TdE - Day 34 Kitzing - Luxembourg

Route: Kitzing - Schengen - Luxembourg 
Distance: 51 km
Elevation: 497 m
Duration: 3:23 h
Weather: Sun and clouds and for the Forest time a bit chilly, 19 C 

Today I crossed so many boarders! France to Germany only to leave Germany again after less than a kilometer and cross over a bridge into Luxemburg, nothing less than to Schengen. And later in the day crossing again into France, without really noticing it, until I came by the typical French “mairie” and “liberté, égalité, fraternité” signs so ubiquitous in France. But my path quickly turned back into Luxemburg. 

Around Schengen a lot of streets were kind of closed for some Rally by Skoda. Or so I thought. I just saw “Skoda” and “road closure due to race”, so I assumed it would be a car rally. But I was wrong, but pure change I had a break right along the route when the race came by. 

 

First a lot of cars with spare bikes, then more police, then the peloton of the Tour de Luxembourg… and finally a LOT more cars.

I had no idea that the Tour de Luxembourg was underway, and even less so that they would use parts of MY route! 

So I got to see my first bike race of the year swooping by me. And although I had a lunch stop underway I was at my hotel before they made it to their destination, so I could watch the last 16 km of the race live on GCN!

I continued on over the false flat landscape of Luxembourg. It’s true that once I had managed to push up the bike the steep incline close to Schengen, the rest of Luxembourg is relatively flat, but RELATIVELY flat only. From a Dutch perspective still quite a lot of up and downs. The landscape of the rest of Europe really puts the Dutch landscape into perspective. That kind of flatness is NOT normal. 

Close to Luxembourg city Komoot planned for me the cycle path on the left, but luckily on the other side of that small river was a well asphalted one, reserved for cyclists and pedestrians. 

And that’s how I came into the city and my basic Ibis hotel by the station, where Roubaix can sleep with me:

After a shower and washing my clothes I went by foot to explore the city. Somehow I had imagined Luxembourg as this fabulously rich country, where everything would be extremely posh and emanate wealth, but that isn’t really the case. It seems a pretty normal city, and I still wonder why it is a UNESCO world heritage site. Probably every country has a right to at least one UNESCO site and Luxembourg tried with it capital. 

What was nice though is the view from a bridge down into the deep valley that divides the city and has been planted to be a garden. 

Luxembourg, both the city, but also smaller villages all seems to be under construction. Everywhere construction workers, machinery, closed streets…the local tourist office of Luxembourg city was no exception. 

TdE - Day 33 Saarbrücken - Kitzing (DE->FR)

Route: Saarbrücken - Saar - Kitzing
Distance: 70 km
Elevation: 386 m
Duration: 3:55 h
Weather: Rainy, sometimes dry, not cold, 18 C 

After the nice (and long) ride along the canals yesterday, today a shorter ride through the most depressing parts of Europe I have visited in this Tour d’ Europe. The Saar: 

The cycle path follows the Saar river, but so does the train, the highway and all the heavy industry. 

It didn’t help that today was one of the few rainy days, although it wasn’t actually that bad. Only about 15 minutes already at less than 15 km from my B&B did it rain a bit more. 

As I had planned a relatively short ride today, because of the long ride yesterday, the weather and the incline, I started late. Nevertheless I was in Saarlouis which on the map looked like a potentially interesting city for early lunch. 

And well, it might have been an interesting city when it was built as it was a fortified city build by Vauban, the same architect as Neuf Brisach that I visited only a few days ago in Elsass, but during too many wars Saarlouis got destroyed too many times. And the fact that someone thinks that using the central place of the city as a huge parking lot is a good idea also tells a lot about the current situation of this town. It seems, like other parts of the Saarland I passed, stuck in the 1970s at best. 

Anyway, I had something to eat and bought also two bagels for tonight, because when I booked my accommodation for tonight I only checked where it is located and the rating on booking.com, but forgot to check if there was a place to eat close by, and there isn’t. Kitzing is in a rather god forlorn part of France. 

But at least it is in the countryside… and close to a castle:

But tomorrow into a new country and a big city: Luxemburg!

TdE - Day 29 Umkirch - Saint Hippolyte

Route: Umkirch - Breisach (New &Old) - Colmar - Route du vin - Saint Hippolyte 
Distance: 85 km
Elevation: 469 m
Duration: 5:26 h
Weather: generally sunny with some clouds, plus one major downpour in Colmar

Today I entered the last new country of this trip: France!

And this was probably the last time I see the Rhine before joining it again at home in Leiden. 

From here onwards I plan to follow EuroVelo 5 all the way to Brussels and then see from there how to get back to Leiden.

My first stop was Neuf Breisach, a fortified village constructed as the ideal garrison, and on the plan it is interesting and still totally maintains this form:

But in reality at least inside it looks like a very depressing, small town. Not very well maintained. What was impressive though were the fortifications:

My next stop was Colmar, a city that I already visited in the past. I had hoped for a bit less tourists due to Covid travel restrictions on non-Europeans, but no, the city was pretty packed with tourists. So I wonder how it looks like normally when also all the international tourists are there! But it looks nice:

One can already see in this picture that it was starting to rain. At that moment it was more like a drizzle, but as it became stronger I searched for a hiding spot and luckily found one under a roof in front of a Fnac. Not totally ideal, but it protected me from the ensuing downpour, that within minutes transformed the street in front of me into two, small, rivers. So I had a forced stop at Colmar for about 45 minutes, and not in the absolutely nicest place of town, but at least reasonably dry. 

After Collar I first encountered the cycle path that should bring me closer to home. Here it generally does NOT go through all the small villages but instead stays somewhere below them, so I had tweaked it to go through the villages. Tomorrow instead I plan to follow it a bit more strictly, also because tomorrow it actually does go through the main villages! 

All these villages now in my head kind of combine into one, with a city gate (often looking quite similar)…

… old, half timbered houses…

.. and often a main square:

But quite arbitrarily some of these villages (e.g. Riquewihr) we’re totally flooded with tourists, others such as Turckheim or Bergheim had hardly any (in comparison), but looked pretty similar ‘, except the absence of all the tourist shops.

TdE - Day 9 Boppard - Bad Homburg

Route: Boppard - Bingen (by ship) - Mainz - Bad Homburg (by train)
Distance: 43 km by ship, 34 km by bike, 60 km by train 
Elevation: 54 m
Duration: 1:31 h
Weather: light rain, heavy rain, sun, clouds, 22 C 

Yesterday I missed the boat in Koblenz and ultimately this was a good thing because psychologically it “allowed” me to take the ship today. And what a ship!

MS Goethe, a paddle steamer built more than 100 years ago for riding up and down the Rhein. 

It was a good idea also because of the weather which sometimes had very heavy rain in store, but also because I think this part of the landscape is best seen from a ship. The Rhine valley between Konstanz and Bingen is a very narrow, which means that the rain tracks are besides the road, beside the cycling lane. This the cycling lane isn’t probably really nice. It’s separated from the street, but really alongside. 

From the river however I had perfect view of all the castles that spot the valley. Not sure if this part of Germany is the place on earth with the highest castle density, but it must be close. 

So many castles that even the announcer on the ship only called out the most significant ones, like this pair at Kaub:

Quite interesting was the navigation around Loreley rock. We went super slow and there was even something like a traffic light showing if there was oncoming traffic from behind the bend in the river. The ships going upstream didn’t go straight through but rather sideways, so that they only needed to turn a little bit further at the bend at the exit in order to be again straight. I really could appreciate how difficult navigation on this twisting river is. 

Apart from an overflow of castles, there were also vineyards everywhere, as to be expected. 

After over 4 hours for only 43 km, I got off at Bingen, the last but one stop of the boat, from where I either could have taken a train directly to Frankfurt and then on to Bad Homburg (in case of rain) or alternatively I could cycle a bit onwards, which was the option I took. The valley widens immediately and the cycle path is generally far away from the road and in the meadows of the river. First with a lot of orchards (apples, plums…) and as I was getting closer to Mainz more and more private, small gardens. 

I actually took some pictures but due to some problem with my phone those pictures didn’t get stored. Maybe storage capacity of the phone was limited. Finally later in this week I deleted a lot of old pictures, so I hope this will fix the problem. 

I cycled into Mainz, all the way seeing very dark clouds in front of me, but luckily I had tailwind so the clouds were moving away. I got dry and safe to the station, had just the time to buy a ticket, catch the next commuter train to Frankfurt, make a quick change of trains and out to Bad Homburg where it must have rained heavily shortly before I arrived, but it was dry for long enough for me to make the last 2.5 km to my parents place, where I now will stay for about a week. 

A few days ago I really dreamed about a hot bathtub but when I finally arrived it was warm outside and no longer bathtub weather. 

TdE - Day 8 Cochem - Boppard

Route: Cochem - Mosel - Koblenz - Rhein - Boppard 
Distance: 77 km
Elevation: 128 m
Duration: 3:57 h
Weather: initially fresh and foggy, then sunny and hot, 17 - 29 C

The forecast for today promised heat, too much heat for me to cycle. So I decided to start early and in principle the idea was to take a ship from Koblenz to Boppard, but this is everything I ever saw of that ship:

But well, I did manage to cycle to Boppard and will take the ship tomorrow instead.

But back to the start of the day, which began with what has been by far the best breakfast of this trip. A buffet with absolutely everything:

This is actually only a part of the buffet. And it was more surprising by the fact that the accommodation itself was quite simple (but clean and I had my own bathroom) and Cochem seemed to be a very popular destination, witnessed by the fact that I had for the first time some difficulties finding an accommodation. So this breakfast was a real surprise. There was even home made jam, all types of cheese, sausages, 4 different types of mustard…

With such an excellent breakfast although I started early (shortly after 8:00), finally I wasn’t on the road until 9:15, which was always going to be tight to make it until 12:00 the 53 km to Koblenz. 

However thanks to the early departure at least the first hour of riding was actually cold, as the mist was still hanging in the deep valley over a Mosel acting as a mirror.

The bicycle path today was present, but I think that’s the best one can say about it, as it was mainly just one lane of the main road. Not mixed with the cars, but not properly separated either and not specially scenic (if one dismisses the general scenery). 

Although catching the ship was always going to be a close call, I did press on attempting to get it. Was this a good idea? Well, it didn’t work out, but there weren’t also any really nice spots to stop along the Mosel today. 

Koblenz however seems to be a city built for cars in mind only, which is probably true, as it look like a lot of the infrastructure was built in the 60s and 70s. So trying to find my way through it to the jetty wasn’t a specially nice experience. 

The jetty area however was nice, and seeing that I had missed the ship anyway I took a break and a bratwurst in the shadow of some big trees and then proceeded to the “Deutsche Eck”, the place where the Mosel flows into the Rhein. Mosel from the left, Rhein straight ahead:

But it is also the spot where this rather ugly, nationalistic monument stands (rendered even more ugly by taking a picture against the sun):

I just learned that while the statue of Wilhelm I was originally erected in 1897, it got destroyed in WW2 but rebuild about 20 years ago. Um, I hope not a lot if my tax money did go to that…

Tucholsky did already describe this monument in all its monumentality a century ago. (See below)

After resting I took up the challenge of the last 22 km of the day in the intense heat along the Rhine (now river upwards!) 

After one more break along the way and filling up my water bottle at a campground, I made it to Boppard, a touristy, small town that seems to be stuck in the 60s or 70s…

My hotel for the night even seems to be right from the 50s (the interior) …

…the building itself obviously is even older:

After a cooling shower I walked a bit through town, had an ice cream, reserved a restaurant for tonight and came back to my room, where I am now sitting on the bed writing these lines, before starting momentarily to dinner! 

Tucholsky, “Denkmal am Deutschen Eck”:

… Und da war der Rhein, der kitschumrauschte, und, wie bei Goethe steht, da waren große Schiffe im Begriffe, auf diesem Flusse hier zu sein ... und plötzlich bekam ich den größten Schreck auf dieser Reise. Ich weiß es noch ganz genau:

Wir gingen auf der breiten, baumbestandenen Allee; vorn an der Ecke war eine Fotografenbude, sie hatten Bilder ausgestellt, die waren braun wie alte Daguerrotypien, dann standen da keine Bäume mehr, ein freier Platz, ich sah hoch ... und fiel beinah um.

Da stand – Tschingbumm! – ein riesiges Denkmal Kaiser Wilhelms des Ersten: ein Faustschlag aus Stein. Zunächst blieb einem der Atem weg.

Sah man näher hin, so entdeckte man, dass es ein herrliches, ein wilhelminisches, ein künstlerisches Kunstwerk war. Das Ding sah aus wie ein gigantischer Tortenaufsatz und repräsentierte jenes Deutschland, das am Kriege schuld gewesen ist – nun wollen wir sie dreschen! In Holland.

Zunächst ist an diesem Monstrum kein leerer Fleck zu entdecken. Es hat die Ornamenten-Masern.

Oben jener, auf einem Pferd, was: Pferd! auf einem Roß, was: Roß! auf einem riesigen Gefechtshengst wie aus einer Wagneroper, hoihotoho! Der alte Herr sitzt da und tut etwas, was er all seine Lebtage nicht getan hat: er dräut in die Lande, das Pferd dräut auch, und wenn ich mich recht erinnere, wallt irgend eine Frauensperson um ihn herum und beut ihm etwas dar. Aber da kann mich meine Erinnerung täuschen ... vielleicht gibt sie dem Riesen-Pferdchen nur ein Zuckerchen. Und Ornamente und sich bäumende Reptile und gewürgte Schlangen und Adler und Wappen und Schnörkel und erbrochene Lilien und was weiß ich ... es war ganz großartig. Ich schwieg erschüttert und sah Jakoppn an.

»Ja«, sagte Jakopp, »das ist das Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal am Deutschen Eck.«

Richtig: da floß noch ein zweiter Fluß in den ersten Fluß, und es war, wenn man von den Fabrikschornsteinen absah, eine hübsche Gegend, viel zu hübsch für dieses steinerne Geklump, für diesen Trumm, diesen Trubas von einem Denkmal. …

TdE - Day 6 Metzdorf - Bernkastel Kues

Route: Metzdorf - Trier - Mosel - Bernkastel Kues
Distance: 96 km
Elevation: 242 m
Duration: 5:18 h
Weather: Cloudy but no rain, 20 C

In principle I had decided not to ride THAT much today, but if you reserve a hotel 60 km+ down the road at 13:30 before having had a lunch break, it’s kind of clear that I wouldn’t arrive by 16:00. Let’s see if tomorrow what I think I want to do and what I actually do will be better aligned. 

After a few km in Luxemburg down the Sauer (or Sûre in French) it flew into the Mosel and I took my third picture of a country sign …

… and then turned left, Mosel downwards. Strangely my planned route in Komoot thinks that over the 225 km from Metzdorf to Koblenz there will be 1,190 m of climbing, but today in 96 km of it I only did about 250 m and I can’t really see that there will be that much more climbing to come. After all I am cycling DOWN the Mosel. 

The Mosel, a river that is winding and winding it’s way. 

It isn’t the first time I am doing a cycling trip along the Mosel. I was here once with my father when I was maybe 10 years old, for a cycling trip. I remember that one day I suggested to take a shortcut. Just straight through instead of following the river. Well it might have saved us 20 km of cycling, but it did cost us time for sure. Because first we were pushing up the bicycles over a high and steep mountain and then downwards we couldn’t cycle either because it was a forest road and too steep for us. I learned an important lesson that day and will now vow to not commit the same error again. 

My first stop of the day was in Trier, an old Roman town as witnessed by the largest Therms outside Rome (which unfortunately for me got destroyed 1700 years ago by the Germanics! A real pity as definitely one of the things that is soooooooo missing from this cycling trip is the hot onsen bath in the evening. Such a pleasure when cycling in Japan.) 

Originally my idea was to eat something sweet under the Porta Nigra, but when I went to a bakery not too far away it also had savory stuff including “Fleischkäse”, so I was tempted. Not the best decision as it wasn’t a specially good one. 

Once out of Trier the Mosel trip proper started. Well actually no, and yes… it started in the sense that I was now riding along the Mosel for the entire rest of the day, but what one imagines for “Mosel”, i.e. the steep vineyards doesn’t start until a bit more down the river. First one needs to get through some “normal” and even industrial river part. 

What I also noticed, is how few people actually greet each other while cycling. Yes, in the Netherlands greeting other cyclist isn’t the most common either, but to a certain extend I do understand it. There are just too many cyclists around. However in the region in Belgium where I cycled, greeting other cyclists was the done thing. Yesterday where we met only a few cyclists the whole day. It was the dome thing. But today along the Mosel giving as little as a nod was already too much for 90% of the cyclists. And yes, there were many more cyclists than on a rainy day in a remote location, but much less cyclists than in the Netherlands, This lack of greeting capacity was very surprising to me. 

I quite consistently greeted other cyclists and even pedestrians. Maybe on average I greeted 75 % of people I encountered. But I got only very little back. 

An other observation was the type of cyclists. Mostly elderly couples, sometimes groups of elderly couples, a few young families, some groups of men and some solo men. But I think that in the entire trip so far, I haven’t seen an other solo female cyclists on a tour. Is it really such an outrageous idea for a woman to cycle alone through countries such as Belgium and Germany? I myself wouldn’t describe me as specially adventurous and I wouldn’t do a solo cycling trip in let’s say Tunisia, Turkey, Vietnam or Argentine, just to name a few countries where my prejudice (?) tells me that it can’t be safe for a solo female cyclist. Or at least not safe enough for me to FEEL safe. But Belgium? Germany? 

After Trier, I had two more stops along the way to eat and drink (nothing to write home about) before arriving around 19:00 at my hotel for the night. Getting a good shower, doing my laundry and finally walking into the picturesque town of Bernkastel-Kues for a filling dinner (potato gratin with some local white wines). 

This castle is towering (in the most literally sense of the word) above this old village. I might actually have been there back on my first trip to the Mosel with a bike, as I remember that one night we were in a youth hostel which was in an old castle up-up the hill. Maybe at my parents there are still some old dispositives to check.