29 April 2023
Twelve members of the Ad Pacem association met in the middle of the morning on Saturday 29 April 2023 on the car park of the railway station in Bettembourg (L) for a bike ride. After a rainy and cold start to the spring, this bike ride provided hours of fresh air from the meadows and fields.
Energy dependency
The association supports cycling, also in view of the current wars, which are often wars for the control of oil and gas fields or for the dependence of entire populations who do not have them.
Oil and gas energies are powerful levers of power in the hands of certain belligerent states, as is the case of Russia, which has long been a major supplier of these energies to Europe and the Ukraine.
It is true that cycling is only partly a way out of these energy dependencies. But it symbolises the ecological transition to renewable and healthy energy sources for humans.
Dead miners for the development of the country
After passing through Dudelange-Burange and Budersberg, Kayl, Tétange and Rumelange with its Mining Museum, the group took a lunch break at the place called “Léiffrächen”, at the foot of the National Miners’ Monument which commemorates the very many people who died in the mines of Luxembourg from the second half of the 18th century until the 1950s. It should be remembered that several young people between 13 and 15 years of age were among the victims of dangerous work in the mines.
The tour continued with the descent to the Ellergrond, a nature reserve near the French border, to Esch-sur-Alzette. The group then took the new footbridge of the cycle path that leads to the heart of the Belval site. After a short break, the group continued towards Lallange, Schifflange, Huncherange to arrive at the car park of the station of Bettembourg, terminus of the tour, around 4 pm.
Cycle paths without cyclists
With this cycling day, the association reminds all political leaders that cycling must be politically encouraged among the population. During the whole day, the participants hardly met any other cycling fans on the cycle paths, which were all in perfect condition.
