Rondom Luxembourg 1000

[Deano]

https://www.randonneurs.nl/brevet/maastricht-2022-1000/

Anyone else eyeing this up? A bit close to LEL, but that's not an issue for me.

[Wycombewheeler]

I've done it before,

Can't remember too much
Very small field, I thk there were 9 at the start, and five finished
A lot of good surface traffic free cycle routes beside waterways (flat)
Had dinner in a lovely Town square in Charleville Mezeres day 1
challenges of buying food in two other languages  (Dutch not needed, everyone speaks English)
I remember an excellent descent after a long climb after moving west away from the Rhine
I had lousy weather riding beside the Mosel River was ready to quit, but felt better by the time I reached Koblenz
due to losing my main light on the eurostar journey, and relying on my head torch, I spent some nights sleeping beside the road.

Overall I quite enjoyed it, I felt it was a a relatively easy 1000km with the route mainly following rivers, with bits of climbing over the hills between them.

[slugbait]

I have one failed attempt at this ride. Still a small field that year (2018, about 25 riders) and very few finishers due to a brutal heatwave with daytime temperatures in the 35-40 degrees range. I bailed out after 220km with dehydration issues. But I have cycled enough in that part of the world to know that the route is very nice, it's relatively easy to find hotels along the route. Also language should not be a problem: everyone under 40 on the continent seems to speak some English these days.

[Wycombewheeler]

Still a small field that year (2018, about 25 riders)

I rode it in 2017, so it "clashed" with LEL, potentially a reason for a smaller field in that year than 2018

Also language should not be a problem: everyone under 40 on the continent seems to speak some English these days.

Yes "challenges" was a bit strong, I had no difficulty obtaining food.

Maastricht was not too hard to reach, I took the train to Liege (included with eurostar) and cycled from there to Maastricht

[slugbait]

Maastricht is ridiculously easy to reach from the UK. It's 4h12 from London Pancras. I live in the Northeastern part of the Netherlands and it takes me almost exactly the same time to get to Maastricht.

[Wycombewheeler]

Maastricht is ridiculously easy to reach from the UK. It's 4h12 from London Pancras. I live in the Northeastern part of the Netherlands and it takes me almost exactly the same time to get to Maastricht.

But only for those travelling with a folding bike (or no bike), because Eurostar are not carrying bikes at the moment

https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/travel-planning/luggage/bikes

[Ivo]

Currently there are 2 logical routes to travel to Maastricht from the UK. Both using ferries since indeed Eurostar is not all too cooperative at the moment.
You can travel from Dover to Calais. Then take the French train from Calais to Lille and from Lille travel to Liege and onwards by local train to Maastricht.
The other option is ferry Hull - Hoek and then travel by Dutch Rail from Rotterdam to Maastricht.
I did this 1000 in 2016. Temperatures were ok that year, even quite chilly during the 2nd night. As a lot of the routes were similar to my old brevets it was quite easy for me. But still, I was behind schedule for most of the ride only being back on schedule around Aachen (there was an eastern wind that year).  The long ride through the Mosel valley allows you to regain a lot of time.
Photo's: https://eu.zonerama.com/ivomiesen/Album/5161397
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/675619244