September summary: London, Luxembourg and France

I’m sure that everyone over a certain age will remember what they were doing on September 11th, 25 years ago. Barbara, Amanda and I were preparing to fly to Vancouver for MEI’s Minerals Engineering ’01, which was scheduled to begin on September 16th. The conference was organised in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, and later that fateful day we received a call from our UBC contact, Prof. John Meech (obituary 22 February 2015), advising us that we would have to cancel, as all North American airports had been closed for the foreseeable future.

It was a truly horrendous day, and thankfully there has been nothing remotely comparable in terms of terrorism  and its wider impact. The closest we have come, in terms of the disruption to international air travel, was in 2010, when the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland led to the cancellation of flights across Europe and beyond from April 15th, just three days after the start of Comminution ’10. In contrast to 9/11, however, this was a natural event rather than a human-induced tragedy, and the consequences for us were largely logistical. As all the delegates had already arrived in Cape Town, there was no disruption to the conference itself, although many were stranded for a few days afterwards.

Amanda and Jon obviously devastated to be stranded in Cape Town

In September last year Amanda was in London for the Great River Race, a spectacular boat race covering 21.6 miles (35 km) from Millwall in the East to Richmond in the West, passing under London’s famous bridges over the Thames (posting of 29 September 2026). She was back again last month competing with a crew of normally social (rather than competitive) rowers in their beautiful traditional Cornish gig, Helford. It was a "fun" three and a half hours, said Amanda,  who this year, shared the coxing, giving up her seat as the stroke rower halfway through the race in order to cox the crew to the finish line.

Flying the Cornish flag in London and Luxembourg

As old age continues to gently erode my days as an action man, I’m now content to enjoy adventures vicariously, watching the next two generations take up the baton.

These days, 20 km on my e-bike is about my limit, and I’m increasingly grateful for electric assistance, but tucked away in the memory banks are some very happy years of squash, weightlifting, scuba diving, skiing, windsurfing, rugby and hiking mountains. Looking back, I realise how fortunate I was to have enjoyed so many active adventures  and perhaps even more fortunate now to see the enthusiasm being passed on to other generations. I may no longer be leading from the front, but it’s rather nice to be enjoying the view from behind.

Later in the month Barbara and I caught up with Jon and family in Luxembourg. We are getting to know this beautiful small country well and its neighbouring countries of Belgium, Germany and France.

Last year we crossed the north Luxembourg border into Belgium and visited the small town of Bastogne, a strategic town in WW2's Battle of the Bulge (posting of 29 May 2025).

This September we spent a few hours 30 miles from Bastogne in the Luxembourg town of Clervaux , which played an important role in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

Clervaux

German forces launched their surprise offensive through the Ardennes and attacked Clervaux on 16 December 1944. A small group of U.S. soldiers defended Clervaux Castle against a much larger German force. The Americans held out for roughly two days, delaying the German advance. Most of the defenders were eventually captured or killed, and the town was taken by German forces.

During the fighting, Clervaux Castle, which dates back to the 12th century,  was badly damaged, but it was later carefully restored. It now houses museums and exhibitions that tell the story of Clervaux and its wartime history.

Clervaux Castle, 1945 and 2026

In the town, a GI statue and a preserved Sherman tank provide further reminders of the fierce fighting and of Clervaux’s appreciation for the American soldiers who helped liberate Luxembourg during the Second World War.

On our first visit to Luxembourg we had the bizarre experience of walking down the main shopping precinct at Esch-sur-Alzette with two giant blast furnaces towering over the shops and cafes (posting of 1st February 2023).  Instead of demolishing everything, Luxembourg preserved the furnaces as industrial heritage and last month we ascended the 250 steps up to the charging section of one of the furnaces, which was shut down in 1965. On the way we passed the massive machinery and structures that were involved in producing pig iron.

The tuyeres which introduced the blast of hot air into the furnace 

We crossed Luxembourg's southern border into France to spend a couple of nights in Strasbourg, a beautiful city in north eastern France on the German border. It is one of the main seats of European institutions, including the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights. 

The city is dominated by the enormous Gothic cathedral and photographs do not convey its gigantic and impressive size. Construction began around 1015, with the present Gothic cathedral developing from the 13th century onward and the famous spire completed in 1439.  The spire rises 142 metres and for centuries, it was among the tallest buildings in the world.

Petite France is probably the most picturesque part of Strasbourg. It’s a historic neighborhood on the Grande Île, the island at the heart of the city, and is famous for its canals, half-timbered houses dating from 16th and 17th centuries, bridges and narrow cobbled streets.

While we were in Strasbourg, Amanda was also in France, about 340 miles away in Orléans, where she was representing MEI at the International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium (IBS 2026). We will publish a summary of the conference next week.

Amanda and one of her Helford Rowing Club friends in Orléans, prior to IBS '26

And now we are back in Cornwall. But not for long- in two weeks time we will be on our way to Cape Town for the International Mineral Processing Congress, followed three weeks later by MEI's Process Mineralogy '26 and Critical Minerals '26.

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