I do not think I have ever driven 2 hours to ride my bike for a tiny 30 kilometers. And then, of course, 2 hours driving to get back home.
www.minna.eu.com| WebLog| 2011
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Brussels, Belgium. © 2006-2011 Minna. All rights reserved. Pictures © Emily, A3, Alan. What is copyright?
Saturday 24th September 2011
Trails in Burg-Reuland, province of Liège (Belgium)
Original blog post link
I do not think I have ever driven 2 hours to ride my bike for a tiny 30 kilometers. And then, of course, 2 hours driving to get back home.
After a massive week with lots of things happening, big things for the future, Friday evening I was left exhausted, terrified, exhilarated, and full of anticipation. All at the same time. I felt I needed to get out of town, I felt I wanted to drive my car, and I felt I wanted to go somewhere that enticed me. Failing to find decent-priced last-minute overnight accommodation in the East Cantons, I decided for a day trip. Did I regret it, and find it difficult to leave the area once I was there? Oh, yes. So many trails nearby! For sure, an extended weekend, or more, in the East Cantons will be on my wish list for next summer!
Red trail of village of Burg-Reuland (in commune of Burg-Reuland) enticed me mainly because of its 23.4 of a hill factor (750 hm/32 km). However, when finishing, *my* gps only showed 30.51 kilometres and 587 height metres, and thus a disappointing hill factor of 19.2.
Despite this, I had a very enjoyable day. Trail was reasonably dry: Only a couple of muddy patches at the bottom of the valleys. The valleys were dream-like with scenic views. The sun reached into the them while the late-September wind didn't, and it felt like summer again.
This trail touches the border of Luxemburg, and in the east it loops into Germany.
There were a couple of long, steepish climbs, but, in between, the riding was quite mellow; nothing too technical, mostly wide trails and a couple of lengthy flattish sections. There was very little tarmac riding; two sections on busy winding, narrow roads made me, however, feel quite uncomfortable.
Signage was very good, although in a couple of spots very deteriorated, broken off, or hiding in vegetation.
Monday 29th August 2011
Trails in Voeren, province of Limburg (Belgium)
Original blog post link
I had a great day out on the trails of Voeren today!
I first came across these trails when exploring ghost trail number 12 of Aubel.
Trail signage is very good. I would have welcomed one or two more on the longer stretches, but there were no signs missing in the (oh so crucial) turns. In fact, there were TWO signs per turn; one indicating the turn, the second one further into the turn, confirming it. Beautiful!
These two loops (blue and black) are not very technical, nor hilly. There are a couple of long uphills, made technical more by the amount of loose stones than by their steepness, and then there is a screaming downhill with roots and loose rocks and small steps (yehaw!) just before arriving into village of Sint-Martens-Voeren; but they are fully walkable for any rider of less than average strength or technical skills.
In the east around village of Teuven there is a long stretch of tarmac. (Luckily it was not spent going downhill: Minna stayed calm!) In the east there is a lot of deteriorated but fairly uneventful gravel road. The landscape is, however, beautiful for all of this loop, in between pear, apple and corn fields, and there seemed to be quite many cafeterias to pick from along the route.
There were several nice singletrack sections, made extra bumpy by grass, loose rocks and roots.
More pictures and details will follow!
Friday 8th July 2011
Trails in Aubel, province of Liège (Belgium)
Original blog post link
What a treasure of trails! Last Saturday, after years of procrastination, I finally visited Aubel. I once heard trails are technical. I bought the map in ... 2004?
Apparantly I waited too long; the map turned out to be partly obsolete. A new map (Code VTTOE.0127.PP.4, scale 1:25 000, EAN number 9789059348479, price € 6,00) was issued by the Aubel commune late last year. Instead of 6 trails they now offer 3 signposted mountainbike loops (number 11, 14 and 15).
I was set on riding trail number 12. It turned out to have been eradicated along with trails number 13a and 13b. No signs whatsoever. The clean-up was very well done. With the risk of running into "no entrance" sections, I tried to ride trail number 12 anyway. Having it drawn on a large-scale map, obsolete or not, was too much of a temptation not to. I came across some superb sections! How could they have scrapped this trail?? Then, black mountain bike signs appeared. Which trail do they belong to? We crossed the border, into Holland. I received welcoming sms's on my mobile.
Not until black clouds gathered in the sky did I realise I had forgotten to pack my rain coat. Stubborn as I am, I focused on the trail and minimised my stops; I would squeeze in as many k's as possible before the downpour. Incidentally, except for a few drops, it never came about. How awesome is that! Nevertheless, mental note to myself: print a new copy of my precious checklist or find the original (still unpacked somewhere after my Spain trip)!
After some 8 km of map-reading I took a wrong turn. Seriously disliking re-riding sections, as I came upon trail number 11 again, I gave up and decided to follow its signs.
While ghost trail number 12 was little on tarmac, trail number 11 has quite a lot of it. And some on steep downhill as well! Argh! The whole going-south section from the centre of Aubel is on the RAVEL 38, which is an ex-railroad converted to wide dirt/gravel road: Too boring! Also, after Aubel, after the busy tarmac road, there was a loose dog (just before you go off-road again): Screaming at the top of your lungs might help to stop it chasing you!
Signage on trail number 11 is decent. There could be one or two more signs in the centre of Aubel. In a couple of places after Aubel bits had been broken off them and thus their interpretation was subject to guesswork. In the southeast, after a grassy downhill section with a view, arriving at an off-road T-crossing, I could find no signs whatsoever; take the rocky singletrack to your left!
Later, back at home, digging into my mountain of maps, the black mountain bike trail signs could belong to Voeren.
I will have to come back and re-conquer these trails, or combinations of them!
I did not get to ride the full distance I had planned this day, but fine. I had so many reasons to be extra happy anyway, and there was no rain! On top of it all, I knew I was riding the next day as well!
A couple of photos have been uploaded to my picasaweb account.
Thursday 17th February 2011
Trails in Denmark
Original blog post link
Look what I stumbled upon, googling for trails in Denmark: www.singletrack.dk. GPS files are provided!
There is an available forum (up on the right), but my favourite is MTB spor og områder i Danmark. It means "MTB trails and regions in Denmark".
"SØG" means "Search" should you want to look for something in particular.
And, how friendly, the web master invites to contact.
While I could have used this link already last summer when I searched (in vain) for information on the area of Kalundborg, there will be more trips through Denmark, and hence new opportunities to trail explore.
Excellent. Me saving the link! Many thanx Mikkel!
Thursday 3rd February 2011
Trails in Biscay, the Basque Country (Spain)
Original blog post link
The beast is loose! My holiday for the visit to the Basque Country has, after some grumbling due to general staffing problems, been accepted by my superiors at work! Yehaw!
I've done a personal summary and notes on the mountain bike trails belonging to the Busturialdea Urdaibai MTB Centre in the province of Biscay. It offers 11 trails in total; 1 green and 5 of each red and black colour.
As previously stated, the www.btteuskadi.net site is FANTASTIC! Their downloads page provides for overviews, detailed information brochures and gps files. Fantastically generous!
Debabarrena MTB Centre still to go. And then, of course, I *have* to do some trail-exploring on my way down to the Basque Country. Maybe French region of Aquitaine; at least the web site of the MTB centre in Montagrier looks pretty good, and they are rather quick to reply over e-mail as well. I am ever so grateful that they do *reply*; so many of my e-mails bounce or seem to disappear into a black hole in cyberspace without even an echo.
Wednesday 26th January 2011
Trails in Álava, the Basque Country (Spain)
Original blog post link
The Basque Country. A friend of mine moved here several years ago now, and the past couple of those I have tried, and tried, and tried to make my holiday days last for a trip here. I am determined to make it this year, and hence I make it the FIRST long one, BEFORE I run out of days.
The Basque Country consists of the three provinces Álava, Biscay and Guipuzkoa. Each province offers a mountain bike centre of their own.
Madness! The www.btteuskadi.net site is FANTASTIC! I was sold in seconds! I love in particular their downloads page: overviews, detailed information brochures and gps files are provided for! Fantastically generous! (Thank you, Mark, for giving me the link!)
So far I have made personal notes on the province of Álava. Izki Natural Park ranges from 600 to 1,180 metres above sea level. Here you find the Izki Montaña Alavesa MTB Centre. It offers 15 trails in total; 2 green ones, 2 blue ones, 5 red ones and 6 black ones.
Belgian O2bikers has been here?
Monday 24th January 2011
Trips ahead and Velofollies reflections
Original blog post link
After Barcelona, I barely touched Belgian soil. I un-packed and re-packed my suitcase, and I got on the next flight. North this time. Some 20 degrees Celsius colder than Barcelona.
I do not particularly fancy winter. Yet, there I was, late in the afternoon, breathing clouds of mist, as I got off the train in Uppsala, Sweden. I was here to catch up on a decade (!) of time with my best friend from upper secondary school (she had had to put in quite an impressive amount of effort to find me), and to do research on a possible trip this upcoming summer to the village of Sälen; a resort popular with most Swedes for its winter activities, but these days also with a Bike Park of its own.
A day or so later I took the train to go south of Stockholm, to visit my ever-ageing Dad. Here I also thoroughly researched the difference between the milk chocolates of Finnish Fazer and Swedish Marabou.
Less than 48 hours after having returned from Sweden, I got restless and I found a last-minute reasonable deal for an overnight stay in Kortrijk, with the Velofollies bike exposition in mind. I packed while waiting for final confirmation, and as soon as it was cleared I got into my car and took off. No problem finding the place from Brussels; just follow the highway E40 to Ghent, then E17 to Kortrijk, exit 2, take a right, cross the highway, and you have the Expo parking on your right-hand side.
I walked into the exposition with eyes red from what seems to be make-up sensitivity. Except for this I enjoyed my time here a lot! Reflections? Oh yeah .. A couple ..
This morning I was supposed to visit the trails in Kluisbergen. That was, until I dug out my beloved GPS and noticed that I had left it on all night, with close to zero battery power left. As it soon started pouring, I was in no mood to possibly get lost in the woods of East Flanders. Instead, I hurried home.
And so, now I am researching stuff for a trip to the Basque Country. I can't wait to zoom to warmer climate again!
Wednesday 19th January 2011
Bike exposition, Kortrijk (Belgium)
Original blog post link
Don't forget the Velofollies bike exposition in Kortrijk!
Thursday 13th January 2011
Trails in Barcelona, Spain
Original blog post link
Back from a long weekend to Barcelona. Such a relaxed city! What a great public transport system! And some ten degrees warmer than Brussels, with sun!
Monday we hiked into the largest metropolitan park in the world: Serra de Collserola with its highest point, Tibidabo, at 512 meters above sea leavel.
According to the map there are three mountain bike trails on offer. All three are double-back trails, and they are not waymarked. Thus, you would need a map to follow them. The area provides for plenty of paths to combine a loop of your own. Trails 1 and 2 can be combined at the village of Cerdanyola.
Trail 1, Cerdanyola-Barcelona, 6.7 km, 250 height meters. A whooping hill factor of 37.3!
Trail 2, Sant Cugat-Cerdanyola, 8.8 km, 100 hm. Hf 11.4.
Trail 3, Passeig de les Aigües, 23 km, 50 hm. Hf 0.46.
The cable car up to Tibidabo turned out to not be operational in January. That was fine, it would only take us a bit longer then. We started off on mountain bike trail number 3. All the way to the next cable car, which WAS operational, it was all wide gravel road. Great views of Barcelona. Plenty of mountain bikers and other trail users.
Instead of taking the cable car the remaining bit up to village of Vallvidrera, we hooked up with the GR 96. A steep, rough trail with steps. A long-haired mountain biker without a helmet came down it.
We had lunch in Vallvidrera, timing it perfectly with hard-working, sweaty locals. Running out of daylight, we left out the lake as our intended destination , and instead decided to slowly turn back to our starting point. First down, though, to Font de Sant Ramon. Nice off-road section! Then paralel with Torrent de la Budellera. We crossed a busy tarmac road to hook up with wide gravel track on the other side. Along with a right-hand turn we followed the GR 92. A less wide path, steep, took us up to Font del Canet. Here, we took a right, up towards Tibidabo. Very steep, rocky, with steps.
Great scenery! Fantastic views. Also from the outdoors toilet of the restaurant where we stopped for a drink!
At the top we looped the Catholic church Sagrat Cor, and just by the bridge of the cable car we found another off-road section. It went down, down, down, highly technical in places. Eventually we hit a wide gravel road, which took us to the start of the mountain bike trail that very morning. The loop we had done showed some 12 km and 360 height meters.
Here we spotted an official carrer, but wow was it overgrown; steep with severely deteriorated steps of stone. We came out on a road, and the carrer was not visible from here. A short bit further down we arrived back at the start of the (non-operational) cable car of Tibidabo.
Last hiking bit went over tarmac to the subway. Arriving back at the apartment for showers and to chill a couple of hours, we hit a tapas bar later that evening. As they did not have the required strawberries and whipped cream for dessert as promised in their menu, my travelling companion instead found us a tiny-tiny bar with a lot of character, for a last beer.
Friday 7th January 2011
Trails in Marmoutier and Sélestat, region of Alsace (France)
Original blog post link
I tricked myself again yesterday, into the 2nd-to-best map shop in Brussels. I was *just* going to SEE what maps they had on Barcelona and the Basque Country. Yes, I am aware they are in different parts of Spain, many miles apart ..
An hour later I came out with one map of each, along with a for-sale map of Hamburg (Germany), of all places. More about all of these, later .. Watch this space!
My work on the Alsace page almost fell into oblivion; all these trails keep distracting me. Notes on Marmoutier and Sélestat have now been added. They are part of a mountain bike trail system offered just west of the city of Strasbourg. France, that is; for those of us that might be more interested in roots, loose rocks and singletrack, than political geography.
Monday 3rd January 2011
Trails in Coo, province of Liège (Belgium)
Original blog post link
First post of the new year. Let's start with a sad story.
Mountain bike loops were once set up in village of Coo in the province of Liège. And then no longer maintained. I was stunned when I was told, visiting to ride. What a waste of investment of time in the first place! And even sadder is that the reviews on both www.mtbroutes.be and www.mountainbike.nl keep expressing oh's and ah's about these trails.
Whether they are official or not, I keep them memorized. I know these trails are good enough for me to be tempted to try ride them again, signage or no signage. Of course, for next time I know of the overlapping trails of La Gleize, so it doesn't have to be solely a getting-lost-in-the-woods-trying-to-orientate-myself-on-a-topographic-map.
A new year. Imagine that. Only a couple of months left now ... to summer! *waiting impatiently
