Days 13-14 – Taking the Scenic Route through Germany: Luxembourg City to Kappel

Days 13-14 – Taking the Scenic Route through Germany: Luxembourg City to Kappel

Saturday January 17, 2015, 179 km (111 miles) – Total so far: 1,124 km (698 miles)

Day 13: Luxembourg City to Neumagen-Dhron – 94.7km

I was greeted with blue skies and sunshine when I stepped outside in the morning. The temperature was down to 3 degrees but with the lack of rain and wind chill it actually felt like one of the warmest mornings on the trip so far. The rest day ended up being a great idea and I set off from Luxembourg City feeling a lot fresher than any other morning on the trip previously.

Being a Saturday morning the roads and cycle paths out of Luxembourg were very quiet so I was able to relax as I made my way out of the city and into the countryside. Once the sharp climb out of the valley in Luxembourg City was over with the cycle paths started. These brought me through the forests and countryside of Eastern Luxembourg most of the way to the river that divides Luxembourg and Germany.

There was a beautiful mist rising off the water as I cycled the river paths all the way to the town of Wasserbillig which was right on the border with Germany. The quiet paths, the blue sky and the beautiful scenery around me was making for a really good morning.

I took a quick break in Wasserbillig to photograph the wildlife before heading across the bridge and into my 5th country, Germany.

I was looking forward to Germany quite a bit. I had done a road trip with my Dad around the country when I was 16 and had enjoyed my time there. Also I was looking forward to being able to speak a bit of the language. I had studied German for 6 years in secondary school. The trouble was that I had barely used it in the 6 and a half years since then! Still though I was hoping I would be able to recall a good bit of it from the back of my mind somewhere. It would definitely be better than my attempts at French anyway.

After crossing the border I followed yet more cycle paths to the town of Trier. I popped into a bike shop here to check on my brakes. The drop levers had lost all stopping power and tightening the cables hadn’t resolved the issue. It turns out I just hadn’t tightened them enough. Feeling like an idiot I got back on the road again and out of Trier.

I had checked the maps for Germany before I left home and there was one particular road that led out of Trier heading north east that caught my attention. It followed a river which winded back and forth through a high valley. Just from the map I could tell it would most likely be a very scenic road. It definitely wasn’t the quickest way across this part of Germany but the fact that there were signs for a Radweg (cycle way) pointing in that direction swayed my decision to take this route.

This ended up being the entirely correct decision. I spent the evening following cycle paths which ran right along the riverside. On either side of the river high hills rose sharply. The river, the hills and the blue skies made for probably the most scenic cycling so far on the trip.

All the way along the cycle way there were camping sites and beer gardens which were closed for the Winter. In the Summer this area would be amazing to cycle through. The whole idea of cycling this path in the sunshine with a few friends, stopping off in a beer garden every so often to have a cold pint or glass of wine and continuing on again until the day drew to a close followed then by pitching up your tent along the riverside to watch the sunset would be absolute perfection. I made a note that I would definitely have to come back to this area some day.

As the sun started to set I was nearly at my target of Neumagen-Dhron. A few of the sections of the cycle way were flooded here but there was always the road which you could use to get around these sections. I stopped off in one of the small villages before Neumagen-Dhron as I had seen a few signs for campsites. With the steep hills and the very small amount of flat land available at the base of these hills being taken up by the road and cycle path there weren’t any wild camp options around.

As usual all the campsites in this village were closed. I had a quick conversation with a couple here in German, my first test of the language. It all came back surprisingly easily and I could understand just about enough. They told me that there was one campsite open in the area but it was at the top of quite a sizable hill. With the light fading and with this being well off my route I just continued onwards and tried my best to find a wildcamp spot. After Neumagen-Dhron I crossed a bridge to the other side of the river and continued along the cycle path on this side. It was nearly pitch black at this stage so I had no option but to set up camp somewhere. I came across a small patch of flat land above the cycle path. It wasn’t ideal as it was in view of the path and also of the road and village across the river. But as long as I didn’t use too much light within the tent I knew it should be hard to spot in the dark. So without further ado I quickly pitched the tent, had a quick dinner and dived inside the tent as the temperature started to get close to freezing. The night passed reasonably quietly. There was a bit of thunder and lightning which lit up the tent and a couple of barges passed along the river during the night but other than that I was undisturbed.

Day 14: Neumagen-Dhron to Woods outside Kappel- 84.1km

It was quite cold outside so I ended up waking up a few times during the night. In the morning I opened the tent door to see a red sun rising above the village of Neumagen-Dhron across the river. This is one of the great things about camping in the wild, waking up to sights like these.

Unfortunately the bad side of camping in the wild is having to pack up your tent in close to freezing temperatures. Again, I was struggling with my hands going numb while packing up the tent. I took a couple of breaks and finally got it all together.

While putting all my gear on the bike a woman across the river who was out for a walk stopped and stared at me for a good 10 minutes. Why are people so god damn nosy these days! The staring was actually something I would have to get used to in Germany, obviously touring cyclists very rarely make an appearance in the German Winter.

With everything finally packed up I continued along the Radweg. All morning I followed this cycle way as it ran alongside the meandering river passing through small German villages along the way. Some long sections of the cycle way were flooded here. It was clear that the river was a lot higher than usual. It seems the rain I had been experiencing all across France had also affected this part of Germany.

Arriving in Bernkastel-Kues midway through the day I went in search of food however being a Sunday nearly every single establishment in the entire village was closed. I couldn’t even get water anywhere. I hadn’t known that Germany was similar to France in this way. I had to make sure in future to stock up on my supplies before each Sunday.

In one of the villages further along the river I came across a fast food place that was open so I was able to stock up on water there and order a Lasagne, my first bit of hot food in a couple of days.

I researched my route here and discovered that there were only two options for me where I could cross the Rhine. One was in Mainz in the suburbs of Frankfurt and the second was in Koblenz further north. Koblenz seemed like a nicer option as I could pass through countryside all the way there instead of fighting through the suburbs surrounding Mainz and Frankfurt. With this in mind I picked the point where I would have to exit this river valley so that I could start heading northeast for Koblenz.

It wasn’t until late on in the day that I finally reached my exit point for the river valley. I didn’t have any supplies for the night or the next day as all the shops were closed but right at the start of my climb out of the valley there was a petrol station that was miraculously open. I stocked up on some food for the night here and started the climb out of the valley.

I had expected a tough climb but I wasn’t expecting it to be as bad as it was. It took a good 6 or 7 kilometres of hard climbing until it finally started to even out into a plateau. It was getting quite late in the day now. The sun was starting to set behind me as I was winding my way up through the forests onto the plateau.

The temperature up here were dipping to -1 degrees so I wanted to descend down the other side of the plateau before camping. Unfortunately for me this plateau at an altitude of 500 metres continued on for a lot longer than I had anticipated. There was no descent in sight and the road was actually starting to rise again gradually. With the sun setting there wasn’t any other option but to get off the road and wild camp at this height.

Finding a wild camping spot didn’t take too much effort. This was the perfect territory for it with unfenced patches of forest on either side of the road. I found the perfect spot in some woods underneath a wind turbine and set up camp there. The ground I was camping on was frozen which wasn’t ideal but I didn’t really have any other option. I quickly set up the tent and dived inside as the temperature started to plummet even further.