Mullerthal Trail Extra Tour C

10km – Easy / medium – 2.5 to 3 hours
A quiet, varied offshoot of the Mullerthal Trail 2, taking in the rolling countryside around Altrier and Bech.
Highlights include an old railway tunnel, a venerable oak and glimpses of classic Mullerthal rock formations.
Park on Heeschbregerwee in Altrier, or at Becher Gare, Bech.
By bus: Altrier, Op der Schanz

Extra Tour C branches off from the Mullerthal Trail 2 near Hersberg and immediately feels different in character. While its parent route is hemmed in by rock corridors and often thronged with visitors, this loop opens out into the rolling forests and farmland of Altrier and Bech, and you will often find yourself alone with your thoughts.

Starting in Altrier, the route dips purposefully down through woodland, past an old lavoir to join up with the main Luxembourg-Echternach cycle path. Initially you may feel that the asphalt surface and the occasional whizzing cyclist are a minus point on a hiking trail. But there are good reasons for taking you down here: the views over Hemstal and Zittig are quietly bucolic, and wandering through the old railway tunnel near Bech elicits a distinctly child-like excitement.

Just the other side of the tunnel is Becher Gare, a former railway station that has been transformed into a small tourism hub, with facilities for hikers and cyclists alike. There is also a brewery and an excellent café / restaurant here, also called simply Becher Gare, if you fancy a coffee, a cake, or something slightly stronger before continuing.

Having briefly left the cycle path at Becher Gare, the trail rejoins it once again and sticks there like glue until you pass under the roaring E29 and remerge on the fringe of the Muerbesch. This small but atmospheric wood is pockmarked with mardellen – picturesque, swamp-like ponds formed in clay soils that are vital amphibian habitats. A word of warning, though: the presence of these shallow ponds means that the Muerbesch can become decidedly waterlogged after heavy rain. Good boots or soggy socks – the choice is entirely yours.

You’re over halfway round the loop by now, and still no sign of the famous Mullerthal rocky scenery. All that changes as you descend from the Consdorf-Altrier plateau into picture-perfect Little Switzerland woodland. Babbling stream, towering beech trees, sandstone cliffs – it’s all here. Pay close attention and you’ll even find some neolithic rainures: mysterious grooves in boulders left by our distant ancestors (you can find more on the brilliant B1 Beaufort hike, either side of the château).

Given the spectacular scenery, it will come as no surprise to find that you are now following a section of the main Mullerthal Trail 2, which is almost 40km of rocky delights and arguably the toughest hiking trail in Luxembourg. Soon you arrive at a point where, often on the edge of physical exhaustion, the MT2 does something I’ve always found rather strange: a 1.5km detour from the main trail (followed by the inevitable 1.5km return) to see a tree.

Yes, a tree.

Expectations, understandably, are high.

This is the Heeschbrecher Bildchen, sometimes referred to as the “Millennial Oak”, although most estimates place its age closer to 500 years than 1,000. It is certainly an impressive specimen but, like many venerable giants, is now showing its age. The detour might have felt entirely justified a century or two ago, when the oak was in its magnificent prime. Today, some hikers may quietly reflect on the effort-to-reward ratio.

No such detour dilemmas for the hiker on Extra Tour C. The trail passes directly by the oak on its return to Altrier, allowing you to pay your respects to this venerable bastion of Luxembourg nature before it finally departs its long and majestic life.

In short, the Mullerthal Trail Extra Tour C may lack the drama of its parent trails, but it more than compensates with sheer variety. Farmland, forest, railway history, wetlands and sandstone cliffs all wrapped into a manageable 10km loop. A quietly excellent half-day hike.