Cycling trip day 11
Around half way, OMG. Time does fly.
Originally, my plan was to just gently dip into Luxembourg and then head on towards the EuroVelo 19 route, but I decided to go into Luxembourg city instead. I can join the EV 19 later at some point.
With renewed faith in navigation, ie actually being able to see the route, climbs and surfaces clearly on Komoot, I head out from Metz along the canal. Smooth as butter, with a nice cool temperature as well.
Stopped at Thionville for some food before the climbs into Luxembourg. Seemed a really nice place on the banks of the river Moselle. Especially liked the rather extensive car free city center. Unfortunately the car drivers outside the center didn't seem that welcoming to bikes. Some rather aggressive car drivers passing by while I was navigating out of the city, even receiving the first honk. Reminded me of drivers in my home town Helsinki. "Get off the road cyclist, I have to be somewhere else than I am now really quick, and if I lose seconds something awful will happen" -mentality. Maybe have some bike lanes if you don't want cyclists on the road?
I don't know why but it feels like generally also while getting closer and into Luxembourg the cars seemed to be driving faster and the roads seemed to be less welcoming. I didn't even realize until looking at the map where the border had been, but what I do remember is it being a somewhat busy part of road with climbs and without a curb. On the Luxembourg side this didn't change. For this trip, today has been a day with a lot of cars and a lot of busy roads with a lot of drivers seemingly in a rush to be somewhere else. Apart from the honk meant for me in Thionville, I hadn't seen aggressive driving during this trip. While navigating to the center of Luxembourg I heard a lot of honking along the at times very stationary queues of cars. On a motorway, from a bridge crossing it, taking a photo of a queue on one direction, a lorry driver was having a rage at a car driver on the other lane. I can't help than think that Luxembourg is in love with cars and especially sitting in cars, queuing to get somewhere. The queuing surely can't be for the lack of roads or lanes, based on the small part I saw. Of course, could just be the "it's a big city" -thing too.
For cycling, arriving from the south it was partly dedicated (or shared for farm access) cycling paths criss-crossing roads or then cycling on roads. Nearer to Luxembourg central things turned very city like in terms of cycling traffic. Partly on the road, partly on various types of dedicated or pedestrian shared cycling paths. Crossed a scary and cool very high bridge which had the cycling route built underneath the bridge. Awesome and "please don't let me die" at the same time. I don't do heights very well. Lots of commuter cyclists were going around, which was nice to see.
Had some food and beers, then backtracked down south some 6km to the camping site Kockelscheuer. I really can't recommend this site enough. Reception open until 10pm (which is the latest I've seen), actual warm shower building, restaurant open until 10pm and awesome friendly staff. Plus obviously near the city center too. Additionally, this is the cheapest camping site I've been to on this trip, only 14€ for a tent pitch.
My only concern at this moment is Sanna has started to get a bit noisy in the recent days, with the noise getting worse. Not the same as before the trip, so not the seat post I think. Possibly just dirt somewhere? I think I took half a field with me on the way from Nancy to Metz.
Btw, for followers on platforms that restrict the number of photos on a post (Mastodon?), you can see all the photos at https://jasonrobinson.me/streams/tag/jasontravels/
Distance cycled: 83.01km (today), 714.69km (total)
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