Escapardenne Eislek Trail (Part one)

The Escapardenne Eislek Trail covers 106 km from Kautenbach to La-Roche-en-Ardenne, passing through a stunning part of the Ardennes. It's a long-distance trail that connects Luxembourg with the Provence Wallonië Belgium. Cross-border, both in a literal and figurative sense! This is the first hiking trail in the Benelux designed according to the European standards for a 'Leading Quality Trail'. We walked halfway the route, from Kautenbach to Troisvierges and took the bus back to Kautenbach. You could walk the entire Eislek Trail in 3 to 4 days. Personally, I think the part in Luxembourg is the prettiest because of the more diverse landscape and height differences. The nice part of this part of the trail is that there is a train connection between Kautenbach and Clervaux and public transport is free in Luxembourg.

Our Experience

Day 1 - Kautenbach - Clervaux (24KM - 5:30 hours)

We arrived the evening before in Camping Kautenbach, where we booked a Pod for the night. In the morning around 8AM we went to the mini-market on the campsite and bought freshly baked bread. Thereafter we drove to this parking lot, where we could leave our car for the two days. Here was also the start of Stage 1 of the Eislek Trail. We walked along the river and passed the campsite again. Thereafter, we conquered a steep hill, offering a great view on Kautenbach. We wanted to stop in Wilwerwiltz for a coffee, but there was only an Asian restaurant open on Saturdays. At the end of the hike we passed the city center of Clervaux, that offered a beautiful view on the city center from a high viewpoint. After we checked-in at Camping Clervaux, we had dinner at a great Portugese tapas bar Dos Gringos. We played games, enjoyed great tapas and even received free Limoncello shots.

Day 2 - Clervaux - Troisvierges (17,5KM - 3:50 hours)

Today, we had to keep track of our time as we needed to catch a train around 3PM back to Kautenbach to pick up the car. We bought some bread at the reception and walked to the city center to have coffee at Hotel Koener. After we fueled ourselves with caffeine, we were ready to start hiking! We passed a few benches with stunning views on Clervaux. We passed farmland, dense forests, and this day also had to cross a bit of challenging terrain due to construction work on the route. We reached the train station at 2:30PM, and took the first train to Clervaux where we had to hop over to another train. Unfortunately, there was maintenance on that track, so we had to catch the bus to Kautenbach via Ettelbruck. We arrived at the parking lot tired but satisfied, and drove back to The Netherlands.

What to pack?

• Hiking poles (nice to have to reduce the chances of blisters)

• Enough water - at least carry 2 liters with you

• Backpack

• Some energy bars

• Sleeping essentials (in our case only a sleeping bag)

• Fresh set of clothes

• Pack some lunch for on the way (can't guarantee a lunch cafe that is open on the route of day 1)

GPX Route

I'm a big fan of Komoot, so here you can find the route with distance, time, height differences all-in-one for each day:

• Route day 1

• Route day 2