One of our WarmShowers hosts from the Netherland , Reijnoud, suggested we ride the Vennbahn Rail Trail so we headed out of the Netherlands into Aachen, Germany. The city centre is magnificent. There is a noticeable difference in architectural style from one country to the next. I managed to scoop up another earth cache as Aachen was once made popular for its hot springs. I was hoping to find a public hot tub but all that is left are a couple of outdoor fountains and the locals didn't like me sitting in them so that was that. It was too late in the day to start the trail so we found camping less than 2 km from downtown and called it a day.
The Vennbahn is 125 km of mostly paved trail passing through the forests and some small towns of Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The first 40 km were smooth, with no more than a 2% grade, but then the weather turned nasty with rain and wind somehow coming at us from all directions so we quickly pulled into our first stop in Waimes, Belgium. With a small window of sunshine we were able to find and set up camp before being blessed by more rain. The camping facilities in Europe are never far from a restaurant or pub. This one had its own little bar where I made myself comfortable for a few hours chatting with the locals before retiring for the evening. The remainder of the trail contains about 25 km of mostly hard-packed gravel but the postcard-ready scenery and the long, gradual descending make it a joy to ride. The town we had hoped to stay in offered no camping so with 20 km to go and the sun setting fast we booked it to the end of the line, just in time to find a campsite in Troisvierges, Luxembourg. It was a longer than expected day in the saddle. If I was willing to whip up dinner at 10:00 pm - which I wasn't - it would have been disappointing to say the least. We opted for a mad dash by bike up and out of the valley to a restaurant that served late-night pizza if we made it there before they closed! We had to sweet talk the bartender a bit but managed to get pizza and beer to fnish off another epic day.
10 August - Happy Birthday Leigh :)
A day off to celebrate Leigh's birthday in style: a train right from the campsite into Luxembourg City (2 Euros each and the bikes ride free), a cozy hotel room and dinner for two. It rained most of the day which made the luxury of a trai rideeven more enjoyable. Rested and clean, we will continue our journey to the west of Luxembourg and into France.