Maastricht to Valkenburg

Mum, and later dad, rang and we talked for a while. I didn't finally set off until 11 am. It was a hot day and Nicoles house is only a few hundred metres from the start of the bike routes I want to follow. The route very nice, it almost immediately turns into a gravel road and it also immediately starts climbing! Within only a couple of kilometres I had done not only my longest climb but my steepest. I had been riding along in the middle chain ring but I eventually conceded defeat and dropped to the granny ring even though it was only 5%. I am just not used to it yet. However, this turned out to be fortunate because just around the bend it swung up to 11%!!! Albeit, not for long.

I followed the route I had planned and in no time had made it to Valkenburg. The Amstel Gold race finishes here which is why I had wanted to come this way. There is a famous climb at the end called the Cauburg and I had wanted to see it. The town of Valkenburg is really pretty. And this was why, after not very much deliberation at all, I decided to stay here. I also decided to splurge and get a room for the night so that I could be in town. Very nice, right on the main street.


I knew from Nicole that there was a cave system here (Grotto's) and from Tourist Info I knew where the Cauburg was too. There is a castle visible from my room so I went there first, and, as it turns out there is a grotto there too. I found out that the next tour was 10 minutes and that it was 12 C, so I rushed back to the room and got my Polar Tech, and then did the tour. It is quite interesting. Not to mention cold, you can see your breath. There is an elaborate cave system that was developed from about 1050, when the first castle was built, until about 1850, presumably when bricks became popular. The guide spoke almost entirely in Dutch but there was an English cue sheet, so by and large it was a good tour. There are a lot of charcoal drawings on the walls, these were developed in the 19th century, I think, to make the caves more interesting to tourists. There is also a church that was built during the French revolution by now priests who refused to swear an oath to the republic. The caves were also used during WW2 (and presumably WW1) to hide people and protect them from bombings. There are many charcoal signatures there from American troops at the end of WW2.

At one point the guide, Peter I think, turned off the lights so that we could see just how complete the dark is. It is truly pitch black. He then got us to all stand in a line against the left wall and try to walk together towards the light which was about 30 metres away, and covered. It was quite difficult. To highlight the disorientation he shined a light down a short tunnel at the end of the tour and said that is where we started, only 15 metres, we had no idea.


Then it was back into the light and the heat. We had come out of the tunnels through an old escape route from the castle and were now in the castle grounds. It's about 30 C by the by. The castle was destroyed by the Dutch in the 17th century when it looked like the French might be able to capture it, and the Dutch didn't want them to have it. The castle is, was, the only castle in Holland built on a hill! Over the last century various restorations and archeological digs have been performed which sees the castle in its current, still ruined, but reinforced state. It is quite interesting and I guess would have been fairly impressive in its time. There is also an exhibition of models of how the castle looked over time from the 11th century through to the 17th.


After lunch, of a hamburger special (it was special alright, there was no bun!) I went for a walk up the Cauburg. It looks very steep walking it, apparently only 12%. Several cyclists rode by as I walked up and as I walked down several locals were walking their bikes up!

It was a bit hot so I went for another walk get some food for tomorrow and then I went back to my room to relax. To my delight Eurosport was running the team presentations for the Tour, and they had just started. This went until 8.30, quite intersting to see who is present in which teams. The only annoying bit was tha the presentations were in French but of course it was on a Dutch channel, so these two really annoying presenters kept talking over the top.

Time for dinner. I'd picked out a pizza place earlier and I haven't had a pizza for a while. So I ended up having a schnitzel instead, no reason, just felt like it. It was quite nice although the sauce was a bit strange.