What is the GR5?

The GR5, a European long-distance hiking trail! The GR5 starts in the Netherlands near Hoek van Holland, crosses Belgium, Luxembourg, France via the Vosges, the Jura, the Maritime Alps and ends after 2080 kilometres at the Mediterranean near Nice. And what does this have to do with us? People like to set themselves goals in life - and why not be able to say at some point that you have walked from the North Sea to the Mediterranean in hiking boots? So now we have a new project! As time permits, we'll take on the GR5 and hike it in sections. Sometimes just as weekend tours on routes that are close to us, or as longer tours if our holidays and the coronavirus rules allow. Let's go, bonjour GR5! Or Moieeen, as Luxembourgers like to greet each other at any time of day or night!

Today: on the trail of Europe! Ouren to Vianden

We start our weekend tour in the very north of Luxembourg at the border triangle between Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. Perhaps there is no more suitable place to start this tour for a European long-distance hiking trail. The Europe Monument is located here at the border triangle. The names of the "pioneers of a united Europe" (Konrad Adenauer, Joseph Bech, Paul-Henri Spaak and Robert Schuman) are inscribed on four stones. The fifth stone commemorates the Treaty of Rome and the signatories from the six participating states. The memorial stones come from the respective countries of the founding fathers. A gneiss boulder from the Lüneburg Heath for Adenauer, a sandstone block from the Müllerthal-Waldbillig for Bech, blue slate stone from the High Fens for Spaak and a slate block from the Vosges for Schuman. The origin of the fifth stone was not revealed.

A few metres from the Europe Monument, you can not only admire Werner Bitzigeio's sculpture from the outside, but also enter the inside of the sculpture. His creation of an interactive walk-in sculpture is a 5 metre high walk-in cube made of steel mats with the title: "Perception of borders - borders of perception - crossing borders".

From the European Monument to Vianden, the GR5 almost always runs alongside the border river Our, with views of German territory on the other bank. With a few exceptions, the valley of the Our is unspoilt and the river carves its way through the gentle valleys. In Luxembourg, the GR5 is marked in blue and yellow, in contrast to the usual white and red markings on other GRs. The first 15 kilometres are almost entirely on small paths, after which the path in the valley sometimes follows the country road, which is sometimes a bit of a shame, but is common on long-distance hiking trails.

But let's return to the topic of Europe: On the European mainland, the GR5 is part of the E2 continental long-distance hiking trail, which has a total length of around 4000 kilometres. At around kilometre 20 of today's tour, the E2 meets the E3, which leads from Portugal to Bulgaria on the Black Sea. The interesting signpost at this point shows us the distances from here to the respective end points. A nice detail!

The day ends today just in time for sunset on a hill away from the Our. We set up our tarp in a sparse oak forest - today in tent form due to the wind. And it was a good decision to spend the night on the heights, because with a night temperature of 7 degrees it was much warmer here than in the valley, where there was a clear frost. More about the second day tomorrow!

Watch the video of our tour here

The tour on Komoot