Vianden - Luxembourg City - The land of the Belgians and Luxembourgeois

March 18, 2011

Vianden - Luxembourg City

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I slept well, and awoke determined to finally fix my slow puncture. In the comfort of the hotel garage, I got the tyre back off and succeeded in patching it properly. My spare inner tubes were stretched beyond use, so I hoped that this would hold.

As I left Vianden to the South, I was so near the German border I thought I'd pop across it so I could say I'd visited a fourth country on this trip. By hopping over the bridge at Roth an der Our I managed to cross the border.

Country #4 - momentarily crossing the German border

This would be my last day - I had almost made it! It was only a moderate day, so I had scheduled some time to check out some of the impressive castles along the way. After following the Our South and crossing the Sure, I came to Beaufort castle, a mighty medieval ruin.

Looking down into the valley. This must have been very defensible.

Some (mercifully shadowy) instruments inside the castle

In the grounds outside the castle I saw a slowworm

Continuing on, castle #2 was just a few kilometers South, in La Rochette. I got there just in time to be let in.

After La Rochette I had a snack and contemplated the home stretch into Luxembourg City. This would take me over rolling terrain down the backroads, through Fischbach, Blaschette and Walfer to finally descend into the city, on the main road.

The ride through the villages was uneventful, but the descent down to the city was blisteringly fast. I shudder to think, writing this seven years later, how I released the breaks and bombed directly down the hill on the main road, fully loaded and with a temporarily fixed front wheel. I got up to 43mph (69kph) on that descent.

Fortunately nothing went awry, and I bottomed out under a huge bridge spanning the gorge surrounding the old city. It was quite a climb up the other side, and I took it slow.

Bridge spanning the gorge around the old town

I found my way into the compact city, and to hotel. As I was checking in, I mentioned I had come by bike (as if my road-worn condition didn't show it), and the receptionist was horrified that I'd left it (locked) outside. "Get it now - it will be stolen!" she said. Coming from what is surely the bike theft capital of the UK (Oxford), I was somewhat sceptical of it was quite as bad as all that, but took her advice all the same. I was certainly thankful to be able to stash it away in a cupboard.

Approproiately enough a bike race was just concluding in Luxembourg City

I headed out for a cheap meal, and took a fairly early night. I had the whole of the next day to sightsee, before heading back on the train which I'd booked to take me back to Belgium.

Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 507 km (315 miles)

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