Cochem

September 9, 2012

After our typical German breakfast and the perfect German boiled egg we bade a found farewell to Petra and Stefen, it had been a very good place to stay. Ken nearly went off with the key again but was saved by that at the last minute.

It was another perfect day weatherwise as we continued through the vines and along the river. There are huge numbers of people using the area, I expect we are seeing them at their maximum in this weekend of perfect weather. The cyclists fall into a number of groups. Most of them are day cyclists going between wine towns. Most of the cars and camper vans have bikes on the back of them implying that a holiday in this area involves some cycling often their bikes have electric assist (I am jealous). Then there are the cycle tourists of these virtually all are doing the Moselle route only and usually they start at Trier. They tend to be very lightly laden as many of them are on a ‘cycle holiday’ with their main luggage carried from hotel to hotel – they look much more glamorous than us at night as obviously they can carry more clothes. The next group carry their own luggage but are not burdened down by tents and sleeping bags, they have hotel bookings. I spent time talking to a group of English who were doing this, said they had had to book because of the difficulty of getting bookings for a large number of people. Then there was us (and the Frenchman from the camping ground) who are taking the Moselle in as part of a long distance route. We look rather dirty and weather beaten, we wear crash helmets and high viz gear (obviously risk adverse), our bikes are heavily laden and our evening gear is not the most elegant. However unlike the Frenchman we are Clayton’s campers and more often than not pop into somewhere with a comfortable bed. It is a great life.

Camping grounds come thick and fast along the Moselle and look and seem (from our limited experience ) well equipped and ordered. There are HUGE numbers of camper vans most of them enormous and it is fun watching these well set up campers sunning themselves and drinking their coffee in the morning reclining on their comfortable chairs.

This afternoon we reached Cochem a tourist gem. No we didn’t camp (I needed Wifi- good excuse). 2,500,000 people visit it a year and 500,000 have an overnight stay here each year. I think that a good proportion of these people were here today. Despite this it is spectacular.

Today I have been thinking of our good friends Dick and Dianna Hubbard. Tomorrow they set out from LA on the second 80 days of their humongous adventure to ride on a BMW Motorcycle (Dianna on the pillion) from Pudoe Bay in Alaska to Patagonia. Ride safely Dick and Dianna. Have a look at pearlson2wheels.blogspot.com

All set up facing the river and ready for coffee in the sun

The camping grounds have good facilities including bars and restaurants

He was very proud of his mostache and pleased to have it photographed

In the town of Zell there is an lod fable of a black cat judging the quality of the woine (perhaps we could use Lucy), Unfortunately the lovely statue was in the shade so it did not photograph well

I wonder if the cat would have liked this cake

There are wonderful walnut trees all along the valley

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 2,232 km (1,386 miles)

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