Plan of the Day – It’s 66° this morning with a high expected to be 81° and thunderstorm chances start at 2 pm and max at around 5 pm.  We should be done by that time.
We’ll plan to start riding around 1000 and stop for coffee/pastries about 1 1/2 hours in to the ride.
Dinner tonight at 630 pm at Burg Landshut.
Lights out 900 pm.

But you all know how plans go….we started out with bag loading at 0900 then got our bikes and finally we were ready to take off right at 1000.  Perfect so far, right?  Well, it was.  But getting out of town was a bit challenging.  Signage is typically pretty good  on the trails in Germany (except in big cities like Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and now Trier).  Trier is the fourth largest city in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.  You’d think it would be pretty simple…. Just find the river and head east.  But apparently the trail in that part of Trier is non existent.  We eventually found our way to the river and the trail and all went well.

 

We rode for about 2 hours until we reached Detzem about 25 km in to the ride.  There we found a nice little river side cafe, Cafe am Moselufer.  Great service, friendly owner, outside dining and FANTASTIC bratwurst.  Everyone felt refreshed after that short stop.

We paid the bill and no sooner than we stood up to leave, we heard raindrops on the patio umbrella!  It was a light rain initially while we started, it stopped but then later the rain cut loose!  Luckily we found a bridge that we could hide under.  After about 15-20 min it stopped and we went on. 

The closer we got to Bernkastel-Kues, the more clearly we could see the castle that sat upon the hill overlooking the river and town below.  We had about 3 miles to go…into town, across the bridge and to our hotel.

 

Like all the other hotels, this is a cute little boutique style hotel.  The owner met us personally and escorted us to our rooms!  She even helped with out baggage!!

After a shower and Happy Hour, we went to the castle for dinner.  Burg Landshut is a partially restored castle with a restaurant.  The restaurant itself was spectacular but the views were even more stunning.  Great meals and reasonable prices!!

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and went to sleep after a prep for tomorrow. 
Tomorrow will be a short day and we can sleep in.  Breakfast is between 0800-1000

Tomorrow…. Bernkastel-Kues to Enkirch