In August Luxembourg removed the need for visitors to quarantine on arrival and, as I have an EU passport which allowed me entry (they aren't letting Brits in right now), I took the opportunity to hop on a plane and visit in the summer. Previously I've only been there during New Year so was relishing enjoying it in the sun and warmth.
Sunday 29 August
Our first trip was to Fond de Gras, once a major mining centre of Luxembourg. It still runs the old mining trains and you can even take the Minièresbunn underground which I'll pop onto my 'to do' list for my next summer visit to Luxembourg.
It had some cool boats made from maps in an exhibition in the Paul Wurth Hall, the site of the power plant.
Monday 30 August
On Monday we visited our first chateau of the trip, Beaufort Chateau. We usually visit a couple each time although we'll run out of Luxembourgish ones in the not too distant future. We were only able to visit the Medieval Castle as the Renaissance part was tours only, and they didn't have one in English that day. The Castle was built between 1050 and 1650 and was an interesting wander around. It ticked all the castle boxes - turrets, stone stairs, kitchens with old fireplaces, knights halls, food cellars/caves, drawbridge, well accessible in case of siege and, naturally, the dungeon and torture cell.
The Renaissance part was built in the 17th Century and in the 1930s the then owner started producing a blackcurrant liqueur called "Cassero". A shot of this is included in the entrance ticket so it was a fun little treat with the morning coffees.
After the chateau we headed to the region Little Switzerland to hike. We started from Berdorf with auto-pedestre trail no. 1. These auto-pedestre are super well sign posted and took us across farmland and then down a river valley. At the end of the valley we detoured to see Perekop, one of the most visited rock giants in Luxembourg. It is split in the middle and has a handy staircase - not an original geological feature - which takes you up to the top. It was a perfect picnic lunch spot.
The path drips with creepers, ferns, moss and dappled walkways.
Huel Lee ("hollow stone") was carved out in the Middle Ages by stone masons. The mills of the Oeren Monastery near Trier, Germany, were obliged to use only millstones from this quarry. The roof of the cave is scalloped out in large shell like scoops.
Once back at Berdorf we headed off to another trail, hiking trail B2. I wasn't really paying attention when we chose this thinking it was 'just' a nice walk in the woods. It turned out to be a lot more fun than that and it wasn't long before we came across a metal rope bridge.
Another sign pointed to a small cave which looked blocked until we shone a torch to discover a metal ladder perched at the end. So of course we climbed it and popped out on the top of the rock. There were a few distractions like this. The thinnest one was certainly this path which was 30 cm at its narrowest. Certainly rucksack off and breathe in time!
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