Friday, July 11th 2014 - Day 9
Trier to Andel
72.9 km , 368.4 km so far
elevation gains: 352 meters
Track for the day:
Overcast in morning, sunny in the afternoon,
temp from 18 to 29 Celsius
(The text is by Erika with pictures and captions or commentary in italics added by Marvin)
Staying at a hostel means you are the one who strips your bed in the morning and the breakfast is a simpler version of the usual German breakfast. Neither presented a problem for us. I wish I could say we were soon on our way but we both seem to enjoy taking our time in the morning. At about 10:00 am we were loaded up and off to see the town.
The draw today inTrier was to get a look at the Dom (cathedral) and the adjoining Frauen Kirche (church of our lady). The Frauen Kirche was quite beautiful but it was the majesty of the dom that really took your breath away. It is hard to image how the exactness and detail evident throughout the church could have been achieved almost a thousand years ago. Each of the small chapels was dominated by amazing stone carvings depicting various biblical or spiritual scenes. The detail and intricacy that had been carved into stone made me want to try to note every detail. However, the reality of bike touring is that you take turn seeing some of the sights so I was mindful of Marvin being outside watching the bikes waiting for his turn.
The dom claims to have in possession the robe of Christ that the Roman soldiers are said to have drawn lots for. The organ is also an impressive instrument and I would have loved to hear it played. Sections of the crypt below the church are also open to viewing. All in all, a very impressive building well worth the time to look around.
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| I went into the dom after Erika came out to watch the bikes and I took a lot of pictures and some video with the flash turned off and the "stealth" or quiet setting. I won't try to describe everything, just think about how old all this stuff is and it is pretty impressive. Whether you are religious or not, the art and workmanship that has been preserved is astounding. |
We then cycled once more through the Porta Nigra and commenced our search for the Moselle Radweg. We first decided we would take the trail on the left side of the river. The first little town we came to, Pfalzel, was initially very quaint. Full of beam houses , old stone building, a cloister and old battlements.
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| As we started to pass the southern end of Pfalzel, this walled area was so intriguing that we left the trail to go into town and search around some. |
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| This was the last of the pictures for a while as we entered an industrialized section shortly after |
From there we cycled on. Unfortunately, the rest of the way to Schweich went through industrial areas. We could see from the BikeLine book that after Schweich the path followed the highway on the left side. We therefore decided to cross over the small bridge and cycle the right side of the Mosel. Boy, were we glad we did.
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A little before Schweich we found another nice section and this became our bench of the day. With lovely swans to look at
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| By the time we reached this marina at the southern end of Schweich, we had decided we had better find our way across the river to avoid being stuck next to a highway for a long time. It was a bit tricky finding our way down to the right bank of the Mosel after we crossed, but it sure was worth it. |
Now as we cycled along the winding Mosel we were treated to one breath taking vista after another. We quickly ran out of superlatives and just kept saying WOW! We are in awe of the beauty of this valley and of the people who farm it. Just as in Alberta you would see vast plains of wheat; here we saw vast slopes of grape vines. The mountain are very steep coming out of many sections of the Mosel but some how, for centuries, the vintners have managed to care for and develop their vineyards. We even saw one section where the only way to access the vineyard was by boat! The area is full of beautiful gasthouses that provide the accommodation needed by vacationers and people who come for wine tasting. It is evident that the wine industry is what drives the local economy. Whatever the reason, the result is spectacular. This is an area that I recommend anyone who is planning a trip to Germany try to come and visit.
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| St Francis gaurds the way for mariners |
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| An Impressive bridge off in the distance |
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| I took this picture to show how early in the season the grapes still are in the vineyards |
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| We started to realize how common swans are in the wild. Here in Canada we see a few of them in parks, mostly in the cities, but in the Mosel valley they are a common wild bird like geese are here. |
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| This town across the water just seemed particularly picturesque |
Next we passed through a lovely town that had some unusual gardens and other interesting things:
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| An old wine press turned into garden decoration |
More of the gorgeous scenery, particularly vineyards, that we passed through during this "Middle Mosel" part of the trip
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| We kept referring to these as "mountainsides" but really they are valley sides. There are just vast vast acres of them |
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| Everything is just SO steep that everything has to be done by hand |
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| Another gorgeous town followed by more vast hillsides of grapes |
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| There are often tracks that a lift of some kind can go up to help get workers up and down the steep slopes |
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| Where the vineyard is more on the level, they are able to take some machinery into them. Here they are spraying with water, I believe, because there didn't seem to be any smell from the spray whatsoever |
We stopped for a late lunch at Neumagen-Dhron. What a delightful town. There was one WOW moment after the other. We chose to stop in the small square by the old church. Next to the church is a stone carving of a Roman boat that was used in this area during roman times. Across the street was a restaurant/ conditori. There we had what was their specialty. A flat dough covered with what seemed to be cream cheese, bacon bits and grated cheese. Very tasty. When we headed back down the road we had a container of left overs for our evening snack.
Leaving Neumagen-Dhron, we were treated to more vineyards and rural vistas
As we continued down the path we were tickled to cycle up to a replica of the Roman style ship cruising down the Mosel. For a while we enjoyed cycling ahead of it so we could stop and take pictures of it sailing by. It really added to the atmosphere of the area and helped us to imagine what it may have looked like 2000 years ago.
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| Omigosh! What's that? We said when we spotted the replica boat |
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| We could easily keep up and pass it so as to take more pictures since it was also going down river |
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| So this was the bench of the day, and what a bench of the day it was! Not only the replica boat to look at, but swimmers swimming by going upstream. More ambitious than me :) |
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| Passing some interesting towers amongst the vineyards. Also note the inlaid brick pathway we had at this point |
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| So here is the small vineyard that could only be reached by boat that Erika referred to earlier |
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| In this picture you can see how isolated it is |
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| Another charming little town. Here is a vineyard worker coming home from the vineyards |
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| Erika is checking out house prices :) |
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| Looks like a patch of squash. We saw a lot of different crops while cycling. |
I could never stop taking pictures, it seems. Each town was just so lovely and somehow unique.
Gasthaus Rosi sits right on the Mosel Radweg two kilometres before Bernkastel-Kues in the little town of Andel. When we got there we could just walk up the drive to our previously booked room. Again we were greeted by lovely people. Gasthaus Rosi is also a place we identified through the Bett und Bike book. It has been a great resource for bike friendly accommodation. It has also made it possible for us to call ahead to less expensive gasthauses early in the day when we have a good idea of how far we will be cycling.
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| Our gasthaus for the night hove into sight. |
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| There was time after settling in to cycle 2 km to a grocery store and bakery to pick up some sweets. Our host also had a big cherry tree that was loaded with really good cherries and he was happy to have me pick as many as I wanted |
Tomorrow the goal is to get close to Cochem! Today we did 69 km. my longest cycle so far!
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