Slowly down the Mosel

Guess who’s the model for our top image lol

Tuesday 21 August

We don’t have to leave the Stellaplaz until 2pm so after a shower and breakfast we take a walk into Ladenburg town which is only 10 minutes away. It’s a very small town and there’s a few stalls in the market square selling meat, vegetables and bread.

We pop into the tourist information office, they have a computer and printer. Last night we booked our tickets for the Düsseldorf Motorhome show and we need to printout the tickets. Unfortunately neither of us can remember the password to our email account so we have to give this a miss for now.

Our next stop is the city of Koblenz. We find a free carpark about 20 minutes cycle away from the old town and it’s right alongside the Rhine River. We can see the castle and the cable cars which take people from the riverside up to the fortress of Festung Ehrenbreitstein.

It’s an easy cycle and we use the cycle paths all the way to the pedestrian area. It’s over 30 degrees today and we need to keep in the shade but there’s not much on the cycle path. On the way we pass the huge statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I on horseback.

The old town is uninspiring so we walk down to the river so we can get the cable car up to the fortress, but it’s 12 euros each so we give that a miss and head back to the carpark.

We’re joined by another 4 motorhomes and spend the evening watching the sailing barges up and down the river and counting the carriages on the trains which pass on the other side of the river, one train was really long and had 40 carriages tugging behind it.

Wednesday 22 August

Today we’re taking the drive which hugs the river through the Mosel Valley. The drive is spectacular, small villages with half timbered buildings dotted each side of the river with church steeples and spires poking out of the hillsides. There are stunning views revealed at every river bend.

Snooper has a funny turn and tells us to turn right and take the ferry to our destination, not on your life lol.

This is obviously wine region and the grape vines are growing in very straight lines for miles and miles high up the sides of the valley using every available space.

Our first stop is the small town of Ambel where we stop for a coffee and pick up some information about the valley from the tourist information office and take a leisurely stroll through the town.

We press on and stop along the river for lunch before arriving at our stop for the night at the Stellaplaz in Enkirch. The Stellaplaz which is situated right next to the river only has spaces for about 10 vans, but in the summer they allow vehicles to park on the grass, there must be over 100 vans here with space for 100 more. We’ve got loads of space and get the awning out for some much needed shade. It’s 32 degrees and we are actually cooking it’s so hot. Keith checks out the river but there are signs saying “no swimming” because of the algae in the water so he’s not that pleased to be so hot, so near the water and not being able to swim. The ice cream man and the baker arrive ringing their bells to let everyone know they are here.

Keith has a look at the tap in our kitchen which has suddenly developed a leak for some reason, he takes it apart and puts it back together, all sorted except when we flush the toilet the water comes out the tap, obviously something is not right lol.

Once the sun has disappeared behind the valley we take a quick walk around the town, every other building is a winery and tempting you in with free wine tasting, unfortunately we’re about an hour too early.

One thing we find odd about Germany is the cigarette machines.   They are everywhere in gardens, outside pubs at the bus stop, put in our id and you get a packet of fags.

Thursday 23 August

Believe it or not we’re up, showered and breakfast done by 9.45am on our pushangs for the 10km round trip to Traben-Trabach. The town looks better from a distance and we were disappointed that was so uninspiring, tatty and we couldn’t wait to leave.

Back at the Stellaplaz Keith has another go at the tap, arhhh, he put the thing, whatever it was, on the wrong way, now working as it should lol.

After some lunch we set off following the river and find somewhere to park at Bernkastel-Kues. This town is considered to be the most stunning of all the towns along the Mosel and it didn’t disappoint.

The Romans left their mark on this town which is full of beautiful medieval architecture, and renaissance half timbered houses, some look like they are leaning over nearly touching the house on the opposite side of the street, and look like they might topple over.

We decide against the 30 minute hike up-to Burg Landshut, a ruined 13th century castle which sits high on the top of the valley, far to hot to do that today.

Our spot for the night is a free carpark high up the valley overlooking the town of Leiwen and the Mosel. We can see the river and miles and miles of grape vines. I steal myself a few bunches of grapes and they were delicious. We spend a few hours just looking at the view and watching the paragliders on the other side of the valley, the view is absolutely stunning. There is a picnic table next to us so we make use of that to have our dinner, it’s lovely, peaceful and very quiet.

Friday 24 August

It’s rained quite a lot overnight and the temperature has plummeted to 20 degrees which is welcome after the 30+ we’ve had recently. By the time we’re ready to leave it’s almost lunchtime.

We head to the town of Trier which is the oldest city in Germany. We need to get the washing done and find somewhere to print out our tickets for the motorhome show. We park up just outside the town and pack the pushangs with our laundry and take the cycle path for 20 minutes where we find the laundry nice and easy. Washing in we take a quick walk around the town. There’s a cycle race happening and most of the streets are taped off and cyclists riding all manner of cycles are tearing through the town centre.

Washing done we cycle back to Eugene, have our lunch before heading back into town, this time to the old part of the city. First stop is the tourist information centre, they can’t help with printing our tickets but direct us to an Internet cafe further up the street.

Tickets printed and off we go to explore.

Trier is home to 7 Roman UNESCO World Heritage sites which are spread around the city. The first thing we see is the towns land mark the very impressive Porta Nigra, the worlds best preserved roman gate, it’s pretty spectacular.

The cathedral of St Peter and the Church of our Lady are absolutely stunning places to visit.

Our stop for the night is in the carpark of the National Park 15 minutes away. We pull in and see Audrey and Michael who we spent the evening with last Saturday night. Quick natter, chairs and beers out and before we know it it’s midnight another late boozey night in the carpark, this couple are a bad influence on us lol.

Saturday 25 August

Obviously feeling a little jaded this morning we’re not out of bed to early, we’ll not before 10am. Audrey and Michael we’re due to leave at 9am but they don’t leave until gone 10am feeling the same as us lol.

Keith wants to fit in a few more countries so today we’re heading to Luxembourg. The temperature has dropped even further, there’s a cold front expected for the next few days, we contemplate putting on jeans and jumpers, but it’s still August so we’ll freeze until September.

It a nice drive again using the motorway to our free stop in Wilts. There’s space for 3 campers with services but we’re the only ones here. A quick walk around the town which is closed except for a cafe with only one person in it. We have one of the worst cups of coffee we’ve had this trip, but the WiFi was good.

We discovered that Luxembourg have number plates like ours, some don’t have any letters only numbers, yeah.

We have a very quiet night but the temperature drops to 4 degrees overnight and we both wake up freezing. By the time we’re ready to leave the temperature can only manage to get to 15 degrees for most of the day.

We fill up with diesel at 1.11 Euro a litre, head through Belgium before arriving back in Germany. This makes 16 countries in 9 months for this trip.

Our destination for the next 2 nights is a carpark in Düsseldorf with 8,000 other campers and thousands of people at the worlds biggest motorhome show, not sure if this is heaven or hell. It’s just a carpark that’s costing us £15 a night without any services and it’s right under an international flight path, so we’re sure this isn’t going to be a quiet few days.

I’ll keep you updated with any purchases we might make at the show, but I can tell you now it won’t be Keith’s 81,000 Euro Camper lol.

Thanks for following and taking the time to message us, we love reading your messages and look forward to them.

Have a great bank holiday and hope the weather is good to you.

A la perchoine

Shirena & Keith

Xxxxx