Week 22nd to the 28th May
One week OMG, only one week left of our 17-month adventure and shock and horror reign in NiKi, or does it?
We started the week at a lovely town on the Rhine called Bingen, the site where we stayed was right on the river and the grapevines swept down to the river’s edge. Above us was the massive ‘Germania’ monument to the unification of Germany in the 1870’s. We took a boat ride up the river and then a chairlift swept us to the top of the hills. As we walked through the forest there were signs warning us to stay on the paths, a stark reminder of the past -historic landmines from the Second World War. We arrived at the majestic monument that marked the start of the UNESCO world heritage site along the middle Rhine. Then another cable car down the slope and a wine town with lovely German food and wine. I desperately wanted to try a particular German speciality and so he searched down Schweinshaxe or pork knuckle in English. Karen had the German equivalent of Pizza called Flammkuchen, sour cream used instead of tomato. With local beer and wine to wash these treats down both were very good. Then we finished with a short boat trip back across the river.
We have a schedule to keep and we headed off for the Mosel River on a bank holiday weekend, this was a new experience for us. We for the most part having taken the road less travelled and to be confronted by all these motorhomes and people was a bit of a shock. We managed to get some more cycling under belts covering just under 15km along the river.
The weather here has been scorching and though we loved the river view, there is a ferry to catch, so we decided to complete out UNESCO challenge that Elddis set us for the ‘Long way Home’ We visited Trier the oldest city in Germany and one with its only preserved Roman remains. It seems to us now all you have to do to get a world heritage site listing is have some Roman ruins! That said it was a quaint town and we stayed the night after having the best burgers either of us have ever tasted in Burgeramt Trier on Nagelstr. 18. The next day it was on to Luxembourg City, a very lovely location but being a banking town only it had a very sterile feel, after a morning walking around we left to find a swimming pool!
Now we are in the countryside on a campsite with a pool to enjoy a little rest and splash before heading on the last leg of our journey home.
Our Route This Week
We cycled the Mosel and Rhine two years ago, excellent for the bikes, but super touristy.
You are finishing as we are about to get started again, back on the bikes mid June.
Gone quick hasn’t it. Thanks for sharing your travels and supplying lots of info.
At the start of your journey we were gobsmacked to realise that you had chosen to take the ferry to Spain thus bypassing France. Plus you will miss it on the way home. Surely it would be financially more viable for Elddis to keep you on the road for a while longer so that you can take in what France has to offer. Just a thought !
Happy trails x
PS thx to you we experienced the delight of black pudding tapas ! ta very much
Yes faster than a speeding bullet! We choose not to visit France the whole journey home was getting home without staying in France. Sort of would like to do it later a different adventure. Time to face normal life whatever that is. New journeys to be planned and all that!