Sunday in Luxembourg – Sunday 14 July

Sunday in Luxembourg – Sunday 14 July

Today was our second day in Luxembourg – we rode for 68 km north from Luxembourg city to Wallendorf in the north and just over the German border (halfway across the country!). We mostly followed national cycle route number 15 – through Steinsel, Mersch, Pettingen and Colmar. We turned off onto route 16 at Ettelbruck to Wallendorf.

We started the ride by going down the Pfaffenthal Lift to the river valley floor again, to follow the river valley to the north.

We paused to look at the ruins of the 13th century Pettingen castle, just beside the cycle route. A sign at the castle claims that a ghost of a woman appears every year at midnight on 15 July, crying for her murdered child. So we were just a day too early for the ghost.

We stopped for milkshakes at Etelbruck, in a cafe on the main pedestrian mall.

Etelbruck

We saw quite a few of these outdoor picture galleries alongside the bike paths, both yesterday and today. The pictures all seemed fairly abstract. Occasionally there are also sculptures.

Outdoor picture gallery

The bike path followed the Sauer river for the final section of the ride from Ettelbruck to Wallendorf. We stopped to watch some kayak-ers practising. One kayak-er pulled his kayak up onto the grassy slope and launched himself back into the water by sliding down the slope.

Kayak training
River ride

Wallendorf spans the German-Luxembourg border, with most of the town in Germany. The border is the river, with the crossing on a bridge. The town seems to be mostly a tourist town, with a number of guest houses and camping areas. Our hotel is at the top of a steep hill overlooking the town. It is quite old fashioned and family run, with father and daughters working together. They provide a set menu dinner, which we ate in the dining area with the other guests, mostly older people and one big family group.

Border crossing to Germany
Wallendorf view from our hotel veranda

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.