Belgium, Luxembourg, Gemany, France!!!

I've crossed a lot of borders and done a lot of cycling since my last blog and I've loads to say, so, if you'd like the short version here it is - I'm loving it!! Meeting great people, seeing beautiful places and just having an amazing time!!

The longer version goes like this:

From Marche en Famenne I hit the hills towards La Roche en Ardenne. There was some solid uphill at the beginning but then wonderful downhill which I assumed would mean more uphill but I was wrong which was great!! All down and flat for the rest of the day, lunch in Houffalize and then on to Bastogne to stay with a lovely couchsurfing family.



I was on the road for the first part of the day and a cyclist on a racer joined me for the uphill, he was impressed at my speed with my 'gross sac' so that was a nice boost! The bike path from Houffalize was lovely but very quite, it's nice to see other cyclists once in a while.

 

 

From Bastogne I hit the road to Germany which meant a long day cycling as I had to cross Luxembourg first. I followed the Wiltz river bike path which was flat and quite and all of a sudden I was in Luxembourg, I think the arch below was meant to symbolize that but it didn't say anything. I arrived in Wiltz town and then the uphill began! I cycled on to meet the Sure river and then followed that until it joined the Mossel and followed that to Trier in Germany. It's mad following a river from it's source and watch it grow and then join with a massive river with cargo boats!

 

Luxembourg is a funny country, they speak Luxembourgish which is a mix of French and German and they don't seem to have rules about smoking and working. I asked for directions from a man smoking while cleaning tables in a restaurant which I thought was strange and then later on in the day, I stopped for food in Echternach, a pretty town on the border with Germany and when I went in to pay the lady was smoking while cooking!

It is a very pretty country though with lots of trees, hills and rivers. 

 

 I finally arrived in Trier in Germany, 130km later! Robin from warmshowers was waiting for me and brought me to his place where he kindly hosted me. Trier is a great city, lots of Roman architecture and history. It was a great place to take a day off and I treated myself to a massage which ended up being a pretty painful treat, I guess all the mileage is bound to lead to painful massage!

 

 

 

 

 

I met Magdalena from warmshowers the next day and she brought me to a lovely Bbq with her friends in a vineyard and I stayed there for the night.  It was great to chat with Robin and Magdalena and all their friends, everyone was really friendly and had great English which was great because I haven't a clue of German! 

 

 

 

So far on this trip I've been surrounded by French, Italian, Dutch, Luxembourgish and German, it's been quite confusing but I've been enjoying the challenge of trying to speak different languages but when it comes to German, I'm out, I understand turn left or right but that's about it!

 

Magdalena and her friends cycled with m to the Mosselle then they headed North and I went south along the Mosselle and then joined with the Saar. The cycle paths in Germany are so busy, it's so different that Belgium, my bell is my best friend here as you have to use it to prevent bike crashes!!

I stopped in Saarbourg first, a beautiful town with a waterfall in the middle of it. It was amazing all the cyclists there of all shapes, ages and sizes. Nobody seems to have an excuse not to cycle, if you're not fit enough they just use an electric bike. It's such a nice day out, cycle to a lovely town in the countryside for the day then back to the city.

 

 

 

Cycling along the Saar was beautiful, in the valley among the trees, really beautiful! The only down side was that it was way longer than I expected, I thought I had an 80km cycle to get to Saarbrucken but after 95km and in Saarlouis I was still 25km out and starving. I was finding it hard to get food in the small villages along the way so I asked a man through a game of charades where I got food. He kindly cycled along with me for 10km and had some kind of German conversation with me and brought me to the next food stop. I ate, walked round looking for Wifi and then just gave up and booked a room in a hotel with Wifi. I'd a great sleep!!

 

The next day I was off along the Saar again to cross the border into France. The cycle paths in Germany were beginning to feel a bit rushed and not so sociable. I passed one man and without saying anything he tucked in behind me and used me as his wind break for about 10km. I passed another man and he too joined in my trail. It's not very comfortable having 2 guys tucked in behind you without either even saying hello. Anyway, they left and I continued on to Saarbrucken which became famous because of steel production. There was massive industry along the river which made me really happy that I hadn't been tempted to swim in it at any stage!

 

 

As soon as I crossed the border to France the pace seemed to totally relax. The first town I passed was Sarreguimes, a really lovely floral town that used to have a massive pottery factory - way nicer buildings that steel factory buildings!! I had a lovely dinner there and I could kind of understand what people were saying again which was a relief.

 

I followed the Saar again to Mittersheim where I had the first swim of my trip, it was fab and then the final 7km to Fenetrange, a great little medieval village. I called into a great pub/restaurant - Aux Oubliettes and was brought over to my room in Au Pied du Chateau. It felt like I had a whole castle to myself for the night and the staff were so nice, gave me plenty of local wine and pizza - yum!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, I took off cross country from Fenetrange to meet with the Rhine canal. It was nice to be cycling on the road again and to have ups and downs as I had been cycling on the flat beside rivers and canals for a while. I had a great day cycling, the highlight was probably the 5km of downhill through a beautiful forest to a lovely village called Lutzelbourg and from their on I just followed the flow of the Canal to Strasbourg! I had my lunch while watching a boat go through a canal lock and then a nice French couple joined me for the last 20km of my cycle to Strasborg and gave me tips on where I should visit. First stop the European Parliament for a pic with the Irish flag and then off to meet Mary and John!

 

 

 

 

So now I think I'm half way, I left Ireland 2 weeks ago, I meeting Ivan in 2 weeks, I've 1000km done, which is hopefully more than half and now I begin the next part, which is going to involve a lot of uphill!! But, I'm having a blast and I'm looking forward to the challenge. Everything has been great so far, great people, beautiful scenery, good food and nearly always fun cycling so here's hoping  the rest will be the same, I'm pretty sure it will :)