Tuši's blog: 16515

Germany / Luxembourg / Belgium / Netherlands / France: Holiday to Scotland - Day 2 - Highest Peaks of Benelux Countries

We continued with our summer holiday and driving towards Scotland. Our plan for the second day was to explore the ruins of the Reussenstein Castle and to conquer the highest peaks of Benelux countries.

Off course we also needed to arrive to Dunkirk, to board the ferry to the Great Britain.

Previous day of our trip to Scotland: Day 1 - 16514.

Since we were wild camping, we woke up early.

Reussenstein Castle (Ruine Reußenstein) is ruins of a medieval fortress in Germany. It is situated 760 metres above sea level overlooking Neidlingen.

The castle was built in 1270 as a ministerial castle of the Dukes of Teck in order to watch the only pass into the Swabian Alb from the Neidlingen valley. The knight Diethoh of Kirchheim-Stein was the first known castellan, from approximately 1301. His son sold it to his cousins, Konrad and Heinrich Reuss. The castle was named Reussenstein after this family in 1371.

In the following 50 years, the castle passed through 11 different owners, including the Dukes of Württemberg in 1381. In 1441, the Counts of Helfenstein took possession. The last to live in the castle was Ludwig Helferich of Reussenstein. With the end of the Helfensteins in 1550, the castle became uninhabited and fell into disrepair.

View to the forest, where we spent the night.

Exploring the ruins.

A legend about the origins of the castle was written by Wilhelm Hauff. The legend states that the castle was founded by a giant who had lived in a cave on the opposite side of the valley. In order to arrive at the building site, the giant only had to cross the valley with one large step. However, he did not step far enough and was left with a foot stuck in the marshy valley floor. When he pulled his foot out again, a spring rose from the footprint, which created the Lindach river. Later, the castle was finished, except for one last nail. However, none of the craftsman dared to hammer in this final nail at such a height. There was only one young craftsman from the Neidlingen valley who dared to try. The giant held the young man to the window over the abyss, until he had finished the work. The craftsman was rewarded with riches and with the hand of the master builder's daughter in marriage.

Neidlingen valley was carved by the Lindach river.

After the breakfast we packed our gear and Bronco and continued driving. Direction Luxembourg.

On the road.

We entered Luxembourg over the Our river.

The source of the Our is in the High Fens in southeastern Belgium, near Manderfeld. It flows southwards, more or less along the German-Belgian border, and after Ouren, along the German-Luxembourg border. The Our empties into the Sauer in Wallendorf.

First highest peak of the country today - Kneiff in Luxembourg lies in the middle of the field and it's almost a drive in peak.

Time for pancakes.

Our next peak was Signal de Botrange in Belgium, where it was quite crowded and we had to climb a few steps.

We drove on Vaalserberg.

The Vaalserberg is also the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and so its summit is called the Drielandenpunt ("three country point") in Dutch, Dreiländereck ("three country corner") in German and Trois Frontières ("three borders") or Trois Bornes ("three border stones") in French.