Benelux Tour 8: Aachen and Venn-Vorland

Saturday, 06.08.2022
Route: Maastricht - Heimbach
Distance: 90 kilometers
Weather: sunny, but rather cool and windy

Despite spending the night outdoors, I wake up fairly rested around 6:00 today. Because it is still very cool and damp, I stay in my warm sleeping bag for a while before getting ready and heading towards Aachen. I follow a major road with a well-developed bike path for many kilometers through undulating landscape, past meadows and fields, past elegant farms and monasteries, and through a few larger towns. Finally, I am back in Germany and I want to explore Aachen a bit. I stroll through the old town, past the cathedral and the town hall, where important historically significant buildings once stood, but today it is very cool and cloudy, and I'm cold. So I sit down in a café to gather myself, drink warm beverages, and charge my phone.

It is already early afternoon when I set off on the first stage of the Vennbahn cycle path, which starts in Aachen. I follow the paved, well-frequented bike path through more agricultural landscape, over a viaduct, and constantly uphill with a 3% gradient. This is (probably also due to the efforts of the previous day) noticeably more strenuous than expected. But actually quite nice. My original plan was to cycle to Monschau. However, my husband, in his wisdom, booked a room for me in a village about 20 kilometers away in the Rureifel region. Getting there is challenging, but it's worth it, especially with the next day in mind. The guesthouse where I am staying is family-run, really nice, and even offers home-cooked dinner for tired, hungry cyclists! It's no surprise that I fall asleep soundly at 9:00 PM.