Friday 8th August; a ride down the Mosel
Today has been mixed as all these days are. I rode off around 10. It takes a good hour and a half to break camp. My cunning route across 20miles of country to near where the Mosel branches off from the Rhein took me to exactly where I wanted to be, amazingly, and I spent the day riding the road alongside this beautiful river, sometimes crossing over from one side to the other and then back again. I think this is the third trip that I have riden by the side of this lovely river.
After riding through many pretty towns which were heaving with tourists and nowhere obvious to park, I stopped at a so called cafe in a less popular and less pretty town for lunch to be reminded that on the whole German food is not good. I ordered a salad and what came was a mush of prawns in mayonaise with some curry powder thrown in for luck. Eight French arrived by bike, middle aged and rather well off perhaps, and in reply to my greeting one asked whether the food was very good, 'C'est tres bien, n'est pas?'. I had to tell the truth that it wasn't. Then on the bike again. As the Mosel winds down towards Trier it is not as beautiful as further downstream and added to this it started to rain lightly, but enough after an hour or so to feel decidedly wet. I decided to keep to the river all the way to Trier and look for a hotel rather than head for one of the many caravan-dominated sites by the river which looed decidedly uninviting in the rain. To cut a long story short I stumbled on a nice three star place in Trier and seemed to get the last free room with a nearby garage for Bertha to herself after alarming a young man with a motorbike who rents the garage next door by trying that one first.
Once in the room which has a door that is one foot thick, I showered and fell asleep so deeply that when I awoke I had no idea where I was.
I had a walk round this town and found a place to have a pizza and glass of wine and sat outside in a square in the sunny evening.
Service is slow here in Germany so far.
You need to settle down with a good book. My plan is to make a push south tomorrow to find a place from the Cool Camping Guide with a car free tent only area. It’s 180 miles.
Today’s miles: 125 miles average 34.3 mph max 71 mph moving time 3:37 hrs