Wednesday 6 August 2014
| Distance (km) | 16 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 4.5 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 506m / 550m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 45% / 55% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 →  24° 4 Bft
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The next morning at 8 o'clock the baker arrives honking loudly and so it's time to get up. Visible is zero due to the fog but the sun is already trying to get through. We get some croissants and breads and have breakfast in the wet grass. The sun is slowly winning from the fog and we start packing.
By the time we leave it is pretty warm but luckily we walk mostly in the shadow under the trees. However, where the trail was flat yesterday it now rolls up and down over narrow paths with lots of tree roots and so progress if considerably less fast than yesterday. This goes on until Dasbourg-Pont where the path ends on a tarmac road. We decide to have some lunch here and hey, there is a restaurant. We share a chips-with-sausage and save our bread for later (and yes, we can only pay cash here). So where we started on forest tracks we're now suddenly follow the N10 mainroad to Rodershausen and further. That's different. After the village we should go to the right and up, but where the map indicates we should go up there is a sign saying we should go straight ahead following the N10 a bit more. Well, ok, signs have priority over maps so we go on. And indeed, 50m further there is another sign so we go on a bit more along the N10 (that, by the way, has little traffic). About 15 minutes further we realise that we haven't seen a sign for a while now. Quite a bit back there was a gravel road to the rights without any sign....but it couldn' be that...right? We check the map again and conclude that probably we should have taken that gravel road though we're very sure there was no sign there. What do we do? Walk back a kilometer? De GR5 rejoins the N10 just after Kohnenhaff and so from where we are now going along the N10 is actually shorter than going back. So we continue along the N10 and seek comfort from the fact we saved ourselves a climb. We pass the camping site of Kohnenhaff that looks attractive with a restaurant, but it is still a bit too early and since it's good weather for walking we go on to Obereisenbach. A bit beyond the camping site the GR5 rejoins the N10 and 20 meters further it leaves the N10 again. We climb steeply through the woods to a view point. Not even halfway yet we hear a familiar rustling sound. Rain? We didn't have much more than high mares' tales. Ok, maybe just a shower, that happens. We continue climbing and since we're under the trees it is not that bad. The view point is a big disappointment. Not because of the rain, but simply because one's staring against the canopy. No doubt in winter there is a panorama over the valley but now it is just a green wall of leafs. We wait another 10 minutes or so to see if it will stop raining but the rain keeps falling though it seems to get a bit lighter. We decide to move on anyway. As long as the path is in the woods it's not that bad. The path follows a ridge through the woods and slowly descends with occasional steeper parts that are becoming slippery because of the rain. The final part we descend more steeply and just before the first houses of Obereisenbach we're back on the N10. Once out of the woods we realise it is really bucketing but we're soaking wet by now so a rain jacket won't do much anymore. We know that Obereisenbach has a biker hotel and though we are clearly not motor bikers Lupita would like to have a look if they would have a room available instead of having to pitch a tent in the rain. But no, once arrived at the hotel it is "closed because of family visit". Nice, in the tourist season. And they clearly missing customers because in the few minutes we're there thinking what to do several bikers pass to check on the hotel. Ok, so then we head for the camping. We can do so following the street passing in front of the hotel, but the GR5 goes a bit further up along the main road to Hosingen and then turns left after the chapel. We take that path that climbs quite a bit and then the path turns right to rejoin the main road to Hosingen. That was not the intention! We should have turned left somewhere but the only possibility we see is a bloody steep muddy track to the left without any indication that we should go in there. Ok, so we return to the biker hotel and just take the tarmac street. Just before getting back to the N10 where the camping site is the GR5 rejoins from the right. Probably it was that steep muddy track....but there was no sign! When back at the N10 we choose the camping to the left. It is sad and quiet in the rain and the lady at the reception is not very joyful. The camping costs 23 euro for two hikers (ouch) and we have to pay a 25 euro deposit for the shower key. We ask if they have anything covered to sleep in, a cabin or a caravan or so. They do, but for one night that costs an amazing 70 euro. Lupita goes ballistic because for 70 euro one can almost have a hotel room with breakfast. And besides, indeed, we can only pay cash. Our stock of cash money doesn't allow for 70 euros and so we have to hope for a dry spell to pitch the tent. And so we sit down in the deserted cafetaria staring at the rain. Just after 6 o'clock I get a bright moment: wasn't there a bus stop a bit further along the road? Oh, well, it is after 6 and summer holiday so it is unlikely there is still a bus. But ok, with some persuasion of Lupita I 10 minutes later put my rain jacket on to have a look. And oh wonder, there is one more bus to Clervaux leaving 4 minutes from now. Chips, 4 minutes! Running back to the camping site to pick up my back pack (and Lupita)....can I make it? I decide to call Lupita and tell her about the bus. "Stay there and stop the bus! I'm on the way" is what I get back. And there she comes: my backpack on her back and hers on her belly. Altogether close to 30 kgs. And the bus is exactly on time and completely empty. The ticket machine doesn't work so we have a free ride to Clervaux with a friendly driver. And so we arrive at the railway station in Clervaux where the train to Luxemburg is ready to leave. We decide in a split second to just take that train and pick up the car in Ettelbruck so that we can find ourselves a hotel wherever we want. So we dive into the train without having time to buy a ticket and we're on the way to Ettelbruck. Nobody checks our tickets so it is a free ride again. In the meantime I checked and in Diekirch there is still a hotel with rooms available. And so we pick up the car and drive to Diekirch. For 80 euros we're in lovely hotel Beau Sejour in Diekirch with a more than fine restaurant. Not according to plan, but who cares. |
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