Distance: 52.42 kilometres
Time: 2 hours 52 minutes
Speed: 18.2 km/h
Ascent: 184 metres
Total distance: 206 kilometres
Total time: 12 hours 2 minutes
Word of the day: Weinbergslandschaftslinienführung: The contouring of the lines of a vineyard landscape.
The Captain writes:
In Trier we stayed in an American chain hotel, which was perfectly comfortable but lacking in a certain charm when compared with those we’ve already frequented on this trip. It did have the virtue of being right in the centre of the old town, so after bathing we ventured into HauptMarkt, Trier’s central square which was ringed by colourful (and occasionally somewhat eccentric) mediaeval architecture. Lovely, though.
Trierer Dom was spectacular too…
After a couple of Aperol Spritzes nearby we headed to a Wirthaus to sample some traditional German fare. Schnitzel for the Stoker, Meatballs with Curry Sauce for the Captain, and a side order of inquisitive wasps which took a great interest in our food. It was good though! And so to bed.
Trier is the largest city we’ve encountered on our journey so far, which means, inevitably, that leaving it takes some time and some navigational effort in the morning. I’d sort of expected a quick descent to the banks of the Mosel and then a simple exit along the cycle path. That was somewhat optimistic! That’s not to say that the roads and cycle paths were anything other than safe and sheltered from traffic – it was all entirely comfortable, but the routing was intricate and the surroundings suburban. Early in the proceedings, before the dull suburban bits, we cycled past these gorgeous red sandstone cliffs.
It took almost an hour, then, until we finally joined the river bank cycle path at Schweich. Today being Saturday, the cycle paths were mobbed, but everyone was genial and shared the path happily. The vast majority of bikes were electric, interestingly, but I have no objections to this – whatever gets people out into the open air is fine.
The scenery was spectacular. Steep sinuous valley sides carpeted by vines descending to a wide unspoiled river. The river, too, was busy – the usual huge barges passed by, but there were also enormous river cruise ships, water skiers and pleasure boats.
We unpacked the drone from the pannier and tried to capture some of the splendour of our surroundings.
As midday approached the temperature rose. We seem to be heading inexorably towards another heatwave. A Schwitzokalypse (sweat apocalypse), if you will! “Bei dieser Schwitzokalypse hilft nicht einmal ein Biergarten!” (In this Sweatpocalypse, not even a beer garden can save you!). We did search for a Biergarten, though, and stopped off for a grape juice for the Stoker) and a Weizenbier (wheat beer, delicious!) for the Captain.
Towards the end of today’s cycling we cycled around a couple of sizeable meanders, the second of which brought us to the town of Piesport. The name of this small and rather charming wine town will be familiar to anyone who lived through the 1970s, as in those years the UK imported huge quantities of Piesporter wine. Typically it ranges from dry to off-dry, although my recollection of it, which may of course be affected by the mists of time, was that it was quite sweet.
The next meander brought us to our destination, Wintrich. The Stoker has already related that it was here, on a motorhome trip in March, that we came up with the idea for this trip. The contrast between the state of the vines in March and now in July is marked:
It’s lovely to be back, and we’ve found a very good hotel restaurant for tonight. Tomorrow we have a shorter day in prospect, to the town of Traben-Trarbach.
Here’s today’s route:
…and a short video