And the Adventure continues! I’m sure everyone was tired last night because they didn’t make it to breakfast until after 730! Departure was planned for 0900 so I guess they all felt they could sleep in.
After the hearty breakfast, we loaded the vans with bags and people and headed off for Trier, Germany, our start town. Trier is an old Roman town, founded around 300 BC by the Celts and conquered and developed by the Romans four hundred years later. Some of the remains are the old city gate, the Porta Nigra, Roman baths, amphitheater and Roman stone bridge. Trier is also considered to be the oldest city in Germany.
We left our Frankfurt hotel at 0900, right on time and headed west north-west towards the Rhine River with Trier 2 1/2 hours away on a tributary of the Rhine, the Mosel (in German and Moselle in French).
Trier lies tucked up in a corner of Germany along the Luxembourg border not far from France.
So we had a chance to get an additional country checked off our list. But to be able to do the ride we’d first have to get through Mainz.
Mainz is a city that sits on the Rhine near the confluence of the Main River. But today getting past Mainz was to be a challenge! The A66 autobahn was under construction so we had a disaster unfold. We missed the detour and ended up in a spaghetti-like maze, circling around with the GPS giving us contradicting directions with the auto’s Navi. After a good 30-45 minutes of spinning around we finally found a route out of Mainz and we headed towards Trier.
The road led us up on top of the ridge high above the Mosel.
It was a nice drive in the countryside on a gorgeous German day. Eventually we made it to Trier but the story continues. I deliberately picked a hotel near some of the Roman Ruins and the Cathedral especially so people could also see those site too. The problem is this area is in the heart of the tourist area with people and large buses everywhere.
Again, after circling a bit we found the hotel and unloaded our bags and bikes. We had to organize the bike gear in the Van so we could go return the box truck. By the time it was returned, it was 2 pm. We finally tweaked our bikes and got ready to head out.
The ride we decided to do was to head to Wasserbillig, Luxembourg…. About a 20 mile R/T ride. We found the bike trail without too much problem and headed out. Of course, since we were found upstream we were riding “uphill” and to make matters worse we had about a 20 mph headwind. But we steadily pedaled and finally reached our goal of Luxembourg.
Coming back wasn’t an issue…. Downhill with a tailwind! It doesn’t get much better than that!! We decided to stop at a river side Campingplatz for a quick drink and a short rest. The people were friendly and its a place we hope to go back to someday. And yes, the town was named Igel…. in English, Hedgehog!
On the way back, we had a chance to duck into a culvert when a sudden downpour hit us….. this picture kind of captures the rain beyond where we were.
We got back to the hotel about 6 pm then planned dinner at 7 in the Chinese restaurant here at the hotel. The food tasted as good as it looked too!
After dinner we adjourned for the evening to get some rest. But a couple of us decided to go to the store, Rewe, to get some snacks and water. Well, we got lost…. And that story is best saved for telling over drinks.
Tomorrow…. Trier to Bernkastel-Kues.