Vianden to Montenau (Belgium) - auf wiedersehen Luxembourg

What did I say about not getting wet again?
We'd only cycled a couple of kilometres when we were overtaken by a violent thunderstorm. Fortunately we were able to shelter on the terrace of a closed café and watch whilst staying dry.

Rain falling over the river Our seen from our shelter

Vianden

 It cleared up a bit, so we cycled on into the pretty town of Vianden. Oddly, in this area we have found no shops. We bought a few things for lunch from the filling station near the campsite, which proved to be a very good move as we passed no other shops at all for the whole day.

Cycle path built out by the Our at Bivels

 After about 20km we left Luxembourg for Germany and started to climb seriously. Half way up the second storm of the day broke. We were lucky this time to find a large wooden shelter, big enough for us and the bikes and sat that one out too.
The sun came out and we carried on upwards. The views were worth the climb - just about!

We descended and crossed yet another border, this time into Belgium. Here we joined the Vennbahn, a disused railway line which goes all the way to Aachen, just over a hundred kilometres away. To begin with they had had to keep taking the route away from the rail line to cross rivers etc. This resulted in some very steep gradients that no self-respecting train would ever have tackled!
After a while it improved and the last ten kilometres were a pleasure, floating downhill at 25km/hr touching neither pedals or brakes.
We just had time to get the tent up at Oos Heem campsite when the last thunderstorm of the day arrived.

Camping Oos Heem in the rain 

Belgian beer

We sheltered in the campsite restaurant with a pizza and Belgian beer - this will probably our only night in Belgium,  tomorrow we hope to get to Holland. 

Vianden to Montenau - 76km, 1400m clinb