Eiffel and Saarland - Not a bad set of routes

Wapping

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I have just come back for a week away in the Eiffel and Saarland. Several people asked my for my routes, so here they are. The file shows routes for:

1. A short hop over in the late afternoon from the Chunnel to St Omer for the first overnight stop. I had to do this due to other time constraints. Load of alternatives are available.

2. St Omer to St Vith. There are lots of ways to do this. I chose this one only as it matched in with some other plans / time I had available.

3. A full day's ride from St Vith to Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and back again. I stopped just short of the route's end, at the old town's walls. You'll see them on your left when you ride into town. Park up and wander through one of the gates. I have added in a point as a Favourite, marking the Dragons Teeth defences of the German's Westwall. Providing the vegetation hasn't grown up too much, you'll first see them on your left in a long line as you ride down from Grosskampenberg on the L1. Stop at the junction (marked) with the K118 to Kesfeld to see them up closer. There is also a small explanation; in German but it's just about possible to follow what it's on about with a bit of imagination.

4. St Vith down to Schweich. I chose Schweich only because it suited me on the day; there are lots of alternatives.

5. Two, one-day rides from Schweich.

6. Schweich to Bastogne, taking in the Battle of the Bulge museum and memorial. Again, I chose Bastogne only because it suited this jaunt. There are lots of alternatives.

7. Bastogne to the Chunnel. Chosen as it suited my return train time at 16:30.

NOTES:

A. The days' rides will give you a good cross-section of what is available, the Saarland being distinctly different from its sister, the Eiffel.

Are they perfect? Well, I didn't get routed up a goat track. The routes will take you across country, sometimes on some quite small roads but then bring you back through enough villages and towns to find somewhere to eat, have a coffee, find a hotel, buy petrol or do just about anything that it's legal to do during the hours of daylight.

B. Are there alternatives? Yes, of course there are, as you'll discover when and if you hit the first 'Umleitung"

umleitung_1566230.jpg


You don't have to go very far left or right from any route to find good roads in the Eiffel and Saarland. Take a map and work your own routes out, use mine or do both.

C. The 'Lonely church' is worth a small detour, so I have added it in. It's the site of a Roman / Celtic fort and village, with huge views down into the valley below. Go up to the church, walk around to its left and behind to find the WW2 German graveyard. Nearly all of the graves hold those killed between December '44 and March '45 in the failed Ardennes offensive, as do many of the gravesites dotting the area. The big view down is to the end of the graves, to the left of the monument.

D. Suitable for? Anyone who can ride a motorcycle. I would ride all and any of them on a GS, a GSA, a FireBlade, a push bike.

E. The file is a .gpx folder created in BaseCamp on a Mac * and then hosted on DropBox. Sometimes a Mac / Dropbox might change the file extension from .gpx to .gpx.txt which makes it into a text file; I have no idea why. If that happens, all is not lost. Download it and save the file to your desktop, then rename it by DELETING the .txt bit but LEAVING the .gpx bit All should then be well in your life.

Richard


https://www.dropbox.com/s/btmo94dtu... Schweich with JT - May 2016 - FINAL.GPX?dl=0


* Some say this is impossible and / or too difficult. This proves it is not.
 


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