Day 10 -Zombified cycling

Well clearly we were right to have concerns to be sleeping right next to a church bell tower. No, the bells didnot stop at 10pm and it was every 1/4 hour it chimed 3 bells and even on the hour you got 3 bells before it rang out the time. So at midnight hubby counted 15 chimes. Occasionally I became aware of the bells and tried to put myself in one of those yoga classes which have bells chiming to get back to sleep, hubby however counted every single chime through the night. At breakfast (very good) a german couple were talking how they hadnot got any sleep because of the bells so we weren’t the only ones.So it did mean we were slow to get going.

I decided to check out the local bike shop as my ground effect bike pants had become very uncomfortable through moving around too much. I’d thrown out a good pair of bike pants as theyd become thread bare so things were getting desperate. I was in luck they had a pair of nice Italian ladies bike pants that were very comfortable, they only had 2 pairs in the shop, cheaper than Oz I have to say. The only problem is the world now has to see my knees, sorry world.We also bought another water bottle each; as maybe we shouldn’t have put hydralite in our bottles without access to a dishwasher the insides have gone slimey….Great bike shop in Bernkastel even got a tool hubby was looking for to take his pedals off.

Easy cycling and very scenic although 15 kms next to a road similar to the St Goar section of the Rhine although this road wasnt so busy. Seeing plenty of other cyclists now most seem to pull into the wine cellars and start drinking from 11am!!The Germans are building a new motorway bridge across the Moselle, it is incredibly high can’t imagine what would happen if there was a big accident up there.Every slope no matter how steep or rocky is covered wih vines, how do they do it?

Humidity and lack of sleep meant when we stopped at Punderich for lunch at a cafe /bar overlooking a campsite and the Moselle we came to a halt and weren’t able to get going again. It was a very entertaining spot to sit watching the world go by. The funniest sight was seeing 2 girls in their early 20s parking their camper van and running over their tent. Hubby told me to laugh quietly impossible it was hilarious,they nearly ran their bikes over aswell. I’m still sniggering just thinking about it.

We were also entertained watching the vineyard workers on these incredibly steep slopes; small chain vehicles on cables were going between the vines to remove weeds and then spray. Its a wonder they didnt fall off the slopes.The dutch bar owner explained all the ins and outs to us, fascinating.

We wandered into the village and rang the bell of a nice looking bed and breakfast which was full but she called her daughter around the corner who also ran a bed and breakfast and we had a room within 5minutes, her last one. Just aswell as yes its the Monday rest day here so no tourist bureau open to assist us.We snoozed before exploring the village. Lots of history and the old Town hall you can actually stay in was built in the 1600s, with its turretted tower. We had planned to take the ferry across the river and climb up the hill opposite to a previous Augustine monastery but by the time we’d finished snoozing we’d run out of time as the ferry stops at 5pm and we didnt want to have to swim back. When the Moselle floods where we are staying can be underwater…