Cycling trip Vianden - Hosingen - River Our

Early in the morning, I put my bicycle in the car and drove to Vianden, to Niklosbierg or Mont Saint-Nicolas. It is 497 meters high hill above the old Vianden. The day was misty until noon. Like this:


Niklosbierg is the place where the "bassin superieure", the huge water reservoir, is located. It forms part of the "Vianden Pumped Storage Plant", Central de Vianden in French. Central de Vianden is one of those very special hydroelectric power stations, where power is stored in the potential energy of water high above the power plant. The water is pumped there, using electricity of course. What is the point? These power plants are in use when other sources don't produce enough power. They are so called Peaking power plants.



This is the reservoir, or part of it after sunrise.


Most of the big power plants (capacity more than 1000 MW) of this type are located in big countries like China and the US, but this is in Luxembourg close to the German border, by the river Our. In fact, Luxembourg was so proud of this power plant that its picture was printed on 100 franc bank note. That  was in the1960's. By the river Our, down in the valley I saw enormous construction site, or signs of an enormous construction site, since the construction of the power plant happens INSIDE of the mountain. Luxembourg don't have skills and workforce to do that kind of work. Therefore there were dozens and dozens of foreign vehicles parked outside of the site, mostly from Germany, Austria and Hungary. I was stupid and tired enough at that point (45 km behind me) that I didn't take photos.

You can reach the view over the reservoir by climbing these stairs.


If you are lucky, you  may see something like this.


The most beautiful thing by the water reservoir was the spider webs. Humidity in the early morning covered the nets with thousands of little gemstones.




As I didn't want to loose the height (500 m from sea level) I decided to ride to the north following road 322. I wanted to see the Hosingen radio mast.

This is the whole workout:


Hosingen radio mast is the tallest construction in Luxembourg with its 300 meters.


The mast is property of RTL and carries TV transmitter and two FM transmitters.


The main purpose of this mast is to broadcast RTL's German speaking program to the neighboring Germany. The antenna is pointed to Germany and you can listen to it on 97 MHz. Program in Luxembourgish language is on 92,5 MHz. You can listen to it HERE.


Guy wires.


From Hosingen I descended to the Our river valley. After 4 km of downhill I crossed river and climbed up another hill on the German side. painful, but worth the effort. See these photos.




At Übereisenbach I crossed the river Our again and came back to Luxembourg




But before coming back to the Grand-Duchy, I met Heiko, a mobile super market and bought some refreshments.


This nice man didn't sell me beer because he didn't have any, but he had excellent apfelschorle and pastry.




This is the lower water reservoir, le bassin inferieure.


Vianden! The castle is one of emblems of Luxembourg. Nice, except the fact that my car is high up by the water reservoir. Elevation from sea level in Vianden is 200 m, the reservoir 500 m! I was absolutely exhausted when I finally arrived back to car.