After enjoying the Mullerthal Trail so much last year I decided to return to Luxembourg again – this time to take on the Escapardenne Lee Trail. Lee is Luxembourgish for “ridge” and the trail goes over the shale ridges that act as shoulders for the Sauer river in this region. The trail runs for 53km from Ettelbruck to Kautenbach. It is listed as a challenging route. After doing it. I won’t argue with that. I was sore every evening. It joins the long distance Eislek Trail for another 100km to bring you across the border into Belgium.
DAY 1 – Walking and Talking
I met my friend Dave from the Netherlands at Ettelbruck Train station. One of the best things about this route is that the train line follows it the whole way. You are never too far from a road either. Buses are plentiful and all public transport has been free in Luxembourg since 2020.

Our walk started in the Patton Memorial Garden. There is a statue of the General there and a Sherman tank along with some other monuments to mark the Ardennes Counter Offensive and the liberation of the town from the Germans on December 27th 1944. Every now and then a bus pulls up and out troop a bus load of tourists eager to pay their respects. Dave tells me about visiting the Eagles Nest, Bastogne and other war locations in Europe. He’s mad into it. Eerie, he says, to think about the destruction caused by the wholescale war that flared through here less than a lifetime ago.

Our walk starts with the first of many steep wooded climbs. We follow a ridge before dropping down the slope, both of us catching up with each other since our last hike together which was in the Slieve Blooms. A trio of buzzards circle above us. We cross the train tracks and then a bridge over the river Sauer into Erpeldange. Apart from a few houses and farms there is not much to see in this hamlet. Each house has a collection of cute little sculptures outside, which is not surprising for a country that is considered one of the safest in Europe.

There are no shops on the route. Luckily there are a few hotels so I can get a hot meal at night. I have to carry water and lunches. That is probably my only concern on this hike. We dive into more woods and walk on until lunchtime. This is full on wood-walking. Luxembourg is 20% woods and this is why I am here – to immerse myself in a rolling ocean of trees. Most of my walking in Ireland is either on the uplands which are usually stripped of trees or they are on country roads which slice through green fields. If I do find myself in woods in Ireland it doesn’t last very long and it is never in Oak forests. Usually boring Sitka Spruce or Beech if I am lucky. Oak is just a different feeling and spending days on a forest trail is good for the soul.

The walking is easy for the most of the morning. After lunch we start to hit a few climbs. Some of them are quite steep. Temperatures rise to 20 degrees. Perfect walking weather. I pack away my jacket and spend the rest of the day walking in t-shirt and shorts. We can see the river a long way below us from the trail. Because we are surrounded by trees all the time it doesn’t look scary when we look down but if the trees were not here I would say we wouldn’t be as brave. We stop for lunch in the middle of the woods. Every km or so there are picnic benches with rubbish bins so we are spoiled for choice. Every fork on the path is signposted with reflective route markings before the junction and after it to make sure you are on the right route. There are lots of different routes that go through here apart from the Escapardenne Lee Trail so we have to stay alert. I have a map with me but I never need to take it out of my bag at all.

Every now and then we rise to the top of the ridge, usually to find a giant windmill turning slowly in the breeze and surrounded by ultra neat fields of green and yellow. We descend to the river and start to climb all over again. We pass a few farms. Sometimes we can see the traffic on the road in the distance. Every corner of the fields that butt onto the woods have bird-watching hides, usually a few metres off the ground with a wooden ladder going up to them. We descend to another quiet hamlet called Michelau. It has a train station and a church. Everything is spotless. In the distance on the next rise we can see the fairytale Castle Bourscheid watching over the valleys. This is close to the end of our days walking. I don’t know this at the time but each day of the trail will loop around the castle at one stage or another.

The walk is steeper from Michelau and we climb back up onto the ridge. It starts easy enough from the village, zig-zags up a few 100m and then we begin a lung-busting climb up to another windmill. We need to take a breather on another bench at the top. Then we follow the ridge trail towards the Gringlee. The Gringlee (translation: the green rock) is a famous lookout point where the Sauer cuts a complete 180 degree route around the castle hill. The result is a beautiful panorama. We rest for a while to watch paragliders launch themselves off the edge. The view is worth the days walk and the climbs. Paragliders float about on the updraft chatting away to each other as if they aren’t hanging 500m above the ground.

From here, the trail drops sharply down the ridge to the Sauer. It is one of those descents where you can feel it in the toes. Once or twice I have to hang onto a tree trunk as the path zig-zags through the woods to the bottom. I’m staying in a cute little wooden shelter in Camping Du Moulin. It has a small shop where I can order bread for the morning from Martin and Kim. We have ice-creams and drinks from the shop to cool down and sit outside for a while listening to the Sauer bubble along beside us. I stash my rucksack in the hut. We get to Dave’s car and head out to hunt for some dinner in a bigger town nearby. My Garmin tells me that I have covered 20km since morning. That night I read the Wizard of Earthsea on my Kindle while listening to owls hooting in the woods around the campsite.
DAY 2 – Napoleon’s Tree and the Finger of God
Down on the valley floor with the river mist and the ridges blocking the sun, it is fresh and quiet in the morning. I say goodbye to the castle on the hill, thinking this will be the last time I see it. The next few days are solo walking. It was good to catch up with Dave but this is what I’m here for. After coffee and croissants I follow the riverbank for a while before crossing the train tracks and climbing up a rutted clay track packed with knobbly tree roots.

Up above me, a squirrel leaps from branch to branch. I come off the trail and out onto a green laneway where I rest on a bench to catch my breath and take in the Autumn foliage. Jets rumble overhead. The birds are chirruping in trees. The laneway brings me to a field of cows and from there I start on a single track along the ridge. Now and again I can see the river below through the trees. The trail swings around rock outcroppings and in between majestic oaks that tower up into the sky.
The path brings me to a large farm surrounded by green fields. The mist is starting to clear on the hills. Down on the farm below there is a new corrugated roof being put on a shed. Two kids clamber up and down the slope of the roof with bike helmets on in case they fall. They pick nails out of a bucket and hand them to their father who is using a gun to shoot the roof into the rafters below. Their mother appears and they shout down at her just in case she is unaware that they are scampering about on the roof.

From here the trail climbs again on a fire road. Two mountain bikers come flying downhill. I also meet a family and a pair of greybearded hikers, carbon copies of myself. The fire roads leads out onto the main road on the top of the hill. The sun burns off the last of the mist. By the time I get to the top I am back down to t-shirt and sweating. I am on a plateau now. This is the highest point of the trail at 505m. The breeze picks up. I put my jacket back on and follow the road through a flat field of pea shoots, daisies and bright blue cornflowers towards the Napoleonsbeemchen, or the Napoleon tree.

This is by far the most famous point on the trail and I meet groups of hikers here who have arrived here from multiple directions. A tree was planted here in 1811 to commemorate the birth of Napoleons child. The Nazis, unimpressed by the memory of a different dictator, cut it down in 1940. The locals planted another one secretly in 1941 and this is the one that is here today. I take a break here and snack on a few Haribo Sour Peaches. I think about all the millions of trees that I have passed already. It is weird how one is valued more because it is associated with a person. Beside the tree is a raised platform with a 360 degree rotating telescope viewer on it. I can see more windmills in the distance, and Echternach, which I visited last year. No matter where I point the telescope I can see rings of hills and valleys circling the plateau, spreading out like tree-rings.
Leaving the famous tree behind me I head down hill again. I pass three younger hikers coming uphill. The trail brings me down to the Rouschtert viewpoint over the hamlet of Dirbach. I have my lunch here on a ledge 50m off the trail. There is a bench perfectly placed to soak up the views. The temperature has climbed above 20 by now and butterflies make the most of the October heat.

After lunch I get back on the trail and head down to Dirbach. This ridge is too steep to go straight down so I must skirt along the side of the hill until I meet a road. I can see from the map that my accommodation is close by, on the other side of the Sauer, but this is not the way. The trail swings back away from the road and descends in the other direction towards the bridge at Dirbach. I pass through a prominent rock outcrop called the Finger of God and get the distinct impression that God is laughing at me.

Once I cross the bridge at Dirbach I have one more wooded ridge to climb. The temperatures are in the mid 20s now but at least it is cool under the trees. From the single track trail I can see the Finger of God following me on the side of the far hill. I have pretty much walked in a circle at this stage. The last descent is sore on my toes again. My knees are wobbly. My backpack is heavy. It is hot. It is still early afternoon so I get myself a coke and sit outside my pod at Camping Du Nord before dipping my feet in the refreshing river waters. The Garmin says I have only done 13km today. It felt like a lot more. I order pizza for dinner from the bar, read a few more chapters of Ged Sparrowhawks story on the Kindle and I’m out like a light.
DAY 3 – Wolves, Deer and the Staff of Power
It’s a misty morning start again and I get back on the trail for the last leg. Today is going to be a tough one. I leave the campsite, cross a large stream on a pontoon bridge and stop for a while to watch brown trouts circle around me in the water. On the other side of the stream I walk along a grass trail with freshly dug molehills scattered along it.

The grass trail brings me to Goebelsmuhle station where I cross the rail tracks and start my first climb of the day. Mist floats across the hills. I am going a different direction than yesterday so I see the familiar silhouette of Bourscheid Castle in the distance. It is a quick climb and I am soon at the top. I rest on a bench before going down through the woods.
In the middle of the woods I stop because I can hear howling in the distance. Does Luxembourg have wolves? Not sure. It’s not the nicest sound in the world when you are on your own in the middle of a deep forest. I walk on and hear them again after a while. They sound closer now. Hopefully dogs, but they don’t sound like any dogs I know. Just to be safe I plan my course of action if a pack of wolves come racing around the bend ahead. I couldn’t outrun a puppy on flat ground never mind the steep side of a hill so that is not an option. I’m no Líam Neeson either so attacking them with broken bottles between my knuckles is out, not that I have bottles. First things first – ditch my rucksack. I wouldn’t get too far with that. Scoot up the nearest tree and hook myself in the nearest crook of a branch while the wolves snap at my heels in frustration. My phone and whistle are in my pocket. Hopefully I can call for help with them. As a plan it is not the worst. The only downside is the last time I pulled myself up a tree I was a few kilos lighter and a good bit more flexible. If I fall I’ll be in trouble, but I’ll probably die of embarrassment first.

The trail brings me to a large husky kennel on the outskirts of the woods so there is no need for me to climb any trees. I pass the dogs and walk along a stream on the valley floor for a while. It feels good to be walking on level ground for a while. My calves need a break. I meet a man picking mushrooms. He has a demented looking collie who is one of those dogs that is just over-friendly to the point of being scary. Eventually the trail leaves the flat valley and snakes upwards where it comes out on a sharp shale ridge called the Molberlee. The sun is high in the sky. The views are 360 degrees above the woods. I rest for a while on a bench listening to the soothing sound of pine crickets in the sparse dry undergrowth around the ridge. The path follows the knife edge rock to a road that brings me into the hamlet of Horscheid, a cute little place with funky flowers, sculptures and a Marian grotto.
I pass through Horscheid and take a fire road down into another forest. Looking back, I should have explored the village for water but I was enjoying the walking. I stop for a breather and come face to face with a young deer a few metres away from me. It bounces off as surprised as I am. I wasn’t expecting to get so close to a wild animal on this trip so that was an extra bonus. This section is known as the Klangwee because of all the musical sculptures along it but I pass them quietly in case I see another deer. The trail descends again to a bridge across a stream and then starts up again. I am familiar with this up-and-down rhythm now. I climb up to another windmill and then down to the Chapel of St Michel beside a stream where I stop for lunch.

Then it’s up again, through another long winding section full of tall trees that filter the sun into beautiful shafts of light. Rich clumps of moss cover the surface of every rock. There are animal burrows in the side of the hill and woodpeckers in the trees. I come to a clearing and see lines of hikers like ants on the ridge in the distance below me. I recognise the path through the shale on the top. It is the Molberlee. I can see the route I took up to Horscheid and off down to the Klangwee and I realise that I have travelled right around in a circle again. I am now on the opposite side of the valley that I was on this morning near the huskies.
I carry on and eventually clear the woods to another plateau with a road in the distance. The heat is in the upper 20s now. I stop to put on some suncream at the road. I must have been walking fast enough because my Garmin suddenly decides that this is an emergency incident. It starts a 30 second countdown before it texts my next of kin that something has happened to me in a foreign country. Luckily there is an ignore option so I hit that. I notice that I only have a few mouthfuls of water left in my flask and I have about 5km to go. Time to start rationing it.

I leave the road and walk through a field to another ridge. I can see Kautenbach off in the distance, nestled in between two more hills. It looks far enough away as the crow flies but I know by now that this trail rarely goes in a straight line. The single track that goes down this ridge twists and turns through stark bare trees that were previously stripped by fire. My toes dig into the ground to stop me sliding. At times I skirt along ledges with hand-railings on them to stop walkers going over the edge. I meet some other hikers and I have to give way as they are coming uphill and there is no room for both of us on the path. The sun is hammering down on this exposed ridge. The sweat is pouring off me.

When I reach the bottom I am fairly tired and my knees are shaky. The bag feels heavier now, even though I am all out of food apart from my Haribo Sour Peach sweets. I pop one in my mouth after each mouthful of water at every kilometre. I find myself a stout stick and get into my stride up the next incline. It is a mercifully gradual climb. The stick helps me to get back into a good rhythm after the descent. This is needed as my feet are starting to ache. It feels like there is an argument going on between my feet and my head and my head is getting blamed for something. I don’t have any interest in taking photos anymore. My feet keep moving because if they don’t then they won’t get any rest. I just want to reach the end and sit down and have a cool drink of something.
At 18km I am having a conversation with Ryanair boss Michael O’ Leary in my head. Michael, I say, can I bring my magic staff with me on the plane? What powers does it have asks Michael. It got me across the hills in Luxembourg, Michael, so it is a genuine staff of power. Would it help Ireland win the rugby world cup Michael asks me. It is possible I tell him. Could it make a plane drop from the sky he asks me. I tell Michael that it’s just a stick and I walk on. This climb is slow and steady. When I get to the top I can see the spire of Kautenback Church below. I enter the village just as the church bells are ringing. It is a lovely deep sound, nothing like the church bells back home. They sound welcoming, like they were designed to lead wanderers home through the hills. I get to Hotel Huberty and it is all wood inside with a traditional atmosphere. The owners are very friendly and they tell me I am the only guest for the night. I sit outside sipping ice cold German apple juice while the sun goes down over the hills that I have just walked through. I look at my Garmin. 21km. Job done.
