Day 7 – Saturday 30th May
Distance: 40.86 miles; time: 4:48:55; Average speed: 10.7 mph; Max speed: 23.1 mph; Calories (according to Garmin): 2644; total tour distance 291.51 miles.
Well James is at Portsmouth, apparently, (I phoned him last night), so I have probably cycled further than they have sailed in that time!
I took the other side of the Mosel path out of Trier and it was slightly nicer than the way in. The Mosel Radweg book showed two different routes through the village of Kenn but somehow I found a third which involved going down a grassy path (I had to ask some Polish fishermen exactly where I was) and then I appeared to pedalling fast towards a motorway.
Fortunately there was another road so I didn’t have to hit the Autobahn but ended up cycling underneath it after having to drag my trike up a dusty slope to the Radweg from the road. Not fun. Once again, Auntie Helen gets lost!
I met a recumbent rider today on a Quix (a yellow trike) and we had a good chat. He said he has 40-something gears (didn’t catch the exact number). We chatted for about 15 minutes until his wife, on a normal bike, got bored.
I stopped for lunch at Neumagen-Dhron and had some Zwiebelsuppe (onion soup) with Riesling in, so I have finally sampled some of the produce of this valley.
It was a lovely sunny day and loads of families were out, including a chap being towed along by a Weimaraner.
I don’t suppose we could get Lucy to do that – she’s too wimpy and would probably drag us under a bus or after a rabbit. There were also quite a few fast sporty riders out, often on the road rather than Radweg. I haven’t seen many like this so far this tour although there are always loads cycling around at home. Most people seem to ride in jeans and t-shirt rather than lycra. I also saw several dog trailers, sometimes with the dog in, sometimes with it running alongside. There were zillions of caravans and motorhomes at the campsites, mostly with German registration plates, and 2 out of 3 with satellite dishes on the roof. Can’t do without their television! Mind you, I did watch ‘The Dish’ (about the moon landings) in German this evening.
Random seaplane:
Rather ironically, considering that I have reversed my direction, I had a headwind again. At least it keeps me cool – although it’s dead warm outside, the draught the trike creates means I’m not overheating, which is good.
Travelling back through Mülheim I managed not to get lost like last time (hurrah!) and then arrived in Bernkastel-Kues which was lovely but utterly heaving with people.
The Hotel Alter Posthof was very nice and friendly and my trike was tied to a tree in the yard which was locked at night.
I found a rather bad internet cafe so couldn’t write much. I also found a cycle shop which was closed but had a rather cool inner-tube vending machine outside.
I also saw an anthrotech recumbent trike tied up outside a guest house in Bernkastel, so that’s the second of the day!
Worked my way through a good portion of M&Ms after my dinner of schnitzel before ‘The Dish’ and bed.