Travel: Who's next? Luxembourg is next to go 🏕️

Wait what another travel story again? Yes! We missed the adventure of visiting unknown places already after one week of work. So, we decided to go out for a long weekend. Didn’t know the destination till the time we stepped in the car. We picked Luxembourg as our choice for the weekend. We always drive through it, but never actually stop in this country. We wanted to see what we could find when we left the highway behind us.

We found a place for our tent at the camping Auf Kengert in Larochette. Beautiful spot to stay I must say. They have a big grassy field for tents or we could pitch on one of the empty caravan spots.

After pitching our tent, we grabbed our bikes and started to explore the surrounding forests.

Some parts of the MTB tracks you share here with pedestrians so better watch out. The route we ride on our bike you can see on the screenshot from my gps watch. We didn't bike that far (a little more than 26 km). The tracks are sometimes wide, narrow, asphalt. Wide variations but al lovely to ride. While riding the track you got some nice different views overlooking the castle from Larochette.

After the exploration of the first MTB track we headed to Larochette and did some shopping for our first BBQ in Luxembourg. No problems at all cooking our meat on the charcoal fire.

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Day two

This is the day we started walking the first track while crossing the ‘ biggest’ waterfall from Luxembourg. It’s called the Schiessentümpel waterfall. It’s only about 4 meters high I think. Ok not allowed to laugh because it brought bad luck towards us. A rockpart of the wall next to the waterfall felled down. So we couldn’t access the waterfall… Made a few pictures from the Schwarze Ernz upstream and photoshopped the waterfall area. There is a nice story about this part of the Goldfray area. There is a woman made from gold (goldfra) , wandering around in a white dress on the rocks (lay). She owns a key which gives the keeper access to a treasure of gold (goldkaul). The woman in white can’t open the treasure by herself. You wanna try your luck opening the treasure? There are some conditions you need to know: you have to be here around midnight when the moon is full. And you must be absolutely free from any sin! The woman will reveal herself, but the key is in her mouth. You have to collect it without using your hands. Goodluck! 👻

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No time for crying about the waterfall access, we got a busy day ahead. We had the plan to walk track 2 today. This track is around 37km long. And yes, I did underestimate this track. There are way too many things around it that needs to be discovered. Lots of rocky formations around this track with some narrow gorges you can crawl through. Don’t forget your torch! My girlfriend is the one with the love for animals and plants. But even I mentioned the sometimes, strange plants growing around the track. Lots of different ferns.

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We follow the track, first it’s crossing a campsite and a hotel, after those it will bring you back in the forest. While leading you into the forest the track is rising mediocre. From here you will wander around through amazing rock formations. A few of them are Werschrummschlüff and Binzeltschlüff. But the best part of this track are the gorges you can crawl through. This is a great playground for euhm kids? No even myself really enjoyed wandering around the mazes.

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After all the wandering around we finally got at the next village Berdorf. We needed a drink on this hot and sunny day. So we stretched our legs out while we sit down on the terrace of a MTB café. All the wandering around did consume a lot of time. So, we decided to return with a small corner through Berdorf and than heading back on the original track. We will resume the track later this weekend because a lot of interesting parts we still need to see.

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When we finally return at the campsite, we grabbed our bikes again. On a mission to collect some food we can prepare on the BBQ again. Tired of all the wandering around, our evening wasn’t that long anymore after diner.

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Day three

This day is all about biking again. We wanted to follow another MTB track in this region. We choose to do the track around the artificial lake nearby Echternach. Don’t know why they call this an MTB track. Most of the track is asphalt with a few forest tracks meters. Somewhere halfway it gets a little technical, we both failed to cross the bridges without stepping off from our bikes. But further it’s only climbing and one long downhill ride which is good fun. Only ride this track when you’re out of options or you did ride all the other tracks in this area. But the good parts, well the sun did shine a lot in the morning. It was good for my condition to get some extra height meters. At the end when we returned at the parking I was tired, but in a good way. Too bad while eating our lunch it started to rain.

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We decided to return to the campsite. We did a little nap and cleaned ourselves because we go out for dinner tonight. We got a few tips to visit this specific pizzeria. So, we went out to eat a pizza. Oh boy this restaurant was great! We both enjoyed our pizzas. But for dessert you don’t have to take it here. Nothing special. But the pizza was awesome. I ordered one without cheese but got a pizza with a lot of cheese. So, they made a fresh one in a few minutes for me. Awesome service here!

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Day four

Return of the track! Today we return to the track where we left a day before. Because the best part of it is still ahead of us. Those parts are called Hohllay and Wolfsschlucht. We could park nearby Hohllay. First you’ll cross a natural theater, just lovely to see how people turned the environment into something like a theater. Nothing was playing there so don’t know how it looks and sounds when you’re sitting at a bench. We walked along and reached the caves from Hohllay. These caves have a nice historical story. When you watch the ceiling and some of the walls from the cave you’ll see everywhere large circles. These circles are men made, to create millstones for the many mills in the area. The process of carving out such a huge round stone was a meticulous job. After the requested size of the millstone was determined, a round slot was cut around the circumference approx. 20 to 30 centimeters wide and with a depth they ordered the millstone. Then again a narrow trench was cut around the circumference of the stone inside. In that slot, dry woods were pressed over the entire circumference of the stone. Once placed they drenched the wood parts with water. Because the swelling created a strong equal pressure between the rock wall and the inside of the stone, it was only a matter of time or the millstone would break lose. This was always a exciting moment for the creators of the millstone, because if there was only one small piece of rock that got left behind the millstone would be worthless.

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Behind the caves you can climb down through the bottom of the valley. And I really liked this part the most of our stay in Luxembourg. The valley is formed by the small river called Aesbach. This river you’ll follow for a long time. But the track goes over, stays on the left, and the right of the river and sometimes you’ll get wet 😉. Lot to explore in this are because the rocks have some gorges where you can wander through. The whole valley looks like a scene from the Lord of the Rings. Different shades of green and some beautiful rock formations with names like: Tour Malakoff, Perekop, Labyrint and in the end the Deiwelsschlëff (devils gorge). After this we did check out the spectacular rockwalls from the Wolfsschlucht (wolves gorge). At the top of this gorge you’ll have a beautiful view over the area. After this we thought it was time to return and enjoy the valley again. While we finished the walk we decided that we wanted to see a castle from the inside. We choose the castle of Beaufort.

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After a beautiful drive through the area we parked the car in front of the castle. Everyone is complaining about parking problems here but we could park our car properly. We walked inside and here we found a problem of the digital era. They didn’t have a pin terminal. They were really living in the dark ages! We didn’t have any cash with us so we couldn’t enter the castle.

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We ended the day at the campsite again with some fries we bought at the campsite. We were tired from walking in these temperatures.

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Final day

We started the day with lots of sunshine! And because we still wanted to see a castle we decided to see the castle of Vianden. This is along the road while we return home, so an easy choice. The castle you will spot instant when you enter the area of the village. It’s laying on top of an hill while the city of Vianden is lying underneath the castle. The history of this castle will return till the ninth century (it’s build upon the remnants of a Roman fortress). And a fun fact although it’s in Luxembourg, the county of Vianden is in Dutch hands (family of Nassau) since the 15th century. So that’s why we spotted a picture from our own king and queen in the castle!

While we drive through the small city searching for a spot to park the car, we noticed that on Sundays the parking is for free. To, bad it’s a Tuesday today… Small tip from us, you can park for free at the chairlift. From there it is only a small walk or you can go by the chairlift off course. But the small walk brings you through the small forest between the city and the castle.

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First we started the day with a coffee at a restaurant at the river. Just enjoyed the views at the castle from our spot and the sunshine and the sounds of the calm flowing river.

Luckily for us we could pay here by card. We brought a audio guide with us during our wandering through the castle. There aren’t that many (English) signs in the castle telling you things about the history, but the audio guide does. They’re still renovating the castle so we couldn’t enter all the area’s and the chapel was just renovated, but they stopped after the painting was done. Because the barrier tape was still everywhere in this room.

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The best parts we thought were the views from the roof terrace and a gallery with a nice view over the whole area. After the walk through the castle we entered the restaurant, and we found another museum part here. This was all new, the presentation and media they used here was way better than in the rest of the castle. Interactive screens, beamers projecting graphics/movies on the castle walls telling the visitor the story of the castle through the ages.

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We stayed longer in the castle than we thought we would do on first hand. So after visiting the castle we walked back to our car. While we returned at the car it started to rain. So perfect timing for us to hit the road on our way home.

Hope you enjoyed my adventures again. What will be your next destination?

Hang loose 🤙