Hiking in Luxembourg on the GR5 - Today: Echternach to Mertert

A new day on the GR5 in Luxembourg is upon us. We start today at our end point of yesterday's tour, at the Echternach Basilica, on a beautiful and still cold Sunday.

We hike the first kilometres leisurely along the Sûre and enjoy the idyll at the river, before we go up the slopes of the river. There, the rock formations familiar from the previous day await us again. As the slopes here face north, the rocks and cliffs are mostly covered with moss or overgrown with ivy and offer a fascinating atmosphere in the deep sunshine. Open passages across green fields and meadows offer variety in between.

Museé Henri Tudor

We reach Rosport and the Musée Henri Tudor. The building was the home of the Luxembourg inventor Henri Tudor. One of his most famous inventions was the first usable lead battery. Accordingly, the Tudors' castle, because of its rechargeable battery around 1880, was the first private residence in Europe where electric light was available around the clock. In addition, the first electric cars were equipped with its rechargeable batteries at the beginning of the last century. The museum exhibits the original lead plates and other things from that time. He shared the fate of many other inventors and became a victim of his own invention. He died in 1928 as a result of lead poisoning.

Chapel Giischterklaus

A short distance later we reach the Giischterklaus chapel in Ginsterklaus. The church, built in the Romantic style, dates from the 11th or 12th century and is the oldest place of pilgrimage in Luxembourg. It is assumed that the west tower was a defence and watchtower at that time, which was integrated into the newly built church and built on late Roman foundations.
The trail continues in a varied manner from mountain to valley and passes small stream channels again and again with steadily decreasing rock formations. We pass the imposing Sauertal bridge of the A64 motorway and reach the Sauerschleife shortly before Wasserbillig. In the meantime, the landscape has changed and the vineyards have arrived.

Destination of the stage: Wasserbillig

We descend into the Sauertal and follow the river directly to its mouth into the Moselle at Wasserbillig. If you want to feed swans, ducks and other waterfowl, this is exactly the right place. Until we reach our destination today in Mertert, we hike leisurely along the banks of the Moselle. The next and last two stages of the GR5 in Luxembourg will be characterised by viticulture and the Moselle panorama. We are looking forward to it.

Video of the hike on the GR5

The tour on the GR5 at Komoot