The end in sight

We have spent the last few days slowly making our way down the Mosel from Trier to Koblenz.  The scenery is fantastic, with a good road following the river round many twists and turns, pretty villages and small towns along the riverside, and behind them, unbelievably steep vineyards planted on the hillsides.  Some of the vineyards have little monorails up between the vines, presumably to take workers and tools up, and grapes down.  We haven’t seen any harvesting yet, though lots of the vines have had excess leaves cut off to allow the last rays of sun to shine on the ripening fruit.

After Trier, we wondered if we would find anywhere to stop for the night before Koblenz, as there seemed to be so many motorhomes about.  But there are also lots of stellplatz – the very basic cheap and cheerful sites – some provided by the villages along the route, and some on private land.  We hit on the idea of turning up just before noon, and hopefully getting a space that someone had just vacated.   The plan worked and we spent a couple of nights at Lösnich, right on the riverbank, cycle path behind, and it was really lovely. We missed Bernkastel, the famous wine-town, by virtue of roadworks and diversions, but maybe Lösnich was better. We walked up through the vineyards into the forest, which was full of birds – treecreepers and nuthatches all over the place, and a crested tit, one of my favourites. 

Stellplatz at Losnich

 

One of the autumn delicacies we have seen advertised everywhere is a drink called ‘Federweisser’ eaten with a slice of Zwiebelkuchen, or onion tart.  Vegetarians, don’t get too excited, the onion tart comes with a good portion of bacon, but for meat-eaters, it is very tasty.  We are still not quite sure what Federweisser is – we think part fermented grape juice, but it tastes a bit apple-y, like mild cider.

My first Federweisser

Our next stop was at Ernst, just outside Cochem, another tourist hot-spot.  We nearly didn’t stop as the Stellplatz was most odd and not very scenic, with pitches arranged around two concentric circles, all asphalted and sloping every which-way – like parking on a sloping roundabout.  But it was where we wanted to be, and all turned out for the best.  We set off into town and found that there was a walnut fair going on (and why not?).  People are much more into foraging here, we saw people collecting hazelnuts in France, and here fresh walnuts are very much the thing.  So we had walnut-sausage in a bun for lunch, plus a glass of very nice Riesling, bought some walnut cheese, listened to the band and generally had a good time.  Later on we cycled into Cochem, carefully avoiding the walnuts falling out of the trees, or was that too much wine?  Cochem is pretty and  interesting, with a couple of castles and a very old centre, but very touristy – think Matlock Bath on a Sunday if you know Derbyshire.

Cochem castle

At the Walnut festival

Your thought we were joking...

 

We have had a brilliant run of weather, glorious sunshine most of the way, though it is definitely turning colder.  The last couple of days, though, have been quite showery, so we decided to move on to Koblenz.  The drive along the last part of the Mosel was lovely, it is obvious why people come here on holiday.  We are staying just outside Koblenz, and today we have been into the city to check that the Mosel does meet the Rhine (it does).  We seem to remember that Koblenz is twinned with Norwich, but didn’t see anything to say so.

Where the Mosel meets the Rhine

  It seems ages ago we were standing at the source of the Moselle in France – it is just over two weeks ago in reality.  Plan A is completed, we have done it, and now have just a week left of our trip.  The weather forecast is not good, so a bit undecided what to do next.  Will let you know.