To Fleringen

August 21, 2021

We were booked to stay two nights in Monschau, but after checking the weather report this morning we decided to cancel our second night. Today looks like a gorgeous day to cycle but beginning tonight the rains are due to roll in again, with day-long rain and the threat of thunderstorms due tomorrow. Given this it makes much more sense to sit out a day in the next town and ride today. We had warned our host before arriving that we might want to do this and she told us to just let us know over breakfast.

Look at that sun streaming in our window this morning! A beautiful day to ride.

We have a full day ahead of us today to a hotel a few miles east of Prum. Prum itself is the town we had booked next, but on such short notice the only room available for the extra night was near the village of Fleringen. So we’re biking there tonight and setting ourselves up for a grueling three mile stage to Prum the next day, hopefully not during a downpour.

Our ride today begins by backtracking for about a mile up that descent from the High Fen until reaching the turnoff to the Vennbahn, a rail to trail conversion along the line of the former railway that ran south from near Aachen in what was then entirely German territory. It’s a complicated story, but the Treaty of Versailles ceded the entire train line to Belgium at the end of the First World War even though it cut through the middle of territory that was still left to Germany. As a result the international borders here are uniquely complicated in a way I’ve never seen anywhere (nor has Jacquie Gaudet, who beat me to the punch here by commenting upon the borders herself yesterday). There are multiple stretches which are German on either side of the line but the line itself is Belgian:

Does a border situation like this exist anywhere else in the world?

Germany to the left, Germany to the right, the Vennbahn and Belgium down the middle.

The Wikipedia article cited above states that the border settlement creates several enclaves and exclaves. I thought I knew what an enclave was, but I’d never heard of an exclave so I looked that up as well. That article makes for some interesting and humerous reading. It turns out that the domain of enclaves and enclaves is exceedingly intricate, introducing further granularity with many new terms: true enclave, semi-exclave, peni-enclave, counter-enclave, and on and on and on. I’m sure you’ll want to educate yourself on this fascinating subject area and look for opportunities to use semi-exclave in a sentence to impress your friends.

Here’s an example, a piece of Germany completely surrounded by Belgium. If I’ve read the Wikipedia reference correctly, this is a ‘true enclave’.

So, anyway - about the ride. The ride was brilliant. Great fun along a well travelled route. Excellent riding surface, modest grades, lovely countryside. We were sorry when we came to our turnoff after fifteen miles and would have been happy to continue south on the Vennbahn if it weren’t taking us off route. To our delight though the turnoff was also a rail to trail conversion along a spur of the main line, and we followed it east for another fifteen miles. Thirty wonderful miles along an excellent paved cycle path on a beautiful, sunny day. What could be better?

On the Vennbahn. At various spots train cars from the old line are still parked on the tracks, sort of a linear open air museum.

Every so often we pass one of the train stops from the old line. This one is of particular interest, as the next image illustrates.

Mützenich Was a crossroad for the coffee smuggling industry that existed along the Belgian/German border after the Second World War ended. The statue at the upper left is the one mentioned in the text. We took this photo at the crossing where the border sign photos were taken in yesterday’s post.

If you have friends and patience for the slow pace, you can leave the path and ride the rails.

The new Saurbroot station, and a cycling vagabond.

Not so wildlife. Come to think of it, I don’t believe we’ve seen a wild deer since leaving America.

East of the Vennbahn the great cycling continues.

Well, better would be if I didn’t flatten again. Once again we’re glad to have this happen on a dry day when we’re in no hurry - we think often of the fact that this might have happened tomorrow in a downpour if we hadn’t changed our plans. Still, this sort of thing gets old fast.

Afterwards I start biking and hear a repetitive metal-on-metal squeal. I can’t quite place it so I stop, unload the bike again, spin the wheels. Nothing. I bike it unloaded for a ways, and it remains silent. I reload the bike, ride again, the sound resumes. Very puzzling and exasperating.

I unload the bike again, thinking to loosen the rear brake where the sound seems to stem from, but then notice that the rear rack is slightly loose. That must be it. I tighten the rack, reload the bike, and ride again. The sound resumes.

I check the placement of the wheel, and find that it isn’t quite in the slots completely. I reseat the wheel and the sound is at least lessened but still there. Finally I loosen the rear break a bit, and that works. I think that the tension on the wheel when I’m pedaling must be torquing the wheel so the rim just contacted the pads, but it seems fine now.

We ride on, finally. After a few miles we finally leave the cycle path and follow normal roads south for the remaining fifteen miles. It is still very scenic country, but Rachael points out that I used up my looking around budget for the day wasting so much time on the bike, so for the most part we just bike through. Toward the end we cross a short but steep ridge, the steepest terrain in the day, and then finally drop toward our lodging.

Two! This spikes the FPT projection up to 16 now. Definitely not good.

Heading south. Off the cycle paths now, but it’s still a beautiful ride.

Video sound track: Bright Moments, by Grover Washington, Jr.

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Ride stats today: 45 miles, 2,100’; for the tour: 385 miles, 9,600’

Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 385 miles (620 km)

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Lyle McLeodLooks like a beautiful area to tour. The German cycling infrastructure is so impressive, as are the jewel like towns and villages. You’re making us very jealous. Hope the rest of your tour has many more days like this (sans flats though 😎)
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Lyle McLeodWe’ve been really surprised by Germany so far, and realize we don’t really know it at all. We haven’t been here for twenty years and weren’t there that long even then. The infrastructure really is impressive. It’s looking like a great few weeks coming up.
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3 years ago

Andrea BrownMaybe while in Germany you can spring for some Schwalbe tires and eliminate your flat problems, ha. It looks just beautiful there, I love the cycle paths and that they left the old machinery along it.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Andrea BrownActually, I had two new tires with us in Connecticut, in case I thought any needed replacement. I decided we had another three thousand miles on all of them and didn’t want to throw that much rubber away so I mailed them back to Portland. Too soon to tell whether that was wise or foolish.
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3 years ago

Rich FrasierNice looking ride - it’s going on my list of future routes! We have some enclaves down here - parts of Spain that are completely surrounded by France due to some careless wording in an old peace treaty. Borders, enclaves, and smuggling always seem to come together. Nowadays it’s cigarettes and alcohol - at least around here.
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3 years ago