It makes no sense. Absolutely none. Yet, it’s possible to cycle from Eupen in eastern Belgium, deep into Germany close to Monschau, and never at any time leave Belgium. The disused railway line known as the Vennbahn is, for reasons that defy logic, part of Belgium. Even though in places it’s a couple of kilometres inside Germany. It is a very peculiar arrangement.
The 125km Vennbahn route starts in Aachen, Germany. It crosses into Belgium on a loop to Raeren, then ‘crosses’ back into Germany a little further south. Except it doesn’t. The Belgian border runs on both sides of the former rail line creating islands of Germany between two Belgian borders. It ‘re-enters’ Belgium, slaloming through the countryside, before terminating inside Luxembourg.
This is the sort of thing that used to start wars. In this case it’s the result of a war. The Vennbahn, or Fen Railway, was constructed to carry coal and iron in what had been part of Germany since 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon. Under the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War a century later, areas around Eupen and Malmedy were ceded to Belgium. The railway line was also deemed to be Belgian.
The result is a strip of Belgium running through Germany, creating several German enclaves between the Belgian railway line and Belgium the country. It’s literal madness. The Nazis did away with this in 1940, only for it to be reinstated after 1945. It remains like this to this day. The disused railway is now an incredible cycle route that passes through the high fens that stretch across Germany and Belgium.
I’d taken the train to Eupen for an 85km cycle that took me to pleasant Belgian villages, the surreal experience of cycling in Belgium through Germany, a stop at the concrete fortifications of the Siegfried Line, a visit with some witches in the wetlands of the Eifel Nature Park and, finally, a return to Eupen through the stark beauty of the Hautes-Fagnes National Park. It was quite a day.
Heading east towards the German border, I arrived in pretty Raeren. A small village with an outsized history, in the 16th and 17th centuries Raeren was famous across Europe for its stoneware pottery. A reddish brown colour, it can still be found in museums today. It has bequeathed Raeren with some grand buildings, including the 14th century castle, now a pottery museum, the moated Haus Raeren and St. Nikolaus Church.
A very steep uphill brought me to the Vennbahn and the disused Raeren railway station. Built in 1885, and once a busy passenger and freight stop, today it is a cafe-bar that caters mostly to cyclists. I’d hoped for a coffee in an old rail carriage but it was closed. The Vennbahn loops around through dense forest and into Germany. It is both beautiful and peaceful, just the breeze, birdsong and an occasional cyclist.
I passed through the small German towns of Roetgen and Lammersdorf, all while remaining in Belgium. As befits a border area as complicated as this, near Lammersdorf there is a segment of the Siegfried Line, or the Westwall as it was known in Germany. A system of pillboxes and tank traps built along the German border in the 1930s, it was a huge barrier to Allied forces in 1944.
I came across more remnants of the Westwall passing through the Oberes Kalltal nature reserve. This was a huge engineering project that must have used immense volumes of concrete. It sits in the beautiful countryside of the fens, an area with many legends and myths. In the Middle Ages amidst these rolling hills and woodlands it was rumoured that there were witches.
I cycled past the Hexenplatz, or Witches Square, with some sculptures of witches, broomsticks, cats and rats to mark the spot where once it was rumoured witches would gather. Crossing back into Belgium, I was soon cycling through the glorious Hautes-Fagnes. This high plateau of wetlands, heath and woods is a continuation of the Eifel Nature Park in Germany. It has an austere beauty.
The route is incredibly hilly, but completely car free. After leaving the plateau it plunged through thick forest all the way to Lake Eupen, actually a reservoir, into which the River Vesdre flows. I cycled around the lake and over the Vesdre Dam before – and not before time – taking a long downhill back to Eupen. I have never been happier to see a cycle friendly cafe or to order a refreshing Eupener Bier.
