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I walked across Luxembourg
- tguvot 3y agoHad a roadtrip in Europe 15 years ago or so with my wife. We planned to stop in Luxembourg for a lunch, but because we failed to find a parking we had to leave the country
- janosdebugs 3y agoParking is a problem in a lot of European cities. Trains are probably a better choice for such trips in Europe.
- davidktr 3y agoParking where you want can be a problem. You won't have issues if you use a parking garage or park in the outskirts and then use public transportation.
- tguvot 3y agotrains better only if you want to follow train path. we had a bit of "freestyle" roadtrip (with multiple stops over couple of weeks, not point to point) Dusseldorf to Paris with help of state of the art iGo on asus pda. In Paris we did ditch a car and took train to the city.
- AlecSchueler 3y agoYou can train between major spots then use the bus to get to smaller towns and villages.
- avyeed_desa 3y agoI think someone didn't get the joke, or took OP too seriously. No offense to you though.
- benoliver999 3y agoYeah it's not 'that' small lol
- world2vec 3y agoI've done hikes bigger than the whole country lol
- prmoustache 3y agoThat is not big either. Most people walking thesantiago de compostela pilgrimage route from the Spanish border, Madrid or Lisbon do walk much more.
- benoliver999 3y agoI drove the pilgrimage, and there was loads of parking!
- jjallen 3y agoThe joke is not obvious at all. This is a totally realistic scenario. Source: I live in another small but not that small of a European country.
- dagw 3y agoTrains are probably a better choice for such trips in Europe. Having 'done' Europe both by train and by car, the trips end up being very different. Trains are great if you want to hit the major cities. With a car you can visit all kinds of small villages, rural areas and interesting nature that you cannot really reach by public transport.
- cubefox 3y agoWhich is fitting, as parking is not a big problem in rural areas.
- gpvos 3y agoTell that to these people: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53984239 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53984239 (Romanian tourists swamp village loved by Prince Charles).
- developer93 3y agoI was there last year, and to be fair, the road isn't metalled, it's mostly large white stones like gravel but about 5-10cm big. Even a single car kicks up a lot more dust than it would on a "normal" asphalt road. Not that I'm diminishing these peoples' problems, just adding context.
- mcv 3y agoWe did a carless vacation this year, and picked Switzerland, which is absolutely perfect for it. Trains are actually better to reach some places than cars are. Unfortunately to get there, we had to travel through Germany, and their ICE network is a complete mess of confusion and delay. They do seem to be good at keeping the total delay just within an hour (it was 55 minutes both times), so they don't have to pay back any tickets.
- martin_a 3y agoNah, don't worry, they (Deutsche Bahn) hit the hour mark quite often without any problems. Funny story on the side: German ICEs are only allowed up to Basel, so they will not cause any delays in the Swiss train network. The Swiss fear that we would destroy their fine-tuned system otherwise. :-D
- phalf 3y ago> Parking is a problem in a lot of European cities. On the flipside, the inner cities are much nicer. You have fewer of those seas of concrete just for parking. I wish it was even more so and street parking as well as open lots would just not be a thing. If you really need to come by car, put it in some underground parkade (for $$$). Cities are too dominated by cars. They should be there for people, not the other way around.
- Wicher 3y agoParking is a problem? Just find a fence or lamp post and loop a lock through your front wheel and frame triangle. It's free.
- Ylpertnodi 3y ago"Free" parking, as far as bicycles go is often: how much can you afford to purchase a new one [after it gets stolen, despite the lock(s)]?
- dalbasal 3y agoThat's kind of like suggesting wilderness hiking instead of urban sightseeing. I've traveled/toured NL by train and by car. Different countries entirely. But yeah... In some cities, your best plan is probably to park at the hotel (perhaps on the outskirts) and use trains.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- johnwalkr 3y agoI'm kind of surprised, it was and still is a very car-centric city. The very centre can be busy but these days, with a smart phone you could easily find parking within 500m or so.
- tguvot 3y agoIt was 2006-8 or so. iGo on Asus MyPal PDA
- facia 3y ago[dead]
- shoobs 3y agoA few months back I dragged myself away from Tears of the Kingdom and went on a four day hike across the entirety of Luxembourg. I planned my route using open source GIS tools, and did the cross country walk over a long weekend back in June.
- draven 3y agoI see you used QGis. Last time I tried it there was no easy way of plugging a router. I switched to QMapShack. It's a bit more complicated to use the IGN service for the maps (whereas it works out of the box with QGis) but there are several options for routers. The offline one (Routino) requires downloading data but it works well. I use it all the time to plan 2-5 days treks in the French Alps. Having the actual elevation profile for a given segment is really useful. Just thought you might want to try this setup for your next trek!
- shoobs 3y agoThanks for the recommendation. I used KML files and manually connected them, but a router would've been handy. I'll give it a shot.
- smetj 3y agoGreat read and endeavour. What a fantastic region to hike, drink the finest beers with some smoked ham and enjoy the golden hour. 2 other great and well documented trails are the Eisleck trail and Escapardenne Lee Trail. Happy trails!
- pavlov 3y agoThe history of Luxembourg is an interesting microcosm of how the fortunes of states and dynasties have ebbed and flowed in Europe over the past thousand years. There was a time when the House of Luxembourg was the main rival to the Habsburgs for control of central Europe, contributing four Holy Roman Emperors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Luxemburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Luxemburg The dukes of this area used to be so important to European politics that Henry VIII of England married a Dutch duke's daughter for political reasons (and immediately regretted it of course, as he was wont to do). The area of the Duchy used to be several times larger, but over centuries it was nibbled away by France, Prussia, and finally the creation of Belgium. It has been under Spanish rule (those Habsburgs again), then invaded by the French revolutionary republic and annexed into France as a department simply called Forêts (Forests) because the revolutionaries didn't want to keep any names that honored the old nobility. After Napoleon's defeat the Congress of Vienna aimed to restore old borders and reinstate monarchies, but with multiple claims on Luxembourg, it was split and became a grand duchy whose head of state was the King of Netherlands. It became an independent country in 1890 when the Dutch king died without a male heir. Dutch law allowed the throne to pass to a female child, but the Grand Duchy was under different laws and was inherited by a claimant rather than the new Dutch queen. (Monarchy is pretty weird in practice.)
- mcv 3y agoThe reason it was such a strategic position, is because the town was a natural fortress. It's located on top of a high, flat rock, which is riddled with tunnels for gun casemates, making the town of Luxembourg very hard to take. It was a vital part of the Spanish Road that the Spanish Habsburgs needed to move troops from their lands in Italy to the north during the 80 Years War.
- johnwalkr 3y agoIn 1867 by treaty the anything military and the fortress was required to be torn down. Kind of a shame, because just a few decades later fortresses became almost useless in war. It's a bit weird to see the ruins of a fortress and then go to the local museum and realize that it was torn down recently enough that there are tons of photographs of it. On the other hand it allowed the rest of the city centre to be built up.
- euroderf 3y agoEager to read similar about Lichtenstein, Andorra, San Marino.
- mdrzn 3y agoYou could probably walk across and around the whole of San Marino in less than a full day.
- zserge 3y agoI hike across Liechtenstein from time to time. A very light but picturesque set of trails for one day (30-50km). I usually start at the south border in a Switzerland town, cross the country up north and enter Austria. On a much lighter category, someone "hiked" Monaco in a straight line: https://magamig.github.io/posts/crossing-an-entire-country-in-a-straight-line/ https://magamig.github.io/posts/crossing-an-entire-country-i...
- lb1lf 3y ago...and The Vatican! (I had a beer in Rome, then strolled across The Vatican and three minutes later had another beer in Rome...)
- johannes1234321 3y agoIssue with the Vatican in this context so, that major parts of it are blocked off for the public.
- CastFX 3y agoI live in San Marino, let me chime in! The historic center, which is called San Marino Città, is a gorgeous medieval town and it's also part of UNESCO heritage. I definitely recommend a trip there, if you happen to be somewhere near. When I went to school there, I regularly missed the bus so I had the chance of doing a few walks down to my home. It's a bit steep, since the town is located at the top of mount Titano at 700m of height, but it's truly charming.
- euroderf 3y ago
- jvdvegt 3y agoHe links to a very nice government site which seems to have an interactive (and somehow coloured) Lidar map of the whole country [1]. Navigation is a bit awkward (you need to double-click to move around), but you can almost make out car models! [1] https://lidar.geoportail.lu/ https://lidar.geoportail.lu/
- tda 3y agoIndeed https://github.com/potree/potree https://github.com/potree/potree has a bit awkward navigation, but there are quite a few nice lidar datasets available to explore with it, like the scan of the Matterhorn. I once used it to explore a dataset made by a photogrammetry drone, was quite nice. The entire country of the Netherlands is also available here: http://ahn2.pointclouds.nl/ http://ahn2.pointclouds.nl/ There is no rgb information, only elevation. But you can make out individual power powerlines, the scan resolution is really high.
- elAhmo 3y agoThis is quite amazing, thanks for these links. Do you have any more info about how was this performed? What is it used for?
- victormarcel 3y ago[flagged]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Scarblac 3y agoAHN2 was measured between 2007 and 2012. AHN3 from 2014 to 2019 and I believe AHN4 is actually complete now (measured from 2021 to 2022?). Better resolution, more up to date -- but I don't know of such a nice point cloud viewer for it.
- tda 3y ago
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- unixhero 3y agoTrekking poles are not necessary. Focus on stride, balance and core strength.
- globular-toast 3y agoWhere have you walked? How far? How much weight do you carry? How old are you?
- unixhero 3y agoFor days in the Norwegian wilderness, Australian outback, Japanese mountains.
- globular-toast 3y agoAnd..? The details are really important here. I walked extensively in Snowdonia, the Lake District and the Peak District without poles but only carrying at most 3kg on my back. Distance covered in Britain tends to be less because the going is tough. 10 miles (16km) in the Peak District can be a very long day of walking. I then walked 320km across Northern Spain on the Camino Primitivo. Pack was more like 12-13kg and days were up to 32km with >2000m of elevation change day after day. Pretty much everyone who didn't have poles said they wished they had poles. It became something of a meme.
- widforss 3y agoTrekking poles are not necessary. But they are useful, and he obviously see a potential use for them. Your comment comes across as somewhat rude.
- unixhero 3y agoI can live with that.
- draven 3y agoShoes are not strictly necessary either, but they help. Trekking poles help, and I also need them to pitch my tent, so I'll keep them.
- famahar 3y agoI walked across Tokyo last weekend. Took me 20 hours. I suck at writing so all I'll say is that everyone should walk across a city. It's a magical experience. Turn off your your phone, bring a disposable camera and a compass and just walk. You'll discover so many personal insights.
- simonebrunozzi 3y agoI follow Craig Mod [0], who regularly walks in Japan. You might find him interesting. [0]: https://craigmod.com/ https://craigmod.com/
- tkgally 3y agoThat’s quite a walk! Where did you start and end? For about ten years, I walked every New Year’s Day from my home near Yokohama Station to somewhere in Tokyo—Ikebukuro or Ueno or Asakusa, about 35 kilometers one way. Very memorable, as you say. I don’t think I would do it in the summer, though.
- famahar 3y agoStarted in Hachiōji and ended at the start of Chiba prefecture. The heat made it tough. I was thinking about doing a walk from Tamagawa station to Yokohama this weekend. I love seeing what's between all the stations and building up a new mental map of the area.
- ninjin 3y agoIndeed, I was about to comment on it being a lovely and enjoyable idea to stroll through Tokyo. But doing so with peak temperatures in the mid-30s may make it much more challenging as I know I personally would need to dive into convenience stores now and then just to cool down. Seconding building a mental map of the city, although I did so by biking for many many years. Only took a few weeks to feel confident about getting pretty much anywhere in Tokyo on a bike.
- resolutebat 3y ago
- globular-toast 3y agoI've now completed several multi-day walks. At some point I plan to walk across Britain on the Coast to Coast path. I've walked across Spain and Gran Canaria. Maybe I should write those up on my blog...
- coldtea 3y agoSounds more impressive if you don't know Luxembourg is at max 50 miles long...
- not_alexb 3y agoWow. As someone who has driven from LA to Seattle without breaks quite a few times (which is around 1,000 miles), that really puts in perspective how small Europe can be at times. I guess that shouldn't be surprising as that's similar to the distance between Berlin and Moscow.
- LorenPechtel 3y agoEurope is a little bigger than the US. It's just it's divided into countries while we are divided into states.
- varjag 3y agoWell yeah, Luxembourg is smaller than basically entire US Pacific Coast for sure. Most places are.
- coldtea 3y ago>that really puts in perspective how small Europe can be at times Well, Europe is not exactly small. Luxemburg is just a small country. Europe is 3.93 million sq mi. The contiguous US is 3.1 million square miles (3.6 if we include Alaska) [1]. So Europe is quite bigger. The European Union countries alone are over 50% of the contiguous US. So that would be like judging the US as small by considering how small Rhode Island is (which is roughly the size of Luxemburg). >I guess that shouldn't be surprising as that's similar to the distance between Berlin and Moscow. Well, Berlin is almost centered in Europe, and Moscow is in the very east of Russia, so that's not very surprising. On the other hand, "the European route E45 (...) with a length of about 3,225 mi is the longest north–south European route (some east–west routes are longer)". For comparison NY to LA is 2,790 miles (so shorter than that), and even Portland, Maine to San Diego is 3,090 miles (again shorter). [1] With an area of 10.2 million km² (3,938,000 sq mi), Europe is 20% larger than the contiguous United States. The European Union has an area (without the UK) of over 4.23 million km² (1.6 million sq mi). How many countries are there in Europe? Europe is shared by 50 countries.
- BitterPanda 3y agoLove it! I use organic maps on a daily basis and it is an awesome tool even if you're just commuting.
- darkwater 3y agoTIL about it and I'm gonna try it for sure. Yesterday I had a very bad experience with a "Garmin Connect" generated route for gravel bike, by checking it in Organic Maps I could probably have avoided the issue.
- mcv 3y agoI have it too, but often forget to use it in favour of Google Maps, but Google Maps is terrible for anything not in a car or train, and OSM always has fantastic detail for hiking trails. Every vacation I find myself switching to Organic Maps. This vacation it helped us find a trail to a really beautiful waterfall in Switzerland.
- SSLy 3y agoGoogle Maps whole use case is finding restaurants and pubs in new places, and that's about it.
- mcv 3y agoEven that it's not great at. It's not showing them all, it's not showing the link to the restaurant itself upfront, but neither is the menu it lists the right one. If they actually wanted to make it easy to find the right restaurant for you in the area, there's dozens of things they could do to make it easier for people.
- BitterPanda 3y agoOrganic maps has the same feature and they also have opening hours which is cool, Google Maps still has a lot more but for an Open-Source project it's quite decent
- janlaureys 3y agoI've been in Luxembourg many times on our way from Belgium to France or Germany, but only last year I visited it for the first time. We did one of the Mullertal trails in 3 days and it's an absolutely beautiful little country.
- pjc50 3y agoFans of this sort of thing may enjoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_of_Gifts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_of_Gifts : "it is a memoir of the first part of Fermor's journey on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933/34". Extremely lyrical style full of historical context.
- codr7 3y agoI'd definitely recommend poles. They enable using the entire body when walking and act as additional points of balance which means you don't have to focus as much on just staying upright, it's like having two extra legs attached at your elbows.
- jillesvangurp 3y agoThat and memory foam / gel pads in your shoes. I walk a lot since the lock down and I've had knee issues in the past. Good gel pads help and using your knees with light exercise actually improves things. I Mostly wear sneakers. Hiking shoes tend to be a bit more rigid and have less shock absorption. The poles might help as well. Nordic walking, is a thing that a lot of cross country skiers do in Scandinavia to stay in shape during the summer. Also nice for people with balance issues or weak backs of course. Done properly, it makes for an intensive workout.
- developer93 3y agoNordic walking seems to be popular among people of late middle age in Germany too.
- maxhille 3y agoYou should not get kee problems from walking. Maybe your gait is somewhat unnatural? Fortunately I never had problems like that but I am sure using barefoot shoes (Fivefinger in my case) improved how I walk. When I am not using those I use zero drop Trailrunners (Altra Lone Peak) which kind of force you to use your front foot more.
- LorenPechtel 3y agoDepends on the terrain. I can walk all day on reasonably level terrain with no knee issues. I prefer poles when there is appreciable climb and I absolutely must have poles and compression sleeves on my knees for any substantial descents. I always hike with poles but if the terrain is level enough they'll be simply in one hand or possibly stowed on my pack. If I'm on a mountain I'll be using them frequently.
- Elho 3y agowauw, you inspired me. I dont live that far from luxembourg i'm planning to hike your trail. i'm planning on doing it with a tent in my backpack. Did you came across some official campgrounds? Or is it legal to camp wild in luxembourg? Thanks
- shoobs 3y agoThere are multiple official camping grounds and caravan parks on the route. Unfortunately wild camping isn't allowed anywhere. I know that some people still try it, and probably so long as you're somewhere off trail, camp late and leave early nobody will bother you.
- thatannoyingguy 3y agoI don't want to be one of those people, but: Woohoo, our tiny country has been mentioned on the Internet!
- yreg 3y agoCould be perhaps done as one of the easier straight line missions[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoWizard#Cross-country_missions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoWizard#Cross-country_missio...
- c-fe 3y agoIt was attempted/done already though i dont remember their success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fEtvKVVVw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fEtvKVVVw In general, as a luxembourger, i am intrigued by doing it, though there are several hurdles: - lots of villages, with gardens you cant walk through - various highways that are illegal to cross probably, and dangerous, though feasible. - some big cliffs that are very dangerous. I refer to some of the images in the original post
- Agingcoder 3y agoMany years ago I was traveling around Asia and came across a Spanish traveler called Samuel who was walking from Barcelona to Kathmandu. I don’t know if he made it, but he made a lasting impression on me.
- LorenPechtel 3y agoThere are parts of the world on such a trek that these days I would not want to cross by vehicle, let alone on foot. In the 70s, though, I was with my parents on the Delhi-Tehran portion of the old Kathmandu-London route. I'm only seeing recollections of the old trips, though, no indication that groups are doing it now.
- Agingcoder 3y agoYes. Even 15-20 years ago, parts of Iran / Pakistan ( Baluchistan) were very tricky, and while on the road I met people who got kidnapped and eventually ransomed. Afghanistan was of course not a recommended path either. I think in the 70s people went through Afghanistan, the Khyber pass and then Pakistan/Peshawar, which is a very bad idea these days. Maybe I’ll see Khyber pass one day, I don’t know. The Hunza valley in northern Pakistan was incredible enough. Stay safe first ! Edit : this assumes you’re an obvious tourist. If you’re a local I guess things are very different
- Agingcoder 3y agoÉdit : he had been in a car accident, and couldn’t use his right arm.
- frank_bb 3y ago[dead]
- uwagar 3y agohow are people able to walk 100kms in 4 days with no rest days. i just can walk 8 kms every day :(
- LorenPechtel 3y agoIt depends on how much you do it. 25 km/day, flat terrain, light pack--I have dietary issues that could prove problematic for a four-day trip (expending 4,000 calories in a day, not an issue. Consuming 4,000 calories in a day would be hard--I would worry about bonking) but I fairly routinely hike 25km in a day and with nearly twice his load (I'm typically in the middle of nowhere, if I have to push the button help would likely be hours away--my safety standard is I should be able to survive the night) and rarely less than 500m of climb over the day.
- prawn 3y ago25km isn't too rough unless you're copping a lot of ups and downs, or don't enjoy walking. Helps if you start early to cover ground and give yourself time to rest. Our 4yo daughter did day hikes in the 15-20km range a few times last year, in mountainous terrain. I think attitude and resilience are key. In this case, one advantage was the author having a 7kg pack and using accommodation/food along the way rather than carrying a tent, sleeping gear, food, 2-3L of water, etc. Starting with day hikes or walking part of your commute is an easy way to build up to trying longer adventures.
- uwagar 3y ago4yo hikes 15-20kms? man, sources please.
- LorenPechtel 3y agoI've not personally seen a 4yo in the backcountry but a 6yo has climbed our local highest peak. 30km round trip with 1.5km of climb. And how about this family: https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/big-trail-big-family/ https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/big-trail-big-family/ Their 4yo is to date the only 4yo to complete the AT. Now they have done the CDT at 6yo. These are both >3000km treks.
- wink 3y agoI was a bit surprised that Luxembourg is actually quite a bit bigger than I had thought, especially as I wasn't too far off with the population. In my mind it wasn't SO much bigger than the other small European countries it's often lumped together with. Time to visit, I guess :P
- koyote 3y agoIt's four times larger than Singapore!
- TacticalCoder 3y ago> I was a bit surprised that Luxembourg is actually quite a bit bigger than I had thought I live in Luxembourg now and it's not that small. There are actually various little cities and going, say, from Luxembourg city to Esch-sur-Alzette, driving on the highway (even if it's only for a short while), feels like going to another city. It sure feels funny to go to, say, IKEA, which takes 15 minutes or so knowing that the IKEA store is in... Another country! (I go to the one in Belgium) It's a complete change for me: last year I was in a rural area (in France) and the closest highway was a 50 minutes drive or so.
- ianburrell 3y agoI think Luxembourg gets combined with European micro-states, Andorra, San Marino, Vatican City, etc. But it is quite a bit bigger than them. Luxembourg is 5x bigger than Andorra and 3.5x smaller than Cyprus.
- dveeden2 3y agoMax Fosh: "I Rode A Barbie Bike Across An Entire Country" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGqTzcQjD2c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGqTzcQjD2c This was across Luxembourg as well.
- xcdzvyn 3y agoMax Fosh is a national treasure
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- klondike_klive 3y agoThis looks fun - but I just can't get past the Clarkson-like delivery that everyone seems to have these days.
- Aeolun 3y agoGot to love their Minecraft exports of any place in the country: https://blocks.geoportail.lu/custom_static/worlds/3fa997d2-bd21-4918-ba29-13c7af0f9fd4/upperleft/index.html#/24/64/-24/-3/minecraft%20-%20overworld/day https://blocks.geoportail.lu/custom_static/worlds/3fa997d2-b... The recent ones seem to be broken, but old ones still have a working preview.
- hiop 3y agoNext time walk around Luxembourg.
- markthien 3y ago[dead]
- gwbas1c 3y agoWow, that looks like a lot of fun! Maybe I'd try and do something like that over a week. I also looked and Rhode Island is 70km north to south. I don't know if it has as many pubs and hotels as Matt encountered, though.
- rejectfinite 3y ago[dead]
- gkfasdfasdf 3y agoDoes anyone know if a similar path (scenic, close to towns/cheap hostels along route) exists in the US? Somewhere in Appalachia perhaps?
- LorenPechtel 3y agoScenic, yes. Far more remote, though--you'll be spending a lot of nights in the wilderness and most of what you drink will be natural sources that you filter. Your cell phone will rarely work--assume a SOS will have to go by satellite. Look up the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. All make his 4 day trip look like a stroll in the park--to do any of them in 4 *months* would be a very good performance. All require a certain amount of permitting, I know the PCT permits are by lottery (capacity restrictions), I'm pretty sure the CDT ones are not except for problems getting campsites in the national parks it passes through. No idea on the AT. To accomplish any of these in a single trip requires maintaining a good pace. There are people who have hopped around (doing hot parts in cool times and cool parts in hot times) and completed all three within a single calendar year--last I knew the number of such people exactly matched the number of moonwalkers. If that's too big for you there are things like the Arizona trail (IIRC 800 miles) and the Colorado trail (I think it's under 500--but note that an awful lot of it is in the 10,000'+ range.) There is the Vermont Long Trail, no idea of the details. I know there are many others but they do not come to mind.
- gkfasdfasdf 3y agoYeah those hikes sound pretty epic. My original question was more about finding a tiny segment of those hikes that would be close to civilization and could be done in a few days.