Cochem in Moselle Valley

Breakfast in Dolomites

Flooded Village..Reschen

THAT'S A BIT STEEP...HELLO SLOVENIA

9th September 2016

I had assumed that after Kotschach, it would be an easy run to Lake Bled,but we all know what assumptions do. The problem was we were in a great long valley with great high mountains either side and I thought there was a road on the map which followed the motorway. ...which we can't use without buying an Austrian Go Box and giving them permission to charge a credit card whenever they wanted with whatever they wanted. However, the Tomtom said this road no longer existed and we would have to take the Wurzen Pass. As this road was so busy, the Tomtom had to be right as no one would use it if there was an easier alternative. I looked it up in the Caravan Club book on mountain passes.....prohibited to caravans all year,minimum width 4m (we are 2.4m,mirrors folded)and constant gradient 20% or 1in5. With sinking heart I Youtubed it (there's always a biker video of every dodgy road somewhere )and it didn't look too bad. No apparent tunnels or hairpin; the gradient wasn't really apparent but the road surface circa 2013 was horrendous. In reality, the surface on the Austrian side had got worse (up) and narrower on the Slovenian side (down)
The gradient had to be seen to be believed and the automatic couldn't handle it, even in Hill Mode. Fortunately the gear box has a semi - auto mode which I've never used until today as 2 nd gear was needed most of the time up and down. The good thing was that it was only 3.6km up and 3.8km down and we didn't meet anything except cars and bikers (hundreds)although we passed several big motorhomes and a lorry or 2 after the descent which I'm very glad we hadn't met earlier. Border post at the top but the only activity was on the other side of the road checking entry into Austria.  From there a straightforward and pleasant run through a valley to Lake Bled which is berserk with holidaymakers but every bit as scenic as we hoped. Stopping at Camping Lake Bled just 2.5kms outside on Lake and cycle path.  Site seemed to be heaving but it was the last of the 12 o'clock checkouts at reception. No problem to find nice pitch and settle in for a week.....with excellent free WiFi.

ALPS TO THE DOLOMITES AVOIDING TOLLS

8th September 2016

6th.September
Drove down to FÜSSEN and into Austria, in low cloudy drizzle , which cleared after we left the long tunnel before Nassereith, and we emerged into sunshine and warmth. A nice easy day and stopped in RIED IM  OBERINNTAL, a pretty little village and nice ACSI campsite, although the addition of €2.20 tourist tax  and €3.20 garbage tax to the €17 fee seemed a bit steep.. however there was a nice supermarket to replenish beer and wine.

7th.September
Another easy drive out of Austria into Italy....amazing how the neatness and orderliness of Austria disintegrates into the messy ramshackleness of Italy within a hundred yards of crossing the border. You know immediately that you're in another country. Stopped at the hydro electric reservoir at Reschen for coffee and look at the church steeple that still pokes out of the water after the villages were flooded between 1940/50 (it took a long time to build)and from reading the displays it still causes a lot of resentment as no one was ever compensated. Over the Reschen Pass into Italy, still a wonderful scenic drive and through nils of apple orchards as you travel south and down. Since FÜSSEN  the traffic has been nose to tail both ways, not least with bikers of all descriptions but mainly of the Harley Davidson variety. Have never seen so many in such large packs. To BOLZANO, best avoided, and then took the non - toll road which ran under,over and across the A22 motorway heading back up the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck. We have to head back north for a while to pick up the route to Slovenia. We stop at CHIUSA KLAUSEN...every town and village has 2 names herd in the South Tyrol, one Italian and one Austrian and all the shops and hotels have 2 descriptions. Obviously an identity crisis but wonderful for printers and sign writers. Confuses the hell out of the tomtom. Anyway we are looking for an Aire at Chiusa, but only find the campsite. After fainting when he asks for €39.80 to stay the night, I spot a notice about  a Stellplatz ( which is listed in the 2016 Camperstop book) and raise an eyebrow. It has been moved from outside the campsite to 100 yds away by the station but  only (only!) costs €16.90....a ridiculous price but better than €39.80. So we pay the money, get a passkey and stay there...exceedingly hot weather. Walk to village as the GF demands Prosecco, which is extraordinarily pretty and upmarket.

8th . September
Hot night. Leave CHIUSA,  non toll road back into Austria at San Candid,  and again the difference in the state of the countryside,the houses,villages and roads is remarkable within a mile. Also price of diesel. ...Italy  €1.45 Austria  €1.07. The queues at the 2 stations on the Austrian side of the border were enormous for obvious reasons. Lovely drive despite being besieged by bikers like wasps buzzing around.....again the traffic is constant, no doubt due to the lack of tolls. Also lots of cyclists on the cycle tracks which criss cross the valley. Lovely views of the Dolomites. At Oberdrauberg, we turn off the 100 onto the 111 and cross the Gailbergsattel Pass and drop down to KÖTSCHACH where we stay at an excellent campsite, Alpencamp Karten.

JOYS OF THE MOSELLE......AND BICYCLE DISASTER

5th.September 2016

3rd . September

We had thought to explore the river the other way but decided that as the road downriver  to BERNKASTEL was sure to be a delight it would be best travelled on a nice sunny day and as Sunday was forecast to be raining, we should depart forthwith. Another good decision,  as it did indeed rain on Sunday, and on Saturday we had a terrific drive through wonderful scenery in glorious weather. Can thoroughly recommend the road from Koblenz to Bernkastel that follows the river as a great drive and one which we will repeat.  Lots of campsites and even more aires.
Our destination was WEHLAN,  about 4km from  Bernkastel where we found an Aire in a vineyard overlooking the river and on the cycle path.
Bernkastel is a delightful town and the first weekend in September is Wine Fest so our decision to head into town for lunch was another inspired choice. The town was en fĕte with wall to wall market stalls mainly offering large glasses of wine for ridiculously small amounts of coinage and wandering bands of musicians on every street corner. ....our biggest problem was finding a spare railing or post to chain the bikes to.
Recalling our first days at college and dredging the depths to remember the lectures of Billy Land (r.i.p.), I decided to educate the palate by sampling the variety on offer in order to better aquaint myself with the differences between äuslese,spätlese, trocken, beerentrocken,
beerentrocken äuslese, beerentrocken spätlese etc etc....unfortunately I had misjudged the size of glass being offered...a generously overfilled 20cl for 1 or 2 euro ...and by the beerentrocken I was past caring so we went for lunch at a jolly good hotel, on a terrace overlooking the main street and watched the festivities as we had a jolly good lunch and plenty of spätlese or äuslese. .....it's the sort of place that gives white wine a good name. And we spent the afternoon wobbling round the town before cycling back. Excellent day.

4th.September

As forecast, it rained. So we drove south to ULM, or 30km south actually to ILLERTISSEN.  Horrendous road works and nose to tail traffic heading north, last holiday weekend of course and everyone going home. Another good decision as we avoided all the freight lorries by driving on sunday.

5th.September

Having had a long day driving decided to have an easy day of rest.  This was yet another inspired choice. After late breakfast, planned to cycle into town and restock at Lidl only to discover that I had lost the Bosch control unit that operates the ebike. I love this bike to bits (even now) but I have always had a nagging worry that there was a lot to go wrong which could prove problematic and losing the plug in controller would be like losing an ignition key.
I think I rested it on the towbar whilst putting the bikes on the bike rack after too much äuslese and then forgot to pick it up. Anyway, whilst an ordinary ebike with with a Bosch system would still be rideable, not turning the electrics on on my bike means that the automatic gear system does not function and the gear remains on its lowest setting making forward propulsion exceedingly difficult and impossible over any distance. Fortunately,  if the system was going to go tits up, Germany was the place for it to happen.  Rang Riess & Muller who make the bike who assured me all I needed was a Bosch agent but who also had a dealer in Ulm who gave me the number for a bosch shop in Illertissen who was closed for holidays. But he spoke no english but good enough to ascertain what I had lost and had the necessary in stock.  Ulm was only 30 km away so we went hot foot, parked in a side street and not only got sorted but had a quick service and software update so that it's even better than before for a mere €110...... hey, if I was in the UK, I wouldn't have a bike to ride this month.
New arrival on the site this evening was a very pleasant couple from UK .......front tyre blow out on motorway stripped panels round wheel arch and the mirror. Bit of a mess.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN....best laid plans

3rd . Sept 2016, BURGER,  Germany

Sunday 28th August

We set  sail a week later than planned having postponed the trip to Dubrovnik with Ken & Jackie due to the sad and untimely death of our dear friend Marion who passed away on August 13th.
We both wanted to attend the funeral so put our departure  back a week only to find that Jackie's  sister was terminally ill and they would be delaying their departure as well. So we said goodbye to Marion on 26th August at a very emotional family funeral along with other friends from Conil. We re booked to sail on the 28th. and Jackie's sister having also passed away in the meantime, they would follow us on the 6th Sept having first gone to the funeral in Cornwall. So plan B was for us to meander about a bit until they could catch us up and the Moselle beckoned as an area previously unexplored and offering various attractions.
For some strange reason we had chosen to eschew the tunnel and go Harwich - Hook of Holland  again. There were good reasons for this route when going to Scandinavia, but fewer when going to Croatia, but we booked it before experiencing it because if we had, we wouldn't have booked it if you see what I mean. Anyway, they do do a good meal . It's a long crossing and takes a long time to clear the port as they only have 2 kiosks checking every passport......ho hum.
Knowing this we had picked an Aire at ALBLASSERDAM as overnight stop about 50km away which seemed about right. In fact it was inspired choice as excellent new commercial aire with all facilities on the harbour and offering enough delights to make us stay 2 nights instead of dashing off.

Monday 29th August

A lovely cycle path to KinderDike, one of the oldest examples of the polder (1738) and now a UNESCO site. 20 windmills were built to pump water to drain the land and 19 remain today. Steam and then electricity replaced the need for the  windmills in the 18-1900's but they were preserved and are a wonderful site.. all still work, and 2 are open to view as working museums, along with an excellent visitor centre explaining the concept, heritage and mechanics of water management. As the ground is 6 metres below sea level, the electric pumps are still pumping water as we speak
Having enriched our knowledge of dikes and polder (shades of 1950 O level geography), we then took the waterbus to DORDRECHT,  which was the first,and is therefore the oldest,city in Holland,  and a jolly fine one it is. In the other direction, the waterbus which is actually the P+R fast ferry, goes to ROTTERDAM, which we plan to do on our way back. It's very cheap and bikes go free. So we mooched aound Dordrecht,  an excellent day to visit as all the shops shut on Monday but worth a detour.

Tuesday 30th August

Head for somewhere but don't like the aire so pick out ANDERNACH, on the Rhine which is another good choice. Large Aire on the river bank and we find front row spot which gives great views of river traffic and has cooling breeze from river which is v.welcome in heat. Also has itinerant icecream van in evenings.

Wednesday 31st August

Received sad email fom Jackie saying Ken has problem with leg and local doctors advised not to travel abroad but return home and seek treatment.  As this now invalidates insurance as pre - existing complaint they have no choice but to abandon plans and cancel trip. We shall miss their company.
Plan C....still go down Moselle but not linger and head to BLED and then SPLIT.
Nice cycle thro local countryside.

Thursday 1st September

To BURGEN on banks of Moselle. Nice campsite, pretty villages

Friday 2nd September

Cycle to COCHEM (28 mile trip) along banks of Moselle through pretty villages.  COCHEM has fairy tale castle overlooking pretty town full of colour,flowers and tourists by the coach load. .and cruise ships. We picnic on riverbank in glorious sunshine. This is the life.....