tracks
- A
number of guidebooks
are available on cycling in Luxembourg
- Cycling
in Luxembourg page at the National Tourist Office web site
- Hiking
& Cycling in Luxembourg
- The
"Sport
and Wellness" guide (pdf) has a section on biking in
Luxembourg
- www.ardennes-hotels.lu,
a small association of privately owned hotels offer "Cycle
tours without luggage" around Luxembourg (i.e. they cart
your luggage from hotel to hotel while you cycle "the light
way")
- Of
course, we will be pleased to send
you further information about our country
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