Ride to Cochem, Germany

Oh, my goodness what a ride we had to Cochem, Germany! Kevin and I left home around 9:45 a.m. and headed out on back roads. The fields are all turning green, and the trees are budding out. I could do without the birch tree blooms and pollen, but they are beautiful.

I was familiar with the first few turns, but the new course we took wound through the Nationalpark Eiffel where we left the Belgian Ardennes and cruised into Germany. We bumped along some of the worst paved roads I've ever been on. I've got to say we had smoother dirt and gravel roads in Mississippi than some of the paved roads in Belgium. The German roads were much better, and that's a good thing because we went around a number of hairpin curves as we wound down the sides of mountains into valleys and then back up on the other sides. 

Although we were pretty much hovering around the posted speed limits, there were dozens of smaller sports bikes that passed us even in hard curves. Amazing! 

We were fortunate to have many small wayside parks where we could take a break. I'm always surprised at how mentally draining it is to focus on riding with attention to all the detail that surrounds us. Those stops, whether ten minutes or forty-five are refreshing. The best of the stops, though, was when we took a break on the bank of the Mosel River in Cochem. With the river on one side and a rich tourist area chock full of restaurants, wine cellars, ice cream shops, and flowers planted everywhere there was enough to occupy us for hours. We'll have to go back some day soon!

On the way home, we went on the highways. They were much straighter, much smoother, and provided a much faster way to get home. Home by 7:00, and we had time to wind down and have dinner at Chez Altizer.