We don’t hide it; cycling in the mountains is the best thing we can do. The fact that we have to cover most of our kilometers through vast meadows, along the Dutch delta and occasionally climb the Dutch hills is certainly no disgrace, but there’s nothing like the mountains. To be able to enjoy the Alpine giants, the Pyrenees If you’re in the Dolomites, you’ll often be in the car for eight hours or more. Is there nothing closer to home that would allow you to catch a glimpse of the real climbing and descending? Absolutely, there is!

text and photos: Erwin van de Mountain High Chasers

After less than four hours of driving, I park the car in the parking lot of our accommodation and take my bike out of the rack. I don’t plan to climb Mont Ventoux, Alp d’Huez or Passo dello Stelvio, but based on the landscape, I still have high expectations of this excellent alternative: the German Eifel.

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Perfect roads

For many Dutch people it is a familiar area, the Eifel And especially the Moselle is often mentioned in the holiday magazines. Yet it is striking how few cyclists you see here. The heatmap on Strava and the different segments also show that there is not an extremely high number of cyclists here. There should be a reason for that, you would think. 

I quietly roll down the valley to the town Leiwen Along the Moselle. While I haven’t been on the bike for more than five minutes, I’ve stopped twice to take a photo. The view is worth interrupting this descent. The rowan trees occasionally let a glimpse of the Moselle valley with its well-known river through. What immediately catches my attention are the amazing roads. We know the Germans can build fast roads, but even in an area like this, the roads are perfectly suited. This continues throughout the entire route, whether you’re riding on a bike path or a country road.

Climbing and descending

To be honest, with the absence of the gigantic peaks around you, you don’t immediately feel like you’re in the Alps, Pyrenees or Dolomites, but still, this ride exceeds my expectations and I dare to call it a good alternative to mountain biking. Soon enough, the Garmin indicates that the first climb segment begins, still 165 meters…GO! Almost eight kilometers of climbing starts with a percentage of nine percent. Soon enough, I find myself in the high mountains, and not just from the statistics on my screen. The road winds up between the pine trees with the increasingly beautiful view of the valley on the left. The real climbing feeling is further enhanced by the hairpin bends. There are not 48 of them, but with a little imagination, it’s just like Stelvio.

Looking out over the hills

Once you reach the top, you look out over a beautiful hilly landscape and wonder where you just came up from. This also applies to the descent. The road goes up and down smoothly until you suddenly plunge down into a delightful descent with again excellent road conditions. I encounter no one along the way and I can use the entire route without danger because it is well-marked here. My maximum elevation today is just under 500 meters, but still you always get out over the trees for a moment and then descend back into the forest. This also contributes to the feeling that you are really climbing and descending.

A little less alpine, just as beautiful

The second climb is a little less ‘Alpine-like’, but with a length of 6.5 kilometers it is still quite an effort. The nice thing about this climb is that you pass through two German villages (Büdlich and Breit), where literally two people stare at you and there is no rooster to crow to get you going. Where the climb was a little less, you get your money’s worth during the descent. A beautiful wide descent through the forest with hairpin bends for the ultimate experience.

Conclusion

My ride ends with a 2.4 kilometer climb back to my accommodation, where you can pedal at an average of 6% km/h. As I enter the final bend, I think back on my expectations for this ride.

If you expect high snow-capped peaks and climbs of 10 kilometers or more, you will be disappointed. But for those who really want to climb and descend over fantastic, quiet trails, there will be a paradise of possibilities here. Whether you go for a 44-kilometer coffee ride or an adventurous 144-kilometer hike. It will be a combination of relaxing and enjoying the scenery while alternating between the river and the surrounding hills. Speaking of coffee, Germany is still not known for its coffee culture, so don’t expect too much from that. The Apfelstrudel, on the other hand, was definitely something worth licking your fingers at.

So on Friday afternoon after work, get in the car and drive in less than four hours to Leiwen and the surrounding area offers a great alternative if you want to climb well and descend wonderfully.

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