Cycling the Vennbahn in aid of Florence Nightingale Hospice

 Sunday 30 April 2023 Well today finds us heading into Aachen on the bus (our poor car doesn’t qualify to drive into the centre), got on the right bus, got off near the spot we should, but at least the walk was downhill 🤣 soon found us in the town square, magnificent building, built upon and still incorporates parts of the castle by Charlemagne, where we stood in the peace hall where the Austrian war of succession was signed in 1748, ending war in Europe after the Holy Roman Emperor gave European princesses the right to inherit the throne and property.  It’s also where the Aachen Peace medal has been awarded to many people for their work encouraging peace around the world. After our history lesson, in need of coffee and cake 🍰 and had a wonderful coffee and lunch roll, sitting out looking over the gardens, which backed onto the spa thermal springs We then went in search for the Vennbahn, we managed to find the signposted route (through the city centre 😬😬😬🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️🚴...

 So a 3am wake up by the alarm, meant we got away on time, only to check the maps to see that either way to Folkestone had road closures on the M25, we got to Junction 17 at 4.30am just as they cleared away the road signs, so a quick trip around the roundabout and back on to the M25, hoping that Junction 13 might also be open by the time we get there, and it was, no more traffic and then arrived ahead of schedule to Folkestone for our train. Your in luck we can get on the earlier train! Yes please was our reply, straight through passport control, didn’t really look at us either and no interrogation as to whether we had any ham sandwiches stashed away!  We just had to  wait for our boarding number, only then to be told to go straight through, so we did, straight onto yet an earlier train. Sorry for the delay, the train has broken down 😂😂 nearly an hour later, saw both our booked trains leave, this was going to be a long day!!! Off the train at exactly 10.00am, just to tr...

A Bit about the Route...... 3 Days in the saddle, travelling through the countryside on one of the oldest and longest cycle trails in Europe.  The line from Aachen to Monschau was built to carry coal and iron and was opened in 1885, and the Section from Raeren to Eupen was built in 1887, and the last part opened in 1889.  After the second world war the railways industrial use declined to be completely shut down and partially dismantled by 1989. Our first day sees us travel from our village in the Netherlands to where the trail starts in Aachen Day 1 - Vijlen to Monschau  Day 2 - Monschau to St Vith Day 3 -  St Vith to Troisvierges Our car is back from the Garage and so the packing can begin! The Vennbahn bike path, was internationally awarded on several occasions and is one of the longest rail bike paths in Europe, leading through three countries: Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The path stretches from Aachen, straight through East Belgium, to Troisvierges, offerin...

Getting ready to go, we hope you enjoy following us on our first cycling trip abroad, we are just waiting on the car being back from the garage!  The weather is still not looking as sunny as we had hoped but hopefully dry but dull days will be better than wet ones. Today we are just getting our bikes ready, and getting our kit ready, later I will share our planned route for the 3 day cycle.