Trip to Finland PART 1 - South-Western Finland: Hämeenkyrö - Ikaalinen

Finland is still pretty unknown entity for most of the Europeans. I hope this writing and photos give some more insight. In this part of the travel diary I visit Pirkanmaa, the region around Tampere. The towns visited are Hämeenkyrö and Ikaalinen.

From Western Europe (whatever it may mean) there are basically three ways how you can reach Finland. The easiest way is to fly. The cheapest airliner is Ryanair. Other methods are by car through Germany, Denmark and Sweden and then the remaining 10 hours on a ferry, or, the third method, take a ferry straight from Germany, either from Rostock or Travemünde, some 30 hours.

I took Ryanair from Frankfurt Hahn to Tampere.

Exploits of Don Esaias - Attack on the sea

Don Esaias doesn't stop surprising me. He always go through adventures. Despite of the dangers, he manage to come out of them as conqueror and hero. One time he met an angry bear and had to wrestle it down with his bare hands. Here's the photo:

National day cycling trip Winseler (L) - Bastogne (B) - Houffalize

There are couple of nice cycling tracks in the border area between Luxembourg and Belgium. Most of them are built on railways that used to serve the forest industry and passenger transport, but became unprofitable when the road network developed. This time we did what used to be railway number 164 from Wiltz to Bastogne, but starting in Winseler, Luxembourg, where we parked the car and took bicycles down. You can also take train to Wiltz and start riding from there. Railway 164 was in use from 1888 to 1967.

The track follows this little ravine called "Wiltz". I am sure there are trouts here.

Off the beaten track - cycling trip Mertzig - Lac de la Haute Sure - Heiderscheid - Mertzig

For some reason there are no official cycling routes in the hilly area south of Esch-sur-Sur. In the Lëtzebuerger Vëlos-Initiative map that area is empty what comes to cycling paths. Off the beaten track usually means to "be in a place where few people go, far from any main roads and towns" (Cambridge Dictionary). I am sure the real sportsmen, those who ride expensive road bikes and wear cycling team clothes, go there, but we foreigners who see bicycle more as a means of transport, do not, probably because of loooong uphills. I wanted to try, starting at Mertzig. I climbed up to the high plateau of Eschdorf and then down to the Lac de la Haute Sure to Lultzhausen. From there to Esch-sur-Sure - Heiderscheidergrund and back up to the plateau at Heiderscheid. From there to Kehmen and down to Feulen and back to Mertzig.

After the ride Bofferding beer refresh the muscular body of the cyclist. Here in Niederfeulen.



Don't miss Lada Niva in the background. Lada Niva is the legendary Russian 4x4 off-road vehicle (VAZ 2121) described by its designers as a "Renault 5 put on a Land Rover chassis." The production of Lada Niva started in 1977 and became an off-road bestseller in many countries, especially in Brazil.

April cycling Luxembourg City - Berdorf - Moesdroff

Piste Cyclable Luxembourg - Echternach (PC2) is 43 km long. It has been a long lasting favourite, but I haven't done it for long time. This time I didn't do it all either, but most of it anyway. Starting from Bonnevoie, to Luxembourg Centere - Kirchberg - Senningerberg - Rameldange - Ernster - Gonderange - Eschweiler - Beidweiler - Rippig - Hemstal - Bech - Wolper - Consdorf - Berdorf (coffee pause and strawberry sandwiches at the house of friends), then Grundhof - Dillingen - Reisdorf - Moesdroff.

The track as recorded by Sports tracker. This time the app didn't fail me, like many times before.

 

Good Friday cycling in Prümtal

If you have done all wonderful Luxembourg bicycle roads, go across the border to Germany. Prüm is a good starting point for bike trips in Bitburg-Prüm district. Just like last time, I took bus number 407 from Ettelbruck to Prüm. As usual, the day start with coffee and schnecken at Fischer bakery located at Ettelbruck railway station.

Cycling trip Prüm - Burg-Reuland - Troisvierges

For some time I have been planning a cycling trip to the north. Train will easily bring me to Troisvierges where I can take Vennbahn, the newly published cycling track from Luxembourg to the historic city of Aachen, Germany. Vennbahn is 125 km long. I cannot do it in one day and come back. Instead of taking train to Troisvierges, I decided to take bus number 407 from Ettelbruck to Prüm, Germany, and ride through Belgium to Troisvierges, Luxembourg, and take train back home.

(UPDATE: Vennbahn people told me this:

 "For the return you can either take the regional train from Aachen to Liège-Guillemins and Liège via Gouvy to Troisvierges or you look for a train to Trier from where you can get easily back to Luxemburg-City and Troisvierges. 

Last alternative is a Taxi-Shuttle: http://www.vennbahn.eu/en/service/shuttle/".)

The trip starts at Fischer bakery at Ettelbruck railway station