Monday July 1st - sunny and warm, 15°C to 25ºC
Washing dangling over the beds
Cycle path One metre from Moselle
Churches with vineyards on the hill
Steep vineyards on hills to Moselle
Steep vineyards are hand pruned
Lunch at one of many picnic tables
More churches, steep vineyards and the Moselle
Ian loves his Samsung Notepad
German villages among vineyards
Moselle, villages and vineyards
Shirt off, sun on arms
The Moselle - so peaceful
103k is more than we wanted to do today. But it was flat, the day was beautiful and the Moselle River just magical. Following the Moselle cycle route is dead easy. You don't need a map or GPS as you just follow the signs or the thousands of other cyclists. A map is handy if you want to take note of the villages along the way, and I couldn't find one anywhere until late in the day, and even then it was just a stylised tourist map but better than nothing.
We're awake at 6.30am with washing dangling over the beds. It's dry and was probably dry when we went to bed except we were too tired to unpeg it and fold it away. It's a good time to Face Time home and we talk to Bonnie and Clancy. Breakfast is a really nice buffet of fruits, meats and cheeses and the cheapest we've had for a while at 7 euro each - $10AUD. It's 9.30am when we pack and leave, and the camping store doesn't open til 10am but since it's a long day of more than 90k we decide to get moving. The Moselle is still and beautiful and the cycle path runs beside it less than one metre from the edge. Today there's thousands of cyclists. There's streams of them zooming past us and they're obviously all over 70. WTF. And then we realise they're all on motorised cycles and probably off the last River Cruise that just docked in Trier.
The Moselle Valley is dotted with villages, church spires and vineyards with a myriad of cycle paths weaving in between. After 20k we reach the village of Schweich. A quick stop at and E-market to buy ham tomatoes and cheese - why change a winning formula. Next we're on the lookout for a camping store to buy a gas cylinder. There's supposed to be at least 6 sports stores here (according to Google), that might have one. But a chat with the local bike shop owner sends us cycling in the wrong direction to a village called Kenn and a camping shop called Berger, to buy our gas can. Yes we got a gas can, but "Not happy Jan" that we added an extra 10k onto an already long day.
The weather is perfect and there's so many cyclists on the path that it's impossible to get lost. I'd hate to be here in mid July. Busy and hot. Early July is just perfect. The cycle path is flat, except for the up and over bridges and highways, and we mostly stick to the Eastern bank path, although we can see cyclists on both sides. The vineyards cover the entire steep sides of the Moselle and for some of the way, the cycle path winds through the lower sections of the vineyards, where agricultural machinery competes with cyclists for the narrow lanes.
By 2.30pm, we're famished and have lunch at one of the hundreds of picnic tables beside the cycle route. Melted butter, bread, cheese, tomatoes and ham. With the warmer weather, this will be the last of our butter luxury. More churches, spires, vineyards and farm machinery. And cyclists everywhere. There's no place to find a quiet ladies bush.
By late afternoon it's time for a cup of tea. But we're running out of water and there's no outside taps. I'm down to my last drop but a cup of tea is refreshing. The last 15k into Traben Trarbech where we have booked a hotel is easy peasy. Just a gentle downhill roll along the Moselle on a dedicated cycling track. It's easy to find our Hotel Trabener Hof that I booked 2 nights ago. Just over the bridge over the Moselle and around the corner. The hosts are very welcoming and speak some English. That's been the biggest problem in Germany compared to France. The locals speak no English and we speak no German, whereas in France, we speak a tinsy bit of French and the locals speak a tinsy bit of English so the communication works. But in Germany, it's hopeless.
The room is nice, the shower great and we wander off down the town to have a beer and Moselle on the River front. But most of the town is dead, so we come back to our own Hotel Trabener Hof to their own restaurant. Big mistake. The hosts are so nice it's a shame the restaurant only serves boutique kinds of meals that are not typically German - I had a Mediterranean salad, Ian had a Beef's Cheek. At least the wine was really nice. Back in the room we book another hotel in the next village for tomorrow night about 90k away. It should be a nice day.