July 3, 2015
An der Loreley to Moselkern
Riding the Mosel at last!
I've wanted to ride the Mosel Radweg since I first read about it. Thing is, most accounts I've read included rain, which I think I'd actually prefer to the excessive heat we've had for the past several days. Every day the high has been over 35°C! Not normal for this area and challenging for us.
Our hotel,last night was one of the most expensive we've stayed in at 95€ but the breakfast was the very best. There were actual croissants and fresh squeezed orange juice, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, bacon, along with the usual assortment of fresh brotchen, jams, cold meats, cheeses, muesli, yogurt, and fresh fruit. We stuffed ourselves as well as we could in the heat and each took away a brotchen with cheese, meat, cucumber, and peppers.
Another beautiful ride along the Rhine with castles on both sides. Burg Katz across from St Goar was soon followed by Burg Maus, also across the river from us. I have to wonder about this names; something to Google when I'm surfing. Not here, the wifi (and even cellular data) is far too slow when it exists.
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We had lunch in a park in Koblenz, under one of a majestic line of huge plane trees. While we ate, the bells of a church across the river bonged for more than 10 minutes without stopping, from 11:45 until almost noon. The volume lessened a bit, like the bell ringer was getting tired, towards the end. Are these bells still rung by someone pulling a rope? I wouldn't think so, but ... Then the bells rang again for noon, this time from several churches. Another thing to research: why church bells are rung. It's not just to announce the hours. The Rothenburg watchman said the bells were rung at the end of the day to warn residents to return inside the city walls before the gates were closed, but that's only one historical and no longer valid reason.
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We stopped to take the requisite photos at Deutsches Eck, the confluence of the Mosel and the Rhine, but it was in full sun and too hot to hang around. In fact, there was nobody there! Shortly after noon on a Friday in July! All the tourists were hiding in the shade with cold drinks or ice cream, except for the few brave cyclists riding to catch a breeze.
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We worked our way out of Koblenz, crossing the Mosel at Güls as strongly directed by signs in 3 languages. After finally escaping town, we found ourselves riding on a paved track through vineyards, with vines on terraces up the steep hillside on our right. To the left, a few more vines, then the railway, highway, and the river. It wasn't flat, but the hills were minor. Winningen looked like a lovely and interesting town but it wasn't time to stop. We did stop in Gondorf for a cold drink and discussed which side of the river to continue on. It turned out to be moot, because we didn't see any indication of a way to cross the river until we got to Löf, where we were going to cross back. We wanted to be on the left bank (north side in this area) because we want to visit a castle and Burg Eltz had been recommended to us by one of the faculty way back in Biberach. We continued on to Moselkern, the closest village on the route to Berg Eltz and also one whose name is enclosed in a red border on our map
The village turned out to be not so scenic as far as we were concerned. It's so small there isn't even a platz! There is, however, plenty of accommodation and tonight we are in Gästehaus Grolig. It's the weekend so the proprietors want us to commit to two nights. That's fine because we wanted to hike up to Burg Eltz tomorrow and we won't want to get on our bikes in these temperatures after that. 22€ per person per night, including breakfast.
Dinner in a hotel closer to the river, but still across the highway from it. We didn't see the outdoor seating at first, but it was cooler inside than out. My third salatteller dinner in a row: all different and all very good. I couldn't eat all of this one, but with it I had first a glass of dry local Riesling and then a secon glass of semi-dry red Spätbergunder. That's 14 oz of wine. No wonder I felt it walking the 500 m back to the gasthaus.
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 752 km (467 miles)
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