Day 16: Ediger to Koblenz, Germany: Steamy Day on the River

August 6, 2015

Yesterday we characterized the Camping at Ediger as having important elements of Grampie Heaven: covered table and power. Now we have to add that it also has two elements of Grampie Hell: noise and smoke.

About smoke: the outside tables of the restaurant occupy the passageway that leads to the washrooms. This is where chain smokers install themselves, creating a gauntlet of pollution for any Grampie that wants to pass.

About noise, we ran into three varieties that we had put out of mind since last year in Germany. Type one is low murmured conversation in the next tent. It's ok for a while, but this variety goes on for hours. what do they have to talk about for so long??

Variety two is hooting and hollering from the restaurant, which serves only beer after 8. That noise runs to 1 a.m.

Variety three is giggling which is akin to murmuring, but louder, and lasts as long. In our case giggling was the tent to the left, murmuring was to the right, and hooting was behind. Only the river in front was quiet. Hopefully any noise makers there already drowned!

We did use the heaven components well this morning, sitting at a real table to cook breakfast and hanging our dewey tent under the shlter to dry it a bit. We set out early, becasue we wanted to be sure to reach Koblenz. There was a slight side benfit to this, as it was actually cool in the morning. By afternoon that story changed dramatically.

From Ediger all the way to Koblenz, the character of the path changed. It was still mostly smooth and mostly well marked, and in no place ws it on road. However it was all "beside road". Unlike riding a road with a shoulder, "beside road" here means a very clear separation of the bikeway from the cars. Still, they are noisily there beside you all the time, and you have to watch for them at certain intersections or where the bikeway changes sides or goes over a bridge.

The attractiveness of the route also declined a bit in this section. The towns were still attractive, but not quite as much. And the vines were very much in evidence, but in spots not so much.

Cochem, of course, can never fail to please, with its majestic castle on the hill above town, and fun, beautiful if touristy buildings down below. We were especially waiting for Cochem because our home made breakfast was pathetic compared to the German standard. So a bakery, for sweet buns and also for lunch sandwiches was high on our search list.

We found a good bakery, naturally, and there I began to form a theory. The sandwiches that we find in German bakeries in the morning are clearly a compact rendering of what you find in the guesthouse for breakfast. Still they look like lunch to us. But in my theory there is also a lunch sandwich. This features not cold cuts and cheese but a hefty hunk of some real meat. So far I have seen pork roast, chicken, and today, frikadele. Frikidele is German hamburger - a long flat patty pan fried. For a sandwich it is cut in half, and the slices can be accompanied by mayo, tomato, and lettuce. Great!

The towns are still beautiful after /ediger, but...

Part of the tourist strip along the river at Cochem

An old gate at Cochem. There does not seem to be much of an explicit "old town" though.

We stopped to eat our sandwiches at a bench by a roadside chapel, and at the same time pulled out the tablet. That's where we learned about the passing of "Walter" the dog of Jeff and Kristin Arnim, who has been travelling across the US with them. This is documented in the blog Travels With Walter.. Jeff has written a very poignant entry for Walter. Dodie cried, for she has been following the story all along, and we spent much more time than usual, absorbing the news.

In the afternoon the temperature climbed steadily, until finally out in the sun, on the path, it exceeded 50 Celsius. That's over 120 F! (When I have reported high temperatures on mu bike computer in the past, some people have check the Weather Network, found lower numbers, and written to say they think my numbers are off. The thing is, my bike computer is doing its work out on the path, in the sun, over the pavement. Other measures may be in the shade, or at least not on the pavement. But guess what, out in the sun, on the pavement happens to be exactly where we do our cycling!) So I repeat, >120F!

After cochem, things deteriorate a bit. Pommern, for example, is dull and ugly.

We can see that villages (presumably in Summeer only) sprout extensive encampments of vacation trailers. These go beyond a "campground" and can seem to occupy as much space as the village in the first place.

Here is the true village part of the above trailer camp.

Burg Thurant, on a hill above the river. If It's up a big hill, we may never find out what it is all about!

Look carefully. This shot is taken looking down along the vines to the railway tracks below. This vineyard is steep!

At Kobkenz, a horde of people in identical tee shirts and bikes. A giant tour group?

We ran out of water as we reached Koblenz, but still headed straight for the Deutches Eck. This is the famous corner where the Mosel meets the Rhine. It is the traditional spot for people who have cycled the Mosel to take a selfie and congratulate themselves. Being low tech, we merely got another cycling couple to shoot our shot, and of course we did the same for them.

There is a major festival being prepared at the Eck, so it was clogged with trucks and equipment. No matter, we beetled on in to town to find the tourist information, since we had determined that a hotel was in the cards. No doubt the determination was based on the heat and the distance travelled, but we were also one day out from our last German breakfast and probably our systems are telling us that we need another to keep up our strength (or weight) or both.

As we headed along the Rhine, preparing to turn into the town, we ran into that German couple with the good equipment, old panniers, and the interest in our DaBrim shades. They are Wilfred and Eva, and had jsut come from the camping. Because of the festival they reporting the camping demanded that anyone stay a minimum of three days. So Wilfred and Eva decided to beat it out of this busy town and head 22 km upriver on the Rhine to camping at Boppard. 22 km in the heat and at 5 p.m. would have just about killed us. So we bade this tough team good luck, and sleazed on in to the tourist information.

As might be expected, every hotel room in the town was full, except for one at 114 euros, and ours, a perfectly usable room for 79 euros. It's still costly for a postage stamp space, but in the heat and at this hour, we would actally have gone higher. Best of all, there is an Eis Cafe next door. Our suppeer was one banana split and one Nuss Becher. Becher means bowl, and Dodie asked for it as a "becker". The waitress could not understand this, and after puzzling for a while, realized Dodie wanted a "besher", as she pronounced it. Ok fine. But really, in an ice cream store what would the customer be asking for? a Bus ticket?

Tomorrow, Up the Rhine (but not before that included breakfast!).

The Grampies have reached the Rhine, again!

Equipment clogging up the scene at Deutches Eck

Saturn is a major electronics retailer, and tis was a big shopping centre. Overall Koblenz seems like Vancouver - modern, little Altstadt remaining.

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 832 km (517 miles)

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