Echternach, Camping at the Wolf Gorge in Luxembourg

Back in 1985, representatives of five countries came together at a small town in Luxembourg to sign an historic agreement. The town was Schengen, and anyone into motorhome touring in Europe knows the name. The agreement led to the abolition of border checks between 29 European countries. The UK never signed the agreement, so we’ve always had to go through passport control and customs when entering and leaving our own country.

Why do I blather on so? Because yesterday we drove into Luxembourg from France, no border control, nuffin. It reminds me once more of the freedoms most Europeans have to live and work in other countries. Once parked up at our campsite at Echternach, we had a walk over the footbridge to Germany. Not a single bored official to be seen. No queues. No passports being held in hope against a glass screen waiting for a robo-camera to eyeball your face and inevitably decree “no, you shall not pass, you’ve grown a beard”. None of that, we ambled to another country, had a quick shuftee, then ambled back again.

It makes me wonder why we Britishers are so precious about controlling our borders? It used to stress late mum something rotten in her later years, worrying about all the “foreigners coming over”. Here in Luxembourg, which happens to be the richest nation on Earth, half the people who live here weren’t born here. Half the population. 200,000 people a day cross the borders with neighbouring countries to work here. Why is the UK so different? I dunno. I honestly don’t. It’s not a political statement, I’m not stirring it. I genuinely don’t know why free movement works in Luxembourg (or any of the other 28 countries in the Schengen agreement) but we (albeit by a narrow majority) hate the idea?

Anyway, we’re here. Here being a quirky municipal campsite a short walk from Luxembourg’s oldest town, Echternach. The site’s terraced, set on a hillside between the forest and the Sûre River, which marks the border with Germany. Every available inch is taken up by one form of camping apparatus or another: pitches for motorhomes and campers, touring caravans, static caravans, cabins, those barrel cabin whatsits and grassy areas for tents. There are a few touring caravans whose roaming days are very much over. Some are surrounded by gnomes and plastic animals, others by canvas and awnings. There’s one near us going slowly green. It’s for sale for €10,000 (cue much coughing and wide-eyed pointing). We assume that’s because of where it is, rather than what it is.

We really like this place, and would stay a few days, but a bank holiday commeth and so do the campers. Every pitch is booked tomorrow so we’re off to Germany in search of a stellplatz near to a Parkrun at the weekend. From our pitch (which admittedly was a tad awkward to get on and get level, much reversing and ramp climbing), we can easily walk to the old town or (via some serious steps) up into the forest. Up there in the greenery there’s a great view over the town, or you can head along the famous hiking route, the Wolfsschlucht, Gorges du Loup or in English, the Wolves’ Gorge.

It’s a wonderful walk if (a) you don’t mind a serious number of muddy, sloping steps and (b) you like seeing enormous rock formations. This particular one was formed when a slab of sandstone split and part of it slipped down the hillside. Erosion by the river below was to blame, but it’s created a funky place to hike and ponder when the rest of the slow-motion collapse might occur. The path heads onwards for many miles, part of the 112km Mullerthal Trail through Luxembourg.

Everyone around here speaks at least three languages by the way: Luxembourgish, French and German. Many also speak English. Some speak Dutch too. Yep, it amazes me too. I’ve just about got the hang of English, a smattering of French and enough German to order a beer and ask where the castle is. We’ve no idea how to greet anyone when we’re out, opting for a random mix of “Hello”, “Hi”, “Bonjour”, “Gutentag” and “Ayup Me Duck”. OK, I’ve not had a crack at that last one yet (Nottingham dialect), I worry what might happen if I did. Ju got us booked in here with a mix of school German and English. I sat in the van and hid.

The town is an equally pleasant place to wander. As usual, we wonder how much of it’s original, and how much was blasted from existence in the 1940s. The wee country found itself in the eye of the storm in WW2, and Echternach was fought over four times. The first was the rapid invasion by Germany (probably not much fighting then, the country had about 100 people in the army). The next was the Allies (which I think means the Americans around this area) pushing Germany back. Then the Germans surprised everyone by launching a counter-attack later named the Battle of the Bulge. And finally the Allies pushed the Germans back again. Photos of Echternach Abbey show there wasn’t much of it left after all that. It’s since been beautifully rebuilt.

We’re a bit surprised by how much we’ve enjoyed Luxembourg so far. Granted it’s been a bit over 24 hours, but it’s been an eye opener. In the past we’ve mostly headed straight through using the freebie motorways and topping up with the cheapest diesel in Europe. We’ll be doing some of that this time around too, but we’ve also discovered all public transport in the country is free (did I mention how rich this country is?) and we’re wondering whether we can set up a base somewhere and hop on a bus, train or tram to explore for nowt.

The tourist office has also handed over what are effectively a range of free books with all the things to see and do. Much of it is outdoorsy stuff, hiking, cycling, bare-foot walking routes, activities on lakes, wandering around castles and mining museums. There’s more to learn around WW2 if you’re interested too, when Luxembourg was forcibly made part of Germany and all languages except German were banned. It also made the population eligible for call up into the German army, the same fate of the young men of Alsace and Lorraine in France, fighting for the people who’ve invaded you whether you like it or not.

So, we’ll head over to Germany tomorrow for a few days and we’re thinking we’ll come back to Luxembourg for a bit. It has a nice feel to the place, and we fancy getting to know it a little better.

Cheers, Jay

P.S. we’re just back from an evening wandering around town. This uber-car cruised past, and we later came across it again conked out in the middle of the road. The bloke was on the phone to someone in English, we assume it wasn’t the RAC. Apparently it’s an Aston Martin Valkyrie, which costs up to $450,000. Just to service it. Holy sh*t. They’re about 3 million quid to buy. It looked a right faff to get in and out too.