Tuesday July 2nd - very sunny and warm, 12°C to 26ºC
Looking back to Traben-Trarbech
Trolleys up steep vineyards
Steer clear of the bike train
Coffee and Samsung time
Swans and cygnets on the Moselle
River Crusies
Scrap metal barges
Coal barges
Yum - a nut break
Two love ducks hiding in the grass
A mile of campers on the Moselle
Roses and old houses
95k but so much easier today and we arrive at 4pm in time for a beer and the last hour of the Tour de France. With the wind on flat smooth cycle paths. More wineries on steep sided hills, forests on the opposite hill sides churches, river cruise barges, coal barges, scrap metal barges, pretty villages and castles on hilltops. A real mix today that started cool and finished very warm with a cold beer at the end.
A lazy sleep in as breakfast isn't til 8am, so time to pack and sort our stuff before walking next door to the breakfast room where breakfast is laid out in a very nice buffet of meats, cheeses, cereals, breads and jams. And eggs - scrambled or boiled. After collecting our bikes from the shed and loading up, we're off. The Moselle Cycle Trip Notes tells me it's 92k from Traben-Trarbech to Kobern-Gondorf - most villages have double names as they come in pairs - one is on one side of the Moselle River and the other on the opposite side or around the corner of the river loop.
The Moselle is like a mill pond as we cross the old bridge and join the cycle path. And so do thousands of other cyclists. There's guided tours, couples, day trippers, campers and river cruise cyclists and everyone has hit the cycle path at 9am. It's bedlam and German cyclists are less friendly than the French, they seem to want to hold their line, like two Indian buses heading for each other on a narrow road and they keep coming at you until one gives in at the last moment - and it's usually us.
Coffee time by the river - any place is a good place to stop - pick your castle or village. There's many swans on the river and we spot one pair with their baby cygnets - all fluffy and grey. There's also ducks, who seem to think they can hide in the grass. And so many barges. We play tag with the Princess Juliana and her load of tourists wining and dining on the deck. Other than river cruises, there's scrap metal barges and coal barges - headed near Remich further up the Moselle where we started and where we saw a huge scrap metal yard where the stuff is probably melted down in furnaces.
Another coffee break with no coffee, just a handful of nuts and lots of water - the day is warming up. There's more castles appearing now on the hill tops - some in ruins, some still almost pristine and fairytale like. I'm still looking for more maps. Tomorrow we'l be on the Rhine, but we might have to wait until Koblenz, the junction of the Moselle and Rhine.
Lunch is near Cochem, with a view up to a castle overlooking the town. Our butter has runny, the cheese melted and the block of ham is like boot leather - now I know why it's mostly sold as paper thin wafer slices. But we're starved so it's not too bad with a slice of tomato and we're relaxed as it's been an easy 60k so far and there's only (I hope) 32k to go. After Cochem, the cycle path follows the busy highway, and with teh wind behind us, we sail along at 26kph and make good time. It's quite warm, and being ahead of time, we stop for a tea break just 10k short of our destination.
On the road again and after 30 minutes, we're into Kobern-Gondorf. A missed turn adds 2k to the day and we arrive at our Hotel-Weinhaus Heinrich Haupt, near Marktstraße, Kobern-Gondorf right on 4pm with the meter showing 95k. That would have been 93k without the missed turn, so 1k over prediction is the best so far. Our host speaks English, that's good, but a beer in the beer garden is a must before rushing upstairs to see the last 30 minutes of the Team time trial of the Tour de France, just in time to see the Australian Team Orica Green Edge win by 1 second.
A restful afternoon. Time to wash, blog and doze before dinner. And what a superb dinner. Pork roast, Wiener Schnitzel and french fries with salad. There's so much food, after eating all the French Fries, we save the rest in a doggie bag for lunch. Internet is intermittent and a bit annoying. We are spoilt with all this technologoy on a simple biking trip.
Just checking for more maps
Castles, cruises, churches
Castles and vineyards
Picturesque Moselle cycle path
Lunch stop Cochem
View from lunch at Cochem
Every vineyard has a name
Cycle path beside busy highway
How pretty is that
Bugger the wine, I'm too thirsty
Sorry, couldn't wait