Up to the castle!

September 25, 2023

Highlights today included riding along the Mosel and the patchwork vineyards, some horizontal and some vertical up and down the steep mountainsides. Today we saw some of the engines that pull the carts that the harvest is placed in as the carts go up the hillsides.

We rode by so many different vineyards today

Some of the vineyards seem to go almost straight up

Bottom left is the train that goes up the hill to collect the picked grapes

We also learned about the walnut trees planted along the river. There was a concerted effort to plant walnut trees along the river to help limit the bird populations because birds are the enemies of a grape crop. Walnuts when they fall on the ground apparently keep other plants from growing and this limits the plants that attract birds. The people of the village gather the walnuts to eat. They don’t climb the trees but pick them up off the ground or throw sticks up into the trees to knock them down.

There were people gathering walnuts under these trees

Another highlight was our stop in Beilstein and our hike up to Burg Metternich. Bilestein is an incredibly preserved medieval village and its ruined castle Metternich sits high above the village.

We stopped for lunch at a historical wine cellar where we tried Federweißer wine. This is wine that had just been pressed and not allowed to age. The wine is from the grapes that are just now being picked. It was very good and fresh tasting.

Zell the home of the Schwartze Katz - Black Cat

Then it was on to Zell where we explored the town and met up with the Zwaan.

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 152 miles (245 km)

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