08-Nov-2024, every year I go on a hiking and (wild) camping trip with a group of three friends that formed a long time ago through work. At least my friends go every year, and I join them whenever I can and when I am not working abroad… or busy living in Bali.

They planned an impromptu short hike in the fall this year, and I happen to be in the Netherlands around this time, so I am fortunate enough to be able to join the hike last minute. The decision of writing this story is also last minute (but wasn’t directly uploaded). I figured this story would be a nice reminder, for the four of us, about our fun and adventurous hike.

It’s a cold day in November and autumn is slowly turning into winter. The sun goes down around 5.30 pm and our daylight hours are limited. When embarking on this journey I am just coming back from a project in England. I land in Amsterdam on a Friday morning, I take the train home to gather my hiking stuff and make my way to Tom, who lives near my hometown. Tom is driving and we pick up our other two friends in Belgium: Gert and Dirk. After a four-hour drive we finally reach our accommodation in Echternach, Luxembourg. Echternach is very close to the German border, and to get to Echternach, our GPS sent us through Germany. And I am just realizing that I have just crossed five borders in one day (England, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg). This might just be a personal record.

Instead of sleeping in a tent in the wild (and cold!), we opted for a bit more luxury on this trip. We booked a hostel with a shared room for the four of us, so we can sleep comfortably in a warm and dry bed. With breakfast included! This is far from a five star hotel but compared to our previous hikes this feels pretty luxurious. It’s glamping at its finest because we hardly have to bring any food, as we eat out as much as we can. Usually I am dragging a big backpack of more than 20 kilograms around for 4 days, but now I can barely feel my little backpack on my back.

We arrive at eight pm, on a Friday evening at the hostel and the hike stars tomorrow. The only walking we do tonight is a 1.8 kilometers stroll to the city center for dinner at a nice traditional restaurant. The restaurant is empty so after dinner we go to a local bar with a bit more life and atmosphere. The four of us haven’t seen each other in quite a while so we use this time to finally catch up. With some cocktails and beer of course.

The next day we get up at 7.30 am and we have (a basic) breakfast in the common area, it’s free so we are not complaining. Packing our small bag is a lot quicker than what I am used to and we don’t have to break down our tent, this is great, I could get used to this! After a ten minute drive we arrive at the Beaufort castle where we park the car and start the hike. There are three different routes of the Mullerthal trail and we choose route #3. It’s a loop of 37.9 km with a total incline (and decline) of 714 meters, spread over two days. The first day we do a hike of roughly 28 kilometers in 7,5 hours (including breaks) and it was an amazing experience. Even though it is cold and foggy, at least there wasn’t any rain. Route 3 is a very diverse route through the beautiful autumn-colored forests and rocky paths. We follow a small water stream with several mini-waterfalls over a small nature trail. The sounds of the running water besides us, in combination with birds singing from the trees, and trees colored yellow, orange and red almost makes us feel we are in a fairytale. It is a very relaxing and beautiful scene. And what I like most is that we are doing this in low season. This is normally a popular and crowded area, but not at this time, it’s quiet and there is very little foot traffic.

At 10 am we come across our first (and last) town of the day, and we stop for a nice cup of coffee. We can’t miss our one and only shot for good cup of coffee! With renewed energy we continue the hike through the forest over winding paths covered in autumn leaves. With such a light backpacks we move a bit faster than normal. In fact, the only food we bring is reserved for lunch on this first day. We find a nice spot to enjoy our meal; on a small jetty overlooking a mini swamp.

Not a single section of the hike looks the same and the scenery is changing constantly. We are truly enjoying our time as we walk through open fields and mysterious forests covered in moss and fog. A couple hundred meters before we reach our destination, we overlook the small town and old castle of Larochette from a large boulder. This means we are very close to our second hostel.

At five pm we arrive at our overnight stay and we get lucky again, we have another room to ourselves, just the four of us. A nice, hot shower rarely feels as good as it does after a long hike in the cold weather. With everybody being fresh and presentable again, we take a 5 minute walk to the town center for a well-deserved meal. The camouflage dressed guy at the reception of our hostel recommends the best place in town; a Chinese restaurant. This place brings back nice memories of the time I lived in China. The food is good and the service is friendly.

The night is still young, and we walk across the square to another café for a few drinks. We are in a very small town and this café is quiet as well. But we have each other and a few fun mini board games. This is all we needed and we had a good time. We even had some spectators when we started playing card games.

After a good night’s sleep and breakfast at the hostel, we start our journey on the second day at 9 am. Today we only have to walk 11 kilometers, and it feels like a “walk in the park”. We come across other hikers and day walkers, but the route is still relatively quiet. It’s even more foggy than the day, making it a very mysterious day. There is hardly any challenge today but we had a nice day. Although we cannot enjoy views in the distance, it’s still a magnificent and beautiful location. I really enjoyed the hike in these two days, especially the ever-changing landscapes as you can see in the photos!

Just before noon we arrive at the town of Beaufort where we have a nice lunch in a local restaurant before driving back home. The only wildlife we spot during this trip is a fox crossing the road while we were driving. We are back home on a Sunday evening and another adventurous weekend has come to an end.

~ THE END ~