I really enjoyed staying in a nice warm hotel room. It was also a nice place, full of friendly people. I went for the room and half board which included breakfast and dinner. The surprising thing was that dinner was four courses.
Wirtzfeld is German speaking, but just up the road they speak Flemish and there are a few villages around here that speak French. (I went to a shop in one yesterday and was greeted with Bonjour). So when each course was served, I tried to speak another language. The staff thought it was funny and then started speaking English only, to me.
There were lots of guests who all said hi over the course of my stay.
When I left, the sun was shining and I was looking forward to a nice day but didn’t know where I’d end up.
As I was leaving, I got a message from my friends Miles and Claire who said they’d meet me in Koblenz on Monday for some riding down the Rhine. That’s fantastic news. They’re a great couple that I’d met a year ago in Luang Prabang, Laos. Their Nepal trip was cancelled due to flooding and they were looking for something else to do about now. Can’t wait.
I rode along the Vennbahn for many kms. It’s easy and picturesque riding. At the German border, I read a sign that described the Vennbahn and I thought – I’ve now got an extra day, why not go to Trier and then do the Mosel to Koblenz. So instead of turning off early, I continued on, until I stopped and thought – maybe I should plan this section before I go too far. It turned out that it would be three big days to do that, so I compromised and headed towards Daun. That way I could keep two options open – a lot of the Mosel or a fair bit of the Mosel. I’ve driven it before, but I want to ride it.
I stopped at a bakery in Stadtkyll for lunch, then rejoined the Kyll Radweg. After 70 enjoyable kms, I picked out a campground only 5kms away.
It’s lovely, but jeez – getting there meant climbing to the top of every hill around here. The site is by a nice lake with a very reasonable restaurant sort of attached. Pity the drinks waiter is so obnoxious – and he’s extremely obnoxious. Everyone else is just fantastic.
Well, 75km down today and a much easier 78 to Koblenz tomorrow then catching up with friends on Monday. Happy John !
