May 28, 2011

Hurray – the day is sunny; still windy and hilly, but nevertheless a bit of sun makes all the difference.

The terrible road surface continues – huge potholes, large enough to swallow the bikes entirely, however, the road travels through miles of beautiful forests in the Ardennes region which keeps us climbing for most of the time, with brief interludes of free-wheeling.  Ken´s clicking noise is getting worse and we can´t locate where it is coming from.  I think we might need to visit a cycle mechanic once the shops are open after the weekend – if we can find one.

We reach the Luxembourg border and instantly, and I mean instantly, the road surface changes to become perfectly smooth and virtually traffic free.  This is the country of my imagination (how I thought Germany was going to be) – picture perfect with not a thing out-of-place.  There are no specific cycle tracks, but we don´t need them as even the back-roads are wide and smooth and quiet.  It is a very hilly place though, verging on mountainous, and at the end of the day we speed downhill into Wiltz where we find a campsite knowing that tomorrow we will have to spend hours climbing back out of the valley again.