Yesterday was a day of heavy rain at times. It is truly hard to enjoy the view when you are trying to just get through it. Happily, today the sun is shining and it looks to be a good day. Looking forward to continuing our exploration of this world class cycling route.
Love seeing bushes of calla lilies in bloom…so beautiful.
Our hotel, Alte Burgermeisterei is a very old building with much character and charm…a winding staircase, lovely old tiled floors, high ceilings and the transom over the door.
Another characteristic of this old building is the size of the room which is small. The bed with a canopy may look charming, but its height was at a perfect level for Barry to bang his forehead, getting in or out of bed.
Having ridden on several of the major rivers of Europe, we often stop to look at the flooding levels that are marked on the side of buildings with the year it happened. Photos like this really make it real. Consider that this shows one floor of the building being underwater and that Mary Ellen (in the previous photo) would be standing in water.
Another aspect of life along the Moselle that the above photo shows is that villages are concentrated in a small area between the river and the vineyards behind.
Breakfast by the Moselle River….We are finding that this trip which seems to be defined by following rivers is very satisfying. Perhaps, we are drawn to the peaceful quality of living by the water as we live on a small island in Canada.
We could hear the helicopters before we saw them…today they are spraying the vines with pesticides. Not a favourite time for us but fascinating to watch the nimble expertise of the pilot navigating such steep terrain.
We are seeing so many ducks with their newly born ducklings along the river. Swans are not far behind. It is fascinating to us that their nest is right by the trail. The male is always close by ensuring that she is safe, so we stay on the trail as far away as we can.
The Zell is the second largest wine growing centre in the Moselle Wine region. It is predominately Riesling that is grown here. We can attest to the quality of the Riesling here as we enjoyed a glass earlier.
Set atop the cliffs of the Moselle is this Marienburg Castle which has been here since 1146. It was a convent for Augustinian Sisters for 400 years. In 1650 it was destroyed by the French army and rebuilt in the Baroque period. You can appreciate that the view would be glorious from its vantage point.
Working these vineyards on steep terrain is not for the faint of heart. We see vintners walking and working the vines by hand as well as this fellow navigating with a tractor.
We have featured a photo of this “vehicle” before. It still makes us stop in wonder when we watch it traverse the single track straight up or down in the vineyard transporting a worker and grapes.
It has been a lovely day. We arrived at our next stop, Erden in good time. Landhauskiebel is where we will stay tonight, the grounds are beautiful. Clearly the owner is an avid gardener.
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles) Total: 307 km (191 miles)
