Bikepacking 2023 - Saarbrücken (Germany) to Luxembourg City

Day #

22

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	68.8 miles	km	3310 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	830.9 miles	km	27320 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Relive the Route

Route So Far

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Travelogue

We're now in Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. 

Today was numerically, our toughest day yet. And you road bikers, please note.... these bikes, loaded as they are, weigh much more than your carbon framed, lightweight thoroughbred! The Mule weighs three times as much as the road bike which M1 rides at home. So, nearly 70 miles on these bikes and over 3,000 feet ascent, is fairly major.

The day's route can be thought of as comprising two parts. The first 30 miles, from Saarbrücken to Merzig, followed the river Saar and was flat or slightly downhill all the way. After that, all bets were off and the second part of the route consisted of two major hilly sections and was quite challenging at times.

Much of the first ten miles or so of the river section ran parallel with a major road and it was quite industrial. Not the most pleasant backdrop to the riverside ride, but fast and easy.

There were no boulangeries today of course, this being Germany but there was a MacDonalds!

After Merzig, we cycled away from the river and soon found ourselves in countryside and most significantly, climbing into the hills. The weather started to change as well, and bit by bit became very windy.

Eventually, we reached the Luxembourg border!

This was at Schengen, a small Luxembourg town which actually sits at the border between three countries, namely Luxembourg, Germany and France. 

Knowing we had a rough 30 - 40 miles still to go, we decided to take a break and have lunch. There was a bar restaurant over the bridge, so we went in and enjoyed croque monsieurs, made with smoked salmon rather than the usual ham and a portion of fries. It set us up nicely.

In fact, you could say it was a treat and M1 spent most of his time trying to come up with a witty pun about how it was a Schengen Treaty. Get it? Sorry about that!

Not far after Schengen, we hit the first truly major hilly section. We were cycling on narrow country lanes, and after the first, fairly steep climb, M1 realised that they had missed a turn at the bottom of the hill so that all that effort had been a waste. Neither M1 nor M2 had noticed what looked on the map like a fork in the road, so M1 went back down to investigate, hoping to make sure M2 didn't cycle down only to have to cycle back up the same hill again!

Sure enough, there was a fork in the road, but the reason it had been discounted on the way up was that it was not tarmac like the road they'd continued on but had a strange concrete honeycomb surface. And it was also insanely steep! M1 took one look at it and instantly knew that neither M1 nor M2 would be able to cycle up it. M1 had serious doubts they'd be able to push the bikes up either. M1 was certain that the gradient was more than 15% but didn't know by how much. According to Strava, it would appear that at its steepest, it was 22%.

We examined the map and did identify a lengthy way around but M2 voted for trying to push the bikes up and then continuing on the route as planned, so that's what we did. M1 went first, and struggled with the heavy Mule, feet slipping on the concrete as he leaned into the steep gradient and only just managing to keep the front wheel on the ground. With a few stops on the way, the top of the steep section was achieved. M2 had started to follow and was doing well, but M1 parked The Mule and walked down to meet her and help push her bike up.

The top? No photo ever does justice to any gradient!

Mission accomplished. Or so we thought because as we worked our way up the remainder of this sizeable hill, we encountered two more similarly steep sections that the bikes had to be pushed up. 

M2 pushing the final few metres up the last steep section

It was exhausting but in the end, our mission really was accomplished and we relished cycling on the flat and then descending for a while.

It had started to rain before the steep section and we'd donned waterproofs but the moment they were on, the rain stopped! But now it started again, and rained quite convincingly. We pushed on and eventually found ourselves on the outskirts of Luxembourg City.

The city is much larger and busier than we'd expected. We cycled four or five miles through the concrete, modern city, which fortunately had reasonable cycle lanes, towards the centre where we had an apartment waiting for us. With or without cycle lanes, it was at times a little unpleasant. 

Finally, we reached the apartment and parked the bikes outside.

We then headed off on foot to find groceries, which required us to take a panoramic lift ("ascenseur") from the deep gorge the apartment is in up to streets above. After a ten minute walk, we found a small supermarket and bought food for the evening and for breakfast. Warning to would be visitors to Luxembourg! Prices are similar to those in Switzerland!

Tomorrow is a rest day. Unfortunately the weather forecast is for heavy rain, but regardless, we shall see the sights, whatever they are!

But before closing, could I invite the reader to give M2 a massive round of applause? Today's 69 mile ride was the longest bike she has ever done in her life and she did it on a bike loaded with panniers and on a route that included 22% gradients. And she could still walk at the end of it! Chapeau M2! An awesome performance!