Last week we went cycling with friends in Germany, as this was our first cycling holiday (with dog and daughter) we decided it would be best to ease into it and booked hotels along the way. We had a great time on the Mosel Radweg, and our already looking at options for next year to go bikepacking.
Intro
The Mosel Radweg is a route which follows the Mosel river, it starts in Perl and ends in Koblenz, during our four days of cycling we rode from Trier to Koblenz. Which is around 200km of cycling. We had a little extra time in both Trier and Koblenz to have a look around the cities. We also used the extra time before the cycling to park our cars in Koblenz so we would arrive at our cars at the end of our cycling trip.
Day 1: Trier to Wintrich (+- 60k)
The first day always takes some getting used to the ride, we had our first (and only) mechanical of the entire trip. A droppped chain while getting to the actual route. Our hotel was a little bit off route, so we had a few KMs before we started. Getting out of Trier took us over a industry estate, which wasn’t the prettiest start to our ride, but it was relatively short and the route soon got a lot nicer.
After about an hours ride we stopped for a coffee break in Schweich, this would be the trend for the next days. We continued on the route, had some nice views of the vineyards and stopped for lunch in Neumagen-Dhron, unfortunately we got some rain for the last part of our ride. So after dressing up in our raingear we rode the last part towards Wintrich, where we stayed at a B&B on a vineyard, the restaurant options in the village were non existent so we ordered in some food from a “local” mexican/kebab place.
Day 2: Wintrich to Briedel (+- 50k)
After a nice breakfast in Wintrich we started the ride for today and the route was even nicer than day 1, after a coffee stop in Ürzigermühle we continued on to Traben-Trarbach to raid the local Lidl, which was unfortunately located on a steep hill. After grinding our way up it, and shopping for some food for the night, we planned on getting a late lunch and eating a simple home-cooked dinner at Briedel. We unfortunately didn’t find a suitable option for lunch in the next few towns so we ended up in Briedel to early for dinner and to late for lunch, Oopsie ;).
We managed to get into our appartment, and decided to just grab an early dinner and use the stuff we bought in Traben-Trarbach as snacks for the evening.
Day 3: Briedel to Treis-Karden (+- 50k)
We had some of our snacks left over from last night, and got some fresh breads from the local bakery to make ourself a good breakfast. We got on the road. Repeating our previous days we had a quick coffee and apfelstrudel in Eller, today we had a more clear plan about lunch to prevent the situation we ended up in on day 2. We planned on having lunch in a pretty town called Cochem, which was as pretty as advertised. This also meant a lot more people and leaving our bikes at the edge of town, which was a little scary.
After a nice lunch we continued on to Treis-Karden
After arriving we saw that the restaurant at the B&B was closed on thursday, which was bummer. After looking at the options in town, the only realistic option to get some food was right across the street. The positive was that we finally got to taste some wine (these were not great).
Day 4: Treis-Karden to Koblenz (Güls) (+- 35k)
After a nice breakfast we knew we had a short day ahead of us so we took it easy. Also we didn’t get to taste any great wines yet, which is one of the reasons we wanted to ride the Mosel Radweg. So today we were on a mission to taste some wine. We rode the first few K and then stopped for coffee in a beatifull location at a supermarket ;). After a quick coffee we continued towards Koblenz. I needed some alone time so I cycled slightly faster then the rest of the week, which did not go over well with Ante (Sorry!) so after we found each other again I stayed with the group. We continued to Winningen, which is known for the wine and ate some lunch on a square. Even Wulf got some water from Lea
A local gave us a tip for a wine tasting, so we finally managed to taste some local wines
the wines were a clean fresh style we really like, so we bought a few bottles to bring home. Wulf didn’t like sharing his chariot with the wine
After this tasting we had a short ride to our last hotel in Güls.
Day 5: Güls to Deutsches Eck
Today we will ride the last few kms to Deutsches Eck and truly finish our ride for this week.
Stats
Total distance travelled during our ride: +-200km.
We used the following GPX: https://www.komoot.com/nl-nl/tour/75911296
We spent 4 days on the bike, and 5 days off the bike, either travelling or hanging around Trier and Koblenz.