To Trier

August 23, 2021

Five in a row! The streak continues.

We awake this morning, immediately check the weather report, and find once again that the waters have parted on today’s forecast and opened up not two, not four, not six, but a full eight hours of anticipated dryness. It is raining now, yes; but that is expected to pass by the convenient hour of nine. To top it off, it looks like we can expect a modest tailwind to accompany us south.

Obviously we’re biking all the way to Trier today. Over breakfast we cancel our booking in Bitburg and book a second night in Trier. It’s still lightly misting at nine, but a few minutes later it stops completely, and we’re off.

Leaving our hotel in Prüm, not long after the last of this morning’s rains ended.

It looks like the quietest route to Bitburg, which we’ll pass through whether we stay overnight or not, would be to follow the bike paths again. We could follow the Prüm River for six miles on the same route we rode yesterday and then branch off onto a different path that looks like it would carry us most of the way there. That way is thirty miles though, which would give us a sixty mile day.

Instead, after playing with RideWithGPS together last night we sketched out what looks like a reasonably quiet route that is only 18 miles. It has a few miles on the highway and a few unpaved segments, but it looks reasonable enough that we agree to it and then turn to Trier and do the same thing for the second half of the ride. Put together we have a 45 mile route of uncertain but hopefully reasonable quality - a ride that will easily fit through this unexpected eight hour wide doorway.

After a short distance on the highway leading south from Prüm we branch off onto a small lane and immediately start climbing out of the Prüm river valley. It’s not much - four hundred feet in a mile and a half - just enough to wake up the legs. Conditions are very pleasant - dry, cool, just right. The country opens up and views broaden as we climb.

Soon after leaving our hotel we face the only sustained climb of the day as we rise out of the Prüm valley.

It’s always appreciated to find a distraction in the middle of a climb.

The small ridge we’ve just crossed is a divider, separating the Prüm and Nims River valleys. Once on top we start dropping gradually toward the Nims. It’s a lovely route through farm country punctuated by small villages. There is almost no traffic, though we do need to give way for a wide farm vehicle coming our way at one point. These amazing bike paths we’ve been riding make for a safe and smooth ride, but roads like this are really a more interesting and diversified experience.

Over the top. It’s mostly downhill from here as we drop down to and follow the Nims River most of the way to Bitburg.

RideWith GPS alerted us that today’s route included several unpaved segments, but we weren’t really expecting one like this. Fortunately there was a convenient ride-around.

The sky is opening up and we’re getting sun on our beautiful surroundings.

I was first attracted to this farmhouse by its paint scheme and the geraniums, but then noticed the orange clogs. When I focused on them I then saw the symbol for the route to Compostela. Is there another branch of the Way through here?

This is another of those unpaved segments, this one not so easily avoided. At the end of the day we both think we collected bites around our ankles from this stretch.

We reach Bitburg at midday with our eyes open for a place for a midday snack. We find one just as we come to the edge of the pedestrianized zone - a nice looking bakery with a few benches inside. We park the bikes, mask up, and queue up at the door waiting our turn. A few minutes later we come back out with an assortment of treats in our hands and sit down at the table. Just then we hear the tinkling chimes of a glockenspiel. It’s just noon.

We arrived in Bitburg precisely at noon - just in time to appreciate the glockenspiel performance. Note that the gate is open on the drum at the bottom, showing one of the musicians as they rotate around their platform.

The Liebfrauen Church (Church of Our Lady), Bitburg.

In Bitburg: a sculpture portraying the town legend of the Gäßestrepper (goat skin wearers).

From a tourism website:The "Gäßestrepper" refers to an old town legend. Legend has it, that during the Thirty Years War, the Swedish Army had surrounded Bitburg in hopes of starving them to capitulation. The plan however failed. Although the citizens were indeed close to starvation, they managed to do some brain storming. They came up with a brilliant idea to out-wit the Swedes. The children were to dress up (streppen) in goat (Gäße) skins and to dance and prance around the city wall feigning to be goats. Indeed from far away, they looked very much like healthy goats. The Swedes, upon seeing this, assumed that the citizens had more than enough to eat, retreated and hence, Bitburg was saved! Ever since, Bitburg has been called in the local dialect as Beberijer Gäßestrepper, more or less "the wearers of goat-skins".

We bike through Bitburg’s small pedestrian zone as we resume our ride. It’s attractive, and it looks like the town would have been a reasonable overnight if things had worked out otherwise. With magnetic Trier so close by though I doubt that it pulls in too many tourists.

We’ve both misremembered what the ride south of a Bitburg was like and had been thinking there was some substantial climbing ahead. There’s not though, at least along the route we settled on - maybe one of the alternatives we’d been modeling was more challenging and we’ve mixed them up mentally. There is another small divide, this time separating us from the Kyll River’s valley. Going our way the climb doesn’t amount to much though, and on the other side we enjoy about an eight mile descent to the Kyll.

South of Bitburg, traversing east to the Kyll River.

Descending toward the Kyll. A real switchback! We’re not in the Netherlands any more.

Our plan for the final ten miles of the ride were to consider riding the Kyll cycle path into town, or ride the river road that parallels it on the other side of the river. We thought we’d wait until we got to the path and eyed it’s quality before deciding.

When we arrive at Kordel though the decision is made for us. At the trailhead is a discouraging sign, that thanks to Google Translate we can interpret. The trail is closed from here south for the next seven kilometers, presumably to repair it from the aftermath of last month’s catastrophic floods. Three alternatives are cited: a train, a bus, or the road we’d been considering anyway.

The road is fine, at least today. Narrow, winding and completely shoulderless, but there’s very little traffic today and what there is of it is very patient and considerate. Before long we’re entering the outskirts of Trier, looking up at brick red cliffs lining the left bank of the broad, swollen Mosel, with a bright green vineyard drapery climbing up the lower slopes below the cliffs.

On the other bank a huge, colorful great wheel slowly spins. Cruise ships and tour boats ply the water below, and the monuments of the town rise up behind. All this can wait though. We’ve got all day tomorrow to see the city, and three days to follow the Mosel down past its cliffs, vineyards and castles to Koblenz on the Rhine.

After an eight mile descent we reached the Kyll River at Kordel, with the idea to follow its cycle path the rest of the way into Trier. Not this trip though - this stretch is closed until at least October for repairs, presumably cleanup and restoration work after last month’s catastrophic floods.

Evidence of the flood is everywhere - uprooted and broken trees, debris, flattened fields.

Near Kordel stand the ruins of Ramstein Castle, built in the early 14th century but blown up by the French in 1689 in the Nine Years War. Fought in Europe, North America and India, it is sometimes thought of as the first global war. First I’ve heard of it.

Video sound track: Ain’t No Sunshine, by Grover Washington, Jr.

We’re staying in Hotel Aulmann, right at the edge of the historical center. As we bike up, we’re held up by a long parade of bicycles - at least twenty of them, part of an organized city cycling tour from the looks of it - they’ve all got maps on the front of their bikes and are looking up and around them. I imagine a bike would be a reasonable choice for making a loop past the city’s many essential sights, but we’ll be happy to take a day off the saddle tomorrow and explore the sights on foot.

When we check in at the hotel we’re assigned a parking space in the basement garage for the bicycles: 3C. The desk agent gives me a brief explanation of how to handle the bikes, but I don’t quite follow what she’s saying. When we get down to the garage though we finally understand what she was telling me. We face a large cell with spaces 3A and 3B marked on the floor, but with a box diagram listing 3A through 3D painted on the side wall.

We don’t know how to interpret this. Are C and D meant to be room for bikes against the back wall? Are they around the corner on the far side of the back wall? We puzzle over this, look around the garage for another spot with the missing slots, and then I note a toggle switch on the wall and flip it. The floor of spaces 3A and 3B slowly rises, pushed up by a hydraulic lift. Our bikes go down under! We watch anxiously as the floor rises, keeping an eye on the car in 3B to see if we’re going to crush it against the ceiling but there’s just room. We wheel our bikes into their stall, lay them carefully on the floor, and then slowly lower them down for the night. Very interesting.

Our hotel in Trier assigned us parking space 3C in the garage. We puzzled for awhile about where it was, since only 3A and 3B were visible. Then we noted the switch on the wall and figured out that 3C is submerged and needs to be elevated before you can access it. Unique!

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Ride stats today: 46 miles, 1,900’; for the tour: 472 miles, 12,600’

Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 472 miles (760 km)

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Keith KleinHi,
Yet another part of your tour that has family connections for me. One of my great grandfathers came from the region you’ve just ridden through. I’ve not had the opportunity to visit it myself, so with your route in mind I can think about going someday. Grandpa Beuter was the only one of my great grandfathers I ever met. He had a thick German accent, but I never heard him speak German so I can’t comment on the dialect. From your tale of the Gaessstrepper, I conclude that it was different from the dialect I learned which owes more to Alsace. Thanks for showing us (and especially me) that.
Cheers,
Keith
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Keith KleinIt’s quite an interesting region, well worth a visit; and undoubtedly a longer one than it’s getting from us. So far we’re very enthusiastic about our stay in Germany on this summer tour. We obviously should have spent more time here in the past.
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2 years ago

Ben ParkeOur of curiosity, you’re running 20” rear tires. What do you have for a rear derailleur, rear cassette, and front chainrings? At some point I need to sort out my tire size limitations and get that derailleur out of the way so I can put more than a 40-406 in the rear.
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2 years ago

Suzanne GibsonYou're showing us place in Germany that we never heard of or seen. And I have yet to get to Trier.
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2 years ago