Welcome back to the Luxembourg Outdoors monthly newsletter: my short (well, shortish) round-up of recent adventures, seasonal hiking ideas and news from the trails.
Featured this month: lots of rocks, a four-hill challenge, some summer hiking ideas and an explanation of what happens when you meet eight thousand (!) hikers walking in the opposite direction.
- May Highlights
- News from the trails
- Recommended trails for June
- My to-do list for June
May Highlights
Abandon hike!
Luckily this doesn’t happen too often, but I had to turn around and go home not once but twice during May.
The first time came on the Camino de Santiago trail through Luxembourg City, where I wasn’t aware of all the works going on to “rewild” the Alzette valley. I could have continued via a lengthy detour but, honestly, the Alzette valley is a highlight of the stage; I’ll return when it’s finished.
And it happened again last Saturday as I attempted to walk the Sentier Adrien Ries (East) trail, but met 8,000 (yes, eight THOUSAND) hikers walking in the opposite direction on the Marche Internationale de Diekirch. There literally wasn’t enough room on the path for me.
There were many successes though. I led a group around the peaceful Auto-Pédestre Fischbach, survived a bird poop incident on the challenging ER1 Erpeldange and re-discovered the incredible rock formations of the Auto-Pédestre Nommern, for example.
Perhaps my personal favourite though – despite the atrocious weather and a stand-off with a squirrel – was the Auto-Pédestre Belvaux: a 10km loop with climbs over four hills. As you can probably imagine, the views over Esch / Belval and Differdange were something to savour.
News from the trails
Visit Moselle report that two of my favourite trails in the region – The Traumschleife Schengen and the longer M3 trail are currently temporarily closed. (Shame, because I wanted to hike the M3 again soon.)
Staying in the Moselle, a new 1.5km “Pollinators in the Vineyards” themed hiking trail has opened in Schengen, with audiovisual information available via QR codes to teach you everything you ever wanted to know about the vital role insects play in making our wine.
And going – quite literally – to the absolute opposite end of the country, Visit Eislek have gently reminded us about their lovely 6km Arnica trail in Weiswampach. The trail is named after the rare arnica plant, widely used in medicines. It blooms between late May and early August, so June should be the sweet spot to find it. I did part of this trail last July when I hiked the Weiswampach Naturpad Conzefenn trail, but couldn’t see any Arnica (too late already?). However, I did encounter some exploding seed pods… but that’s another story.
Recommended Trails for June
Why not make the most of the long summer evenings by tacking some of Luxembourg’s most challenging trails?
My top tip is the fabulous Escapardenne Lee Trail. Stage One takes you to the best viewpoint in Luxembourg, Stage Two treats you to 1,000m of elevation gain AND takes you on a spectacular ridge walk. And Stage Three is simply one of the most challenging – and rewarding – trails in the country.
Honestly, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Want more? I published an article recently highlighting five challenging loop trails, including hikes in Vianden, Beaufort and more. Check it out.
My to-do list for June
The Sentier Adrien Ries is a circular trail around the “Nordstad” – Ettelbruck and Diekirch. Totalling 57km, it is split into three distinct loops: East (Bettendorf – Diekirch), North (Diekirch – Ettelbruck) and South (Ettelbruck – Colmar-Berg). Poor old West wasn’t invited to the party.
Not quite Eislek, not quite Mullerthal, not quite Guttland, this trail sits bang in the middle of all three, and I’m looking forward to discovering slices of all three regions as I explore this lesser-walked corner of Luxembourg.
And towards the end of the month I’ll be attempting to complete the Western section of the Circuit du Lac. About time too: I did the Eastern section from Esch-sur-Sûre over a year ago, and have absolutely no excuse not to finish the task during these longer summer days.
See you in the woods!
Jonny
Luxembourg Outdoors 