Late start today as a late breakfast at hotel. The day didn’t start too well as we couldn’t find the underpass we’d come up taking us under the railway and back to the river bank. We cycled up and down past the hotel about 4 times eventually the staff came out and pointed, the underpass also went under the road…we’d forgotten and were just looking for an underpass for the railway.The staff were most concerned not like Aussies who’d be doubled over with laughter saying “silly buggars”.

We crossed the Moselle at the first bridge so we’d be on the correct side for a Roman monument. So we did have a few kms cycling through Luxembourg and past Luxembourgs only port through which 10,000 freight boats pass every year.

So onto Igel where the famous 23m high Roman funeral monument remains from some rich Roman cloth merchants. It survived the middle ages as they thought it showed the marriage of the Empress Helena who was a saint. Quite impressive to be so well preserved.

I had a near miss with my bike, hubby had stopped to take another photo so I thought Ill get a better photo and quickly parked my bike against a round boat bollard. I was going down steps to get a better view when hubbie yelled”your bike”. It had left the bollard and was heading down the bank, I just caught it in time, oops.A few more bruises to the legs..

We cycled on into Trier we had tried to book accommodation there but it was very booked out. As we cycled in I saw posters and realised why, there was a big festival in the old town all weekend. So the centre of Trier was packed. We did see the excavations of the massive St Barbara Roman Thermal baths as we went in the size of 6 football pitches. It makes you think we havent progressed that far!

The centre of Trier was bustling full of food and wine stalls plus bands playing.Tricky pushing 2 fully laden bikes through the crowds very slow going. The bands were  excellent and it would have been good to stay in Trier but I was also mindful of Australian Travel advice to avoid crowds in Germany and we hadn’t been able to book anything reasonable anyway. We exited via the spectacular Roman Porta Nigra and made our way back to the Moselle. There is an underground bike park at the tourist bureau we only found this out as we were leaving and safe to leave your luggage on your bike.

 

We cycled on some very pot holed tracks coming out of Trier and rough paths.We did pop into a signposted bed and breakfast just off the track; they were full.The track improved and we were back on the Moselle again.

Another sign off the track led us to a bed and breakfast at a winery. This meant you got a free glass of wine whilst you were checking in, so the rest of the afternoon has been a very slow affair.

We wandered around Longuich and walked up to a restored Roman Villa, the first ruins were only excavated in 1985. Longuich itself is full of wine cellars and is mainly 17th century buildings anything older had been replaced.

Very tempting access to plentiful wine supplies not sure how Id manage with the cycling though tomorrow!

 

Gasthaus 80euros a night incl breakfast

Fam Theisen Johannes

Cerisiersstrasse 3

Franziskus Hof

54340 Longuich