MTB paradise Luxembourg?: 4 princely trail days in the Ardennes

Luxembourg is just twice the size of Hamburg. However, the Ardennes rise up in the north of the Grand Duchy and are home to so many single trails that mountain bikers can ride four trail stages.

"OK, we'd better stop here," says Ferdy Adam, as the water drips from his helmet in long threads. It's obvious that we can't go any further: the world is coming to an end all around us. Mighty conifers are bending alarmingly under the gusts of wind, the rain is pelting us in the face and the small stream at the side of the path is swelling alarmingly fast. Now just get out of the forest! Bugger - this is supposed to be the best trail descent of the day. At least, that's what my mate Ferdy had touted this morning. But that was several hours ago, when we got on our bikes in Luxembourg City and the sun was still shining from a deep blue sky.

Local Ferdy has been working on this trail circuit for 10 years

Relaxed trail surfing is now out of the question. Even on the country road, on which we've been forced to speed along, it's now land bottom. Torrents of water pour down from above, from the front, from behind. Simply from everywhere. In the village of Dikeschbour, the fire brigade closes the main road because masses of water are pulsing out of a gully. Twenty minutes later, as we rumble over a flooded staircase at our destination in Esch an der Sauer and get out of our saddles dripping wet right in front of our hotel, the landlady welcomes us with two full buckets in her hands and the words that she has never experienced rain like this in her life. After all. The day was productive enough without the missed trail finale. We had our fill of beautiful bike trails, with everything you could wish for: Serpentines, root steps, flow. And in between, there were always forest tracks to relax on and the occasional stretch of tarmac. Ferdy really hadn't promised too much!

A few months earlier: I had just returned home from my favourite trail near Freiburg, completely bruised but satisfied. Then Ferdy rang me. He proudly announced: "I've done it." "Made what?" I asked back. At last, Ferdy continued exuberantly, he had summarised "the best nature trails" that he knew in the Luxembourg Ardennes into a coherent stage tour. "Oh no, the best. The very best!" he shouted through the receiver.

He spent ten years fine-tuning the route. Whenever he found the time, he travelled to the northern tip of the Grand Duchy and tested a new section here and found it to be good, before discarding another section there. "Trial and error. For ten years! Now it works." And would I like to come and try out the praised trail paradise for myself? What a question. Of course I wanted to come!

The sandstone cliffs in the Marmertal valley

That's why I'm now standing here in a musty hotel garage, pouring considerable amounts of water out of my shoes and having no regrets about the day that lies behind us. After all, we roared for kilometres over the grippy, flowing trails along the sandstone cliffs of the Mamer Valley before working our way further and further into the slate subsoil of the Ardennes - only to finally capitulate to the masses of water shortly before the end. Thank goodness the hotel owner allowed us in even in wet clothes. After a warm shower and a hearty roast beef with a huge portion of chips in the hotel restaurant, the world looks good again for us.

The next day, the small Ardennes village of Esch looks as idyllic as if the storm had never happened: Red-golden rays of sunlight illuminate the river valley, billowing mist slowly rises above the surface of the water - what an atmosphere! And it's straight down to business on the singletrack too. After a few kilometres of warming up on gravel, we end up on a narrow path that immediately gets into full swing and puts our balancing skills to the test. It winds its way over wet, slippery slate rocks along the steep bank above Lac de la Haute-Sûre.

Liv rides for a professional road team. But her secret love is for technically challenging trails. Ferdy explains when we stop at a viewpoint that the man-made Esch-Sauer lake was created in the 1950s as a drinking water reservoir: "There are the most descents with hairpin bends in the whole of Luxembourg around the lake." So the ideal spot to spend a few days? Until a few years ago, the Luxembourger and his bike club mates organised trail camps at various spots in the Ardennes. After the pandemic, the events fell asleep and he hasn't yet revived them due to too many work commitments.

But all the people from Belgium, Germany and France who rode the trails here with me were absolutely thrilled - Ferdy.

These are the best conditions for our stage tour. Ferdy's plan: to pedal uphill on forest tracks as relaxed as possible and then hurtle back downhill on the best trails the Ardennes have to offer. Sounds good, but also exhausting. Because the hills and mountains of the Ardennes barely reach more than 500 metres in altitude, so we have no choice: We will follow the constant ups and downs, accumulating over 6000 metres of altitude on our 600-kilometre tour - Ferdy had already announced this as a precaution.

The trails: sometimes steep and rocky

"Many of the trails here are quite difficult, sometimes steep and full of stones and roots. And depending on how you ride, you can sometimes ride ten trails in a row - that's exhausting." Speed toughness is also put to the test here, but not just because of the topography: Ferdy is in top form because he has spent every day off in recent weeks fine-tuning the final details of the route on site and has practically ridden the entire route again. But his niece Liv Wenzel, who is accompanying us on the tour, is even fitter. The nineteen-year-old is open, quite nice and, above all, fully trained: A few bike lengths ahead of us, she is still prancing effortlessly on her fully over the narrow trail littered with stones and boulders, where Ferdy and I have long since reached our limits. Which is hardly surprising, as she is a professional racing cyclist in the Luxembourg UCI Continental Team "Hess Cycling". In winter, she rides cyclocross races - but her favourite thing to do is sit on her mountain bike and do her laps around her home town in the south of Luxembourg. She knows every rock and every root there. "I really wanted to see the trails in the north that Ferdy talks about so often."

Liv's conclusion after three days was that they were really impressive. "There aren't any epically long descents like in the Alps, but I think it's cool when I can just pedal between challenging single trails from time to time. I also like steep climbs," she grins. And there really are enough of them here. Her uncle Ferdy agrees:

Many people come to Luxembourg and think that everything is flat. But they quickly realise that they are quite wrong in this assessment.

That's right: While bizarre sandstone cliffs dominate around Luxembourg City, the Ösling, the eastern part of the Ardennes, consists mainly of deeply incised layers of slate. And these in turn are home to many short climbs, crisp ramps and fast descents. The river trails on the steep banks of the Our on day three prove to be particularly tough. On the border river to Germany, super-narrow trails wind their way along the riverbank for kilometres, garnished with boulders and root steps. At one point, the edge is so exposed that I prefer to dismount and carry on. Ten metres further down, the Our gurgles between the sharp-edged rocks on the bank. Better not take any risks now! But later, shortly before Vianden, things go all the more smoothly: we shoot along the gorge paths and even cross over to the German side of the border for several kilometres shortly before the end.

Relics from the "Battle of the Bulge"

Incidentally, the Nazis already cut their teeth on the wild topography of these mountains: The "Battle of the Ardennes" or "Bataille des Ardennes", which raged here in the winter of 1944/1945 over seventy-five years ago, was one of the last twitches of the almost defeated Nazi regime in the Second World War. They lost the battle for the hills of the Ardennes to the Allies, but traces of the fighting and the German occupiers can still be seen everywhere in the region today: For example, a cobbled-together shelter in a steep wall in the middle of the forest near the Esch reservoir, which Ferdy had shown us the day before. Young Luxembourgers hid here for over a year, even in winter, to escape forced recruitment by the Wehrmacht. Although the sun is shining, we shiver at the thought. But we soon leave the gloomy thoughts behind us. Because shortly after this sad place, the road climbs steeply again. And then downhill again. It warms up automatically. Typical Luxembourg. It can go on like this!

The GPS data for the tour

Subscribers to BIKE magazine can download the GPS data for the Luxembourg trail tour free of charge from bike-magazin.de under "My area".

Subscribers to the BIKE Touring Portal will automatically find the data in their app.

1st stage: Luxembourg City - Esch/Sauer

• Length: 65 kilometres
• Uphill: 1350 metres in altitude
• Downhill: 1300 metres in depth
• Difficulty: medium

Off to the north! Luxembourg City is the perfect starting point for two reasons: firstly, the capital is easily accessible by public transport and secondly, just beyond the city limits you enter the Luxembourg Forest Sea. From there, it's straight off with flowing trails and forest tracks. A challenging mix all the way to the stage destination of Esch an der Sauer. The flow trails in the Mamertal at the start are more exciting than towards the end of the stage, where it's all about making distance. But a technical downhill awaits at the end!

Starting point: Luxembourg City

Key points: No major challenges, but the descent shortly before Esch is more technical and approaches S2 level.

Retreat: Brasserie Phillie's, small restaurant in Boevange-sur-Attert. Located directly on the route at kilometre 36.

Stage 2: Esch/Sauer - Clervaux

• Length: 41 kilometres
• Uphill: 1300 metres altitude
• Downhill: 1250 metres in depth
• Difficulty: medium

Today's tour concept: Ride uphill on forest roads and occasionally on tarmac and then hurtle back down again on trails. In other words: a genuine cross-country stage awaits. And it's fun, but more of a challenge for fitness than technical skills - although: right at the start, a narrow path winds its way along the steep bank above the Obersauer reservoir and there are also sections later on that are not without their challenges. Overall, there are slightly fewer trails on the programme today, but a few very steep climbs.

Starting point: Esch/Sauer

Key points: At the Geeselee near Lellingen (from km 27), the trail winds over steps and leads into a narrow, bumpy gully with steep bends.

Retreat: Pintsch, Café beim Schrainer, directly on the route at kilometre 30: Croque Monsieur, cool drinks and warm words from the friendly owner!

Stage 3: Clervaux - Vianden

• Length: 65 kilometres
• Uphill: 1700 metres in altitude
• Downhill: 1900 metres in depth
• Difficulty: medium

From Clervaux, take the train to Troisvierges (Ulflingen), in the very north of Luxembourg. From there, head southwards. Initially with plenty of panoramic views and little thrill. But then the proportion of singletrack skyrockets. Particularly on the steep banks of the Our, the border river to Germany, narrow, sometimes exposed trails wind their way along the riverbank for kilometres. Even later on, there are always challenges lurking, for example on the gorge trails around Falkenstein Castle on the German side.

Starting point: Troisvierges

Key points: The river trails along the Our are exposed in places with tricky ledges or root steps (max. S2).

Retreat: Camping Kohnenhof, tasty snacks in the campsite restaurant at kilometre 39.

Stage 4: Vianden - Esch-sur-Sûre

• Length: 59 kilometres
• Uphill: 1800 metres in altitude
• Downhill: 1700 metres in depth
• Difficulty: medium

Vianden Castle is the largest of its kind far and wide and the climb to the castle panorama is a must. It then takes a few more kilometres on asphalt and gravel before it gets down to business at the Gringlee near Bourscheid - a flowing descent over 200 metres in depth leads down into the valley of the Sûre. And this is basically how the whole day continues: a constant change from fun to very challenging trails downhill and wider paths back up again. You can keep going until shortly before the end. Then it's back down to Esch-Sauer via narrow serpentine loops.

Starting point: Vianden

Key points: The Gringlee downhill near Bourscheid is first flowy and then trickier thanks to rocky steps, exposed sections and very tight hairpin bends. The S3 descent at Lipperscheid (km 21) requires the utmost attention. The trail in Schlindertal only becomes challenging towards the end with a short descent over rocky and slippery steep bends (km 27). In contrast, the very demanding Hoflee Trail (km 33.7) demands the utmost attention right from the start. It leads downhill in narrow, steep loops on bumpy, sometimes sharp-edged slate, followed by an exposed section that is partly carved into the rocks. The fast descent to Bockholtz is rocky but not dangerous (km 48).

Tip: If you want to take the train back to Luxembourg City, you will end the stage at Kautenbach station but miss out on the beautiful trails of the last 20 kilometres. Alternative: Spend a night in Esch and cycle back the same way as stage 1. Or take the road to Goebelsmühle and from there take the train to Luxembourg City.

Retreat: Camping Kautenbach. Solid country restaurant with plenty of hearty food on the menu (km 40.6)

Info Ardennes

The precinct

The Éislek, as the Luxembourgish Ardennes are known in the national language, is located in the north of the Grand Duchy. Around a quarter of the total area of the Ardennes is located in Luxembourg, the rest in Belgium. The topography is hilly and characterised by deep valleys and rivers such as the Our and Sûre (Sauer). The sparsely populated region is dotted with small villages, a few small towns such as Esch-sur-Sûre or Vianden - and a finely branched network of paths with a high proportion of trails, offering plenty of opportunities for day-long bike tours. Mountain biking is generally permitted or tolerated everywhere. There are not many hikers, but in summer it is advisable to tackle multi-day tours during the week.

The tour

The tour (a total of 230 kilometres and 6150 metres in altitude) leads from Luxembourg City north into the Ösling or Éislek, as this region of the Ardennes is known. After an overnight stay in the Ardennes town of Esch an der Sauer (Esch-sur-Sûre), the route takes you on a three-day loop through the densely wooded low mountain range. A beautiful mix of sometimes challenging nature trails, quiet forest paths and very little tarmac awaits bikers there. The routes are not very busy. However, the constant ascents and descents mean that you gain quite a few metres in altitude.

Free public transport: Travelling on buses and trains is free throughout the country, bicycles included. Brilliant for tour planning!

Guiding

Whether it's a stage tour, trail camp or day trip - guided bike tours are available in Luxembourg at visit-eislek.lu

Luggage transport

Bike with your back free thanks to bookable luggage transport. Costs: 18 euros per transfer route and piece of luggage. From 1 April to 30 November, info: movewecarry.lu

Accommodation

• Luxembourg City: Hotel Parc Belair. Central hotel for a relaxed journey the day before the tour, goereshotels.com
• Esch-sur-Sûre: Hôtel le Postillon. Family-run, quiet, good restaurant, lepostillon.lu
• Clervaux: Hotel du Commerce. Modern hotel with spa and all the bells and whistles, hotelducommerce.lu
• Vianden: Hotel Belle Vue. Modern eco-hotel, tastefully and beautifully situated on the edge of the medieval old town. hotelbv.com

General information

visit-eislek.lu

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