Wintrich to Zell - How I Saved My Marriage - CycleBlaze

Wintrich to Zell - How I Saved My Marriage - CycleBlaze

From How I Saved My Marriage

By Mark Bingham

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July 9, 2024

Wintrich to Zell

Back on the road this morning. The valley opened up more than it had been.

If you can believe it, I actually didn't see this when I passed it. Heather told me I needed to turn around: "You won't be sorry," she said, and I wasn't. Understandably, I had been looking at the tent on the opposite side of the path where they were selling coffee and croissants.

As I think about this, if there had been a hay bale in the middle of the path, that could've been me because of my inattention. But, you know... coffee and croissants.

Bernkastel-Kues on the other side of the river, another picturesque village.

A castle!

And another! This one is so old and almost gone that I couldn't find any references to it.

a sundial on the mountain

Heather noticed this wine vending machine. There were even some nice wines, and all of them the standard 750 mL bottles. Cigarette vending machines?? Wine vending machines?? It's a teenager's dream.

We stopped at a bakery in Zeltingen-Rachtig for a pastry and a coffee (Heather) hot chocolate (Mark).

It's hard to see the perspective, but this bridge is massive.

This is at the entrance to someone's driveway.

And this is right next door.

Again, it's hard to illustrate how steep some of the rows are.

And they use every nook and cranny of the mountainside.

We stopped at an Asian place in Trarbach for lunch.

On the way out of town we asked these guys at the bike shop if they could take a look at Heather's brakes to see why they're squealing (disc brakes). They put in on the rack and worked on it for about five minutes and voilá! Fixed! For about an hour, then it was back to squealing.

We saw a number of these funiculars today. Just climb in and pull whatever you need behind you.

One thing I noticed, and have been wondering about, is the direction of the rows. In California and other places the rows are typically terraced horizontally, but here the rows are vertical. I don't know why the difference, but I suspect it has something to do with the amount of rainfall, and how fast you want it to drain away.

There was a slight glitch in the routing (human error on the tour guide's part) and we ended up climbing some very steep inclines. However, our new route took us through the town, which we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. Plus, we got to go downhill later. :-)

This is one of the "unpaved" sections on the map. Interesting, since what we're riding on are called "pavers."

My Garmin started trying to get me to do a U-turn all afternoon. We just followed Heather's GPS, but even so it was really annoying hearing it chirp at me every few minutes.

almost there

Zell is known for its Black Cat riesling, so the city put up this goofy-looking statue. Until I knew what it was, I thought it was a raccoon or something else. I think the locals are a little embarrassed about it.

After a few stops and starts because of construction on the bike path, we finally made it to our hotel, Wohlgemuth Heim. We'll spend two nights here because tomorrow is a rest day. Our room is on the top floor (with the open windows) and it was somewhat hot by the time we arrived (88F). No air conditioning, but there were fans, and it wasn't uncomfortable.

The other side of the hotel. Ours is still the top room.

We waited until it cooled down a bit, then got a recommendation for a nearby restaurant since we didn't want to ride back into Zell. The Zum Eichamt restaurant served up the best meal we've had since Luxembourg City.

I always get dessert, and almost always order something chocolate. When they ask Heather what she wants, she always orders "a spoon" (or a fork, depending on what I order). We walked back to our room, washed some clothes, then spent the rest of the evening reading.

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Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 119 miles (192 km)

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