A bit more chillier than the previous days, nonetheless a great ride through Luxembourg, with an impressive tour through the slate mines in Haut-Martelange.
The route
The planned route would be 243 kilometers long, taking us through northern Luxembourg. Along the way we changed this plan, and ended up driving about 150 kilometers, part of which was the originally planned route.
- Planned Track: Eislek (edited) – Grand Tour du Luxembourg (Motorvakantie 2024)
- driven route; approx. 150km
The ride
We left around 10:00, where I navigated the first part of the route. The route crossed itself several times, which made navigating difficult at times. At one point we couldn’t continue because the road was closed for maintenance. We had to figure out a detour, which was a struggle in the mountains and the limited available roads we were allowed to drive on.
Finally, around 12:45, we passed Park Sënnesräich (https://www.sennesraich.lu/). Here most of us had lunch with a children’s menu (fries with chicken nuggets and applesauce). Park Sënnesräich is a children’s experience/attraction park, about the human body and senses, very interesting for the young curious mini-humans.
During lunch we also decided not to continue the planned route, and the group separated. Half went to the hotel, and the other half toured on to Haut-Martelange, in western Luxembourg.
In Haut-Martelange is the Musee de l’Ardoise, an impressive museum about the history of slate mining. Here, we had a great tour through the mines, to see it’s history and how the workers worked in the early days. In their own words;
“Experience the history of the slate, from its origins to the extraction and dismantling all the way to the final product, all this combined with the change of the industrial site to the actual Museum ‘Musée de l’Ardoise Haut-Martelange’.”
Through narrow staircases and corridors, we entered different underground chambers, where video projected on the walls showed all kinds of footage of how people used to work in the mines. At its deepest point, the mine was 168 meters deep. Of this, the last 100 meters were dug in the last 50 years of production. We could get to a depth of 42 meters, although the water table was only 12 meters deep. So the mines were constantly being pumped out, to a depth of 42 meters. Everything below was under clear water, allowing us to see far below the surface what the situation there used to be.
After the tour underground, where the raw material was mined, there was also plenty to observe above ground. Here the offices and storage buildings could still be seen, as well as the production facility with the old tools used to make the slates from raw materials. The old tracks were also still there for the many transport carts. The finished products, from the numerous roof tiles (slates / shingles) to ashtrays, blackboards and sinks were also nicely displayed.
Next to the factory, on the other side of the ditch, was the owner’s residence. The owner’s son was an enthusiastic dog lover. For every dog that died, he had a grave in the backyard, making a small cemetery for 5 of his dogs.
Around 17:45 we arrived back at the hotel, where we took a photo with the complete group. After freshening up, we walked to a nice and cozy restaurant in the center of Esche-sur-Sure. This restaurant had the impressive interior of an old castle.
Upon entering, we already noticed that they had a locally brewed special beer, with a bunch of naked men’s butts on the label. This was immediately labeled “the bare buttocks beer” by us. To our delight, the waiters obviously didn’t understand this at all….
As a main course I had a pan of penne-rigate, chicken, vegetables, mushrooms and a cream sauce. Very worthwhile! This was followed by 2 cream puffs, vanilla ice cream scoops and whipped cream for dessert. Tomorrow the bike will have to work extra hard to drag this extra weight around….
On the way back to the hotel, we walked with a small detour past an old castle ruin where you could freely stroll around. With the sunset in the background, this looked like a clip from a movie! We ended the evening with one final drink in the hotel bar. Tomorrow is the last day of the trip; the day we drive back home and family. Jay!
Motorcycle tour to southern Germany and Luxembourg – Day 7