Koblenz – to Winningen and back by bike

Today was another two-cycle-ride day.

The first ride was a short one to the centre of Koblenz to take the dog to the vet for her worm treatment as part of the Pet Passport scheme. It was a nice morning and we got lots of amused looks from people as a dog went past in a basket on the back of a recumbent tricycle.

Poppy was very good at the vet but decided not to want to swallow the bitter pill and in the end managed to persuade the vet to give her a small bowl of duck-flavoured dog food into which was mixed the worming tablet. She ate that up very readily!

We rode back with Poppy still singing occcasionally (she whines and moans, probably through excitement as she loves going on the bike) and she had a few chances to run around loose and paddle in the Rhein.

After we returned, Poppy flaked out on the bed.
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It looked like she would sleep for the rest of the day so we decided to go out on the bikes with Jenny & Peter to travel a bit further afield.

My in-laws haven’t really cycled much in decades and so this Koblenz trip was partly an opportunity for them to get some practice on bikes on the safe and quiet cycle routes. We’ve done a few different rides and so they thought today they might like to go further afield (now we have found a more suitable saddle for my mother-in-law) and so I suggested Winningen down the Mosel, a lovely village that I have been through several times before. It was about eight miles away so that seemed just right.

We set off on the cycle path as usual towards Deutsches Eck.

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We stayed on the north side of the Mosel and headed west, stopping for a good half hour at the lock to watch a huge barge go through it. There was only a metre or so space at either end of the barge in this colossal lock!

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The Germans have conveniently stationed a pedestrian bridge over the lock so you can watch all the goings-on from a decent vantage point. I went up for a look and got chatting to a nun who asked me about my trike, about where I was going etc etc, and we spoke for about five minutes. Eventually she and her companion headed off.

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This pic is looking back at the main lock control tower with James, Jenny and Peter peering over the fence.

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We continued on, this time passing under the Kurt Schumacher Brücke which last time we took to cross the Mosel.

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Within a couple of miles of Koblenz the vineyards started.

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And soon enough we were cycling through vineyards. James tried a grape – he said it was very sharp!

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I am always fascinated by these wonderful miniature funicular railways that go up the steep vineyards.

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We followed our noses alongside the Mosel when cycling through Güls and realised later that we had diverted from the official Mosel Radweg route which goes a bit inland at this point. We cycled through a green park area and then found ourselves alongside a reasonably busy road. We found a cut-through across the road and under the railway and joined up with the official route before long, which was as lovely as I remembered.

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I was getting pretty hungry by the time we reached Winningen but it has lots of restaurants and cafés and we soon found a spare table and sat down to eat.

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The others all ordered a Flammkuchen which is a local speciality, a kind of very thin pizza with no tomato. They enjoyed theirs very much. I had a ham and egg and bread and potato platter thingie which was very tasty.

By the time we had finished most of the other cyclists had headed off (it was 2:30pm).

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We headed back the same way, this time sticking to the official Radweg route the whole way which was a bit more picturesque.
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More pics of the funicular railways.

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When we got to Güls, three miles from Winningen, we decided it was time for some cake. Fortunately we located a bakery straight away!

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This was my choice – a traditional black forest gateau slice!

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It was pretty difficult to choose, though – look at the options!

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We really enjoyed our cakes which are all handmade at a bakery in Koblenz (so said the lady serving us).

The day was getting cooler and cloudier so we set off back towards Koblenz, passing this rather interesting car in Metternich:

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The Olympics have clearly made it to Koblenz!

We trundled back happily to our apartment where we were welcomed by Poppy who had, presumably, been asleep the whole time we were out.

Statistics for today:

Morning ride: 7 miles

Afternoon ride: 16.7 miles
Average speed: 7.1mph
Maximum speed: 24.2mph
Time taken: 2 hours 21 minutes

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