Sat., 8/31: From the cemetery we reboarded our coach and proceeded by highway, passing the Maginot Line, to Metz—unintuitively pronounced mess—where we met Axel from Düsseldorf, our trip leader. He brought us to the town square and introduced us to Sophie (reason enough for a visit to France!) who gave us a guided tour through the cathedral with its absolutely magnificent stained glass and much of the rest of the town center. Axel found us after lunch at a local restaurant and led us to our home for the next week, the river barge Sailing Home, where we met our other guide Aernoud (from the Netherlands) and the boat's crew: Bert, the captain at the beginning and end of the cruise; Jossie, the captain in the middle when Bert left for family business; Baris, the mate; Markus, the nonpareil chef; and Marte from Gronigen, the hostess (with the mostest.)
Sun., 9/1: The next day we left Thionville for a tip to Rodemack in France and Remich in Luxembourg. After a ride along the river, we turned inland, riding uphill past a nuclear plant and finally up a longer hill (the worst of the whole tour, and not undoable). Continuing on we got to the town of Rodemack where we explored the medieval walls and gardens and had a lunch that Markus had prepared and Aernoud had brought in the van. Following our visit there we continued back to the Moselle and followed it further downstream. Had an accident on this first stretch back along the river. A woman saw me coming along the bike path, took her young son by the hand, and walked to the side to let me pass. I kept left, but just as I got even with the woman, her son broke away and ran directly in front of my bike. I couldn't stop in time and ran over him, to the horror of both his mother and myself. Fortunately, though he was bawling to raise the dead, he had only some bad scrapes and was otherwise all right, much to the relief of his mother and myself; it might have been a lot worse. The mother acknowledged it wasn't my fault, but I was shaken and not quite the same for a couple days. Luckily Aernoud had the van parked only a short way further on the route, and he was able to readjust some things that the crash had knocked out of alignment. Continuing on without further incident, we crossed the river and rode to the French-German border where there was a small replica of the Eiffel tower on the French side, showing that tackiness is not solely an American issue. We crossed the border into Germany with Schengen of Luxembourg (of the eponymous Agreement) on the left bank. Finally reaching the Sailing Home moored at Nennig, we parked our bikes and I walked across to visit the lovely little town of Remich with John and Phyllis. Dinner on the barge, and a good night's sleep.
Mon., 9/2: After breakfast the next morning we took a short detour into Nennig to see an archeological site: a Roman villa with a huge mosaic. Retracing our route back to the Moselle, we got on the bike path again and continued downstream to Oberbillig, where we found a ferry to take us to the other side back into Luxembourg to Wasserbillig. (As we were crowding on to the ferry some anal-retentive bozo got out of his Mercedes and pointed out that my front tire had touched his rear bumper. It takes all kinds, I guess.) Lunch was aboard the Sailing Home, which had moored near the ferry landing in Wasserbillig. After lunch we set off again, crossing the Sauer River back into Germany and riding the left bank of the Moselle. A detour to see the Roman column at Igel was disappointing, as the column was in scaffolding and shrouded for maintenance. The next two river crossings were a little difficult for me, because of the height of the bridges and my nascent acrophobia. The first, across a railway bridge over the Moselle wasn't too bad, but the second over the Saar was on a busy bike path and was a little hairier, so I didn't stop to take in the view as the guides had suggested! From here it was good ride up the left bank of the Saar. We stopped at the lock at Kanzem, the largest on our tour, to watch the Sailing Home go through. Azel had lowered a rope as the barge sailed below, and latched on to a bag of ice cream goodies that Markus had waiting. Glen thought he would surprise one of his fellow Oregonians on the deck below, and dumped his water bottle, but ended up getting poor Markus instead. In any event the ice cream was enjoyable. From the Kanzem lock we pushed on to Saarburg, a pretty little town with a waterfall and an outdoor plaza. There was a castle with good views of the valley, but I was too tired to do the climb and left it for another time. Axel and Aernoud suggested dinner at either Amadeus or Zum Pferdemarkt. Most people went to Amadeus, which was easier to find, but I eventually located Zum Pferdemarkt, which turned out to be eminently worth the extra exploration.
Tues., 9/3: Our first stop was a tour of the Mabilon bell foundry museum in Saarburg where we saw how bells were cast and met Frau Mabilon. Then we headed south, further up the left bank of the Saar, and crossed over at the Serrig lock. I decided not to do the extra loop up the river, and headed back north on the right bank toward Saarburg and the Moselle. A little before we got to Kanzem there was a fork in the trail, and our route took us to the right. However there was a sign that said Umleitung (detour.) Gail and Edgar who had not done the extra Saarburg loop were waiting there, and said that Aernoud had gone ahead to explore whethere or not we could get through. As we waited for him to come back, a group of German cyclists came down the route and said there was no problem and we could go ahead. So we did. After going a few kilometers, I ran into Aernoud coming back down the trail, who said no go, so we returned to the fork, waited for the whole group to assemble, and Axel led us on an alternate route that finally got us around the detour and eventually to Konz at the Moselle/Saar confluence where the barge was moored and where we had lunch. The barge cast off and headed down the Moselle as far as Trier where we had a chance to sight-see. John and I wanted to see the remains of the Trier colosseum: not as big as the one in Rome, but substantial nonetheless. After exploring it, Axel brought us back to the town, and we worked our way back to the barge, passing through the Porta Nigra, and I rested up a little. Later we had a guided tour of Trier, then were taken to an elegant restaurant on the outskirts. After dinner we returned to the Sailing Home and a night's sleep after a busy day.
Wed., 9/4: This was the day of several bridges and the lost cyclists. We cruised from Trier to Schweich to start the biking part of the day's tour. Starting on the left bank, we almost immediately crossed our first bridge to the right bank and continued downstream to Neumagen. Leaving Neumagen there was another bridge to cross, leading us to Piesport where I had a light lunch at the Hotel Piesporter Goldtröpchen, after which there was more cycling along the river to the ubiquitous vineyards, leading to yet another bridge. This one had been hit by a boat on the river, so it was closed to all but pedestrians and cyclists. Continued cycling, now on the right bank again, and stayed there to Bernkastel. It was necessary to cross again at Bernkastel to Kues, but I got caught in traffic behind a tourist tractor-train, so I had to dismount and walk halfway across the bridge to Kues. From there it was a short ride to where the barge was to be moored. (It hadn't yet arrived.) I thought I was the first to make it there, although it later came to light that Marjorie had been first and had stopped in a cafe for a snack. A little later Mike showed up, but he had come down the left bank of the river! The barge eventually showed up, and the rest of the bikers, but the majority seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere and also came down the left bank. (Here is where I pat myself on my back for being able to follow directions. There were three times on the bike tour I failed to take the correct turn, but they were all when following someone else. By myself I generally do just fine.) Later that night after dinner we were brought to the Anton Zimmerman Weingut for a tour and tasting session, after which I bought there a nice bottle of spatlese riesling and a 1976 beerenauslese.
Thurs., 9/5: This was one of the more unusual rides of the tour. We were bused from Kues to the inland town of Daun in the mountainous Eifel, a region that was once volcanic. From there we followed an abandoned rail line back to Kues. The ride started out gradually uphill, including a section through a tunnel half a kilometer long, but not at all bad as it was after all a rail line! The trail leveled out eventually and we came to a fork where we could detour to a small crater lake. I declined, as my rear was chafing with all the riding so far, and continued on to our lunch spot at Maria Otten's farm in Strohn, where we were invited in and had a delicious lunch. Just before lunch I rode to a display of a real and a false lava bomb, rocks that had been coughed up by an old volcano. After lunch we had a tour of the volcano museum in Strohn. Again because of the chafing, I took a short van ride to a spot a little further down the trail, remounted, and continued on to Wittlich, passing through a several tunnels—one of them the longest on the ride—and a significant viaduct. At Wittlich a stop at Café Schuler provided some much needed ice cream. I'd ridden the van enough already, so I decided despite the chafing to continue cycling the rest of the way to the barge. Leaving Wittlich was a little too commercial, but once well out of the town the ride became interesting again. It finally intersected with the Moselle, and I continued down the left bank, as the lost battalion had done yesterday, until reaching Kues and the barge. After freshening up, some of us walked over to Bernkastel and explored for a while.
Fri., 9/6: Today was the final ride of the tour, from Traben-Trarbach to Zell to Beilstein. We started with a cruise from Bernkastel-Kues to Traben-Trarbach where we started our ride. A stop in Pünderlich showed us the old Fährhaus (ferry house), which had been disassembled, then reassembled so that some things were not exactly plumb. A little more riding brought us to Zell, famous for its Schwartzer Katze riesling. The legend is a wine merchant couldn't decide which of a vintner's barrels to buy until a black cat jumped on one of the barrels, deciding for him. Explored Zell for a while, admiring its buildings and Mädchens., then on to Bullay where we stopped for lunch. Continuing on we saw the steepest vineyard in Europe, and finally we arrived at the end of our cycling in quaint and scenic Beilstein with the Metternich castle overlooking it, surrendering our bikes to Axel and Aernoud for the last time. We wandered into the village for some ice cream and some of us made the trek to the church cafe at the top of the hill. Eventually we all made it back to the Sailing Home which disembarked and sailed further downstream to Cochem. Our farewell dinner was on the Sailing Home with an extraordinary table setting by Marte and for dessert Markus prepared a magnificent Schwartzwaldkirschtorte that Baris and Marte sneaked out while Bert was diverting us.
Sat., 9/7: In the morning Axel took us into Cochem and up to the castle on the hill above the town, which had been restored antebellum by a rich merchant, for a tour. After the tour I ran into Axel bringing up the next week's VBT group, and told them they had gotten a wonderful guide in Axel. After walking back down to the town, I browsed some of the shops and streets, had lunch, rejoined the rest of my group, bid farewell to Aernoud and Axel, and boarded the bus to Koblenz. After checking into the Hotel Brenner and getting settled in, we walked into the old city where we met out guide for a walking tour. As the tour was ending we got our first real rain, ran for cover, then for dinner at Alt Koblenz at Am Platz as VBT had recommended. After dinner and the end of the rain a stroll down Lohrstrasse let me replenish my dwindling funds at an ATM, after which a brief walk brought me back to the hotel. We had a very early start the next morning and the proprietress got up early to make us breakfast before the ususal breakfast hour, for which I was extremely impressed and grateful. After breakfast we got on a van and bid farewell to Koblenz and the Moselle.