Strasbourg to the Netherlands
Okay we didn’t visit many cities on this piece of the trip. It was through France, Luxemborg, Germany, Belgium and finally Nederland! People don’t speak much about the nature in this part of Europe but its beatiful and easy to bike through. The only hard part is to figure out what language to use. German is your best bet, given most people around the German, French, Luxembourg and Belgium border towns we visited speak German, but also if you speak Dutch or French or English they will happily answer in German 😁. We found an old train track system to ride up the Ardennes and down again WOW! It kind of feels like cheating but during the world wars, Germany laid a lot of train tracks to a lot of places and a lot have been converted to cycle trails.. It has made this part of Europe very easy to travel by bike.
We left the Rhein in France by Breisach to go 8km west to Neuf-Brisach, a fortified town. Pretty awesome place from above (see stock photo above). The fortifications were designed and built by Vauban around the 1700’s
Although it is cool to walk through the trenches of Neuf-Brisach, unfortunately you can’t really get a good view of the unique city wall structure from above - Deborah and I agreed that a hot air balloon that is dragged up and down on a cable above town would be a pretty awesome tourist attraction here; much more enticing than the hike or little tourist “train” trundling through the town trenches.
From Neuf-Brisach we folllowed the Canal du Rhône Au Rhine. An awesome cycle track along the canal that runs in almost a straight line from here to Strasbourg. Definitely the recommended route to approach Strasbourg from the south.
Strasbourg - difficult to know if it’s French or German because the border has changed a few times in these parts. It’s French now but clearly has the architecture we expect to see in Germany and many people speak German. 
I totally love the old gothic churches. This is the grand cathedral in strasbourg
Strasbourg by night. This was the first time on our trip we were turned away from a campground because it was full so I guess that means you should really book this campground if you want to camp here. It’s the only campground in town and because we wanted to visit the town in the evening lights we decided to treat ourselves to an apartment with a last minute Booking.com booking. .
From Strassbourg we followed the Canal a little further and then switched to follow the Saar river valley to the Mosel river valley and from there the Sauer river along the Luxembourg border to Echternach and Echternacherbrück on the German Luxembourg border.
Cycling along the rivers and canals was a joy; mostly flat dedicated cycle ways through beautiful river valley scenery.
Echternach has a pretty town centre with park like surroundings. By this time we were well into our second heatwave of this trip with 40 degrees celcius in the afternoons so we decided to lay low here for two days.
The heat asked for drastic measures to cool off as Deborah demonstrates here in the little fountain on the campground in Echternachbruck. It was a very busy campground, mostly dominated by Dutch tourists so we had a good opportunity to practise our Dutch before we hit the low lands.
The Sauer river flows past the campground; a better place to cool off than the fountain for sure. The campground also has a swimming pool which was really the main drawing card for us.
The forest of Luxembourg. The second day in Echternach was a rainy one. It had just poured with rain so we looked for shelter at a ‘pub’ in the forest above Echternacherbrück on the German side. ( in Europe there is always a pub within breathing distance). The couple running the pub googled where New Zealand was and had to come and sit with us - haha they loved we could kind of speak German and chatted the afternoon away. Such a little place in Luxemborg but people with such huge personalities ❤️. The lady liked to practice her English and talked about the secrecy of her love affair with the owner of the pub/restaurant/hotel to avoid the town gossip when she started dating him a few years after her husband passed away. They moved in together a few years later and have run the place together since. A lovely couple indeed.
Early mornings on the Venn Bahn. This cycle rail trail runs from Sankt Vith in Belgium to Aachen in Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. It’s part of a railway system that has been converted to cycle ways all over these the high moors of this part of Belgium/Germany.
Monschau was a must do stop for us. The VennBahn cycle way runs right past it and the picturesque town centre is definitely worth the steep up and down you have to bike through to enter and leave this gorge.
When we still lived in the Netherlands many years ago, we loved visiting this town during the Xmas holidays for its Xmas market and fairytale like atmosphere but I must say it presents itself very well in summer too.
The last 40 kms on the Venn Bahn was a nice steady low gradient downhill and we got to enjoy that lovely “e-bike” feeling. It took us to Aachen from where it’s only a short ride to the Dutch border.
We left the Rhein in France by Breisach to go 8km west to Neuf-Brisach, a fortified town. Pretty awesome place from above (see stock photo above). The fortifications were designed and built by Vauban around the 1700’s
Although it is cool to walk through the trenches of Neuf-Brisach, unfortunately you can’t really get a good view of the unique city wall structure from above - Deborah and I agreed that a hot air balloon that is dragged up and down on a cable above town would be a pretty awesome tourist attraction here; much more enticing than the hike or little tourist “train” trundling through the town trenches.
From Neuf-Brisach we folllowed the Canal du Rhône Au Rhine. An awesome cycle track along the canal that runs in almost a straight line from here to Strasbourg. Definitely the recommended route to approach Strasbourg from the south.
Strasbourg - difficult to know if it’s French or German because the border has changed a few times in these parts. It’s French now but clearly has the architecture we expect to see in Germany and many people speak German. I totally love the old gothic churches. This is the grand cathedral in strasbourg
Strasbourg by night. This was the first time on our trip we were turned away from a campground because it was full so I guess that means you should really book this campground if you want to camp here. It’s the only campground in town and because we wanted to visit the town in the evening lights we decided to treat ourselves to an apartment with a last minute Booking.com booking. .
From Strassbourg we followed the Canal a little further and then switched to follow the Saar river valley to the Mosel river valley and from there the Sauer river along the Luxembourg border to Echternach and Echternacherbrück on the German Luxembourg border.
Cycling along the rivers and canals was a joy; mostly flat dedicated cycle ways through beautiful river valley scenery.
Echternach has a pretty town centre with park like surroundings. By this time we were well into our second heatwave of this trip with 40 degrees celcius in the afternoons so we decided to lay low here for two days.
The heat asked for drastic measures to cool off as Deborah demonstrates here in the little fountain on the campground in Echternachbruck. It was a very busy campground, mostly dominated by Dutch tourists so we had a good opportunity to practise our Dutch before we hit the low lands.
The Sauer river flows past the campground; a better place to cool off than the fountain for sure. The campground also has a swimming pool which was really the main drawing card for us.
The forest of Luxembourg. The second day in Echternach was a rainy one. It had just poured with rain so we looked for shelter at a ‘pub’ in the forest above Echternacherbrück on the German side. ( in Europe there is always a pub within breathing distance). The couple running the pub googled where New Zealand was and had to come and sit with us - haha they loved we could kind of speak German and chatted the afternoon away. Such a little place in Luxemborg but people with such huge personalities ❤️. The lady liked to practice her English and talked about the secrecy of her love affair with the owner of the pub/restaurant/hotel to avoid the town gossip when she started dating him a few years after her husband passed away. They moved in together a few years later and have run the place together since. A lovely couple indeed.
From Echternacherbrück we followed the RLP (Rheinland Pfalz) Cycleway from Echternach to Sankt-Vith in Belgium where it hooks up with the VennBahn. Just love these slow inclines and declines through otherwise very hilly landscapes.
Early mornings on the Venn Bahn. This cycle rail trail runs from Sankt Vith in Belgium to Aachen in Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. It’s part of a railway system that has been converted to cycle ways all over these the high moors of this part of Belgium/Germany.
Monschau was a must do stop for us. The VennBahn cycle way runs right past it and the picturesque town centre is definitely worth the steep up and down you have to bike through to enter and leave this gorge.
When we still lived in the Netherlands many years ago, we loved visiting this town during the Xmas holidays for its Xmas market and fairytale like atmosphere but I must say it presents itself very well in summer too.
The last 40 kms on the Venn Bahn was a nice steady low gradient downhill and we got to enjoy that lovely “e-bike” feeling. It took us to Aachen from where it’s only a short ride to the Dutch border.
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