A
beauty trip in Germany : walking along the river Mosel from Cochem to Koblenz (Ton van Zutphen 13-14
September 2015).
Everybody
sees Father Rhine as ‘la grande fleuve’ in Germany…and true this is. (Note that
in German the rivers are masculine, in French feminine…warum denn?). The Rhine
is majestic with its busy shipping, and its crossing of Germany from South to
North before entering the Netherlands. The Rhine with its 1233 kms is not as
long as the Danube with 2855 kms but the latter one only runs for a few hundred
kms through the Southern part of Germany toward Austria. Twice I spent a few months along the Rhine: once in Neuwied
am Rhein in 1978 and as of November 2013 some four months in Bonn. The sights
that the Rhine offers are pretty, especially from the Drachenfels Mountain in
Koenigswinter; though these sights are nowhere near the beauty that offers the
Ahr River and the Mosel River. Walking along these two small meandering rivers
in Rhine-Westphalia is a treat. (See my previous
blog on the Ahr valley walk).
The
‘Mosel’, ‘la Moselle’ or in Dutch ‘de Moezel’ is known for its picturesque
villages all along from the source of this river in France. Everywhere it is
simply pretty and cosy, all the way until the Mosel joins the Rhine in the town
of Koblenz. There is the predominantly
white Mosel wine already known to the Roman battalions that entered the area close
to 200 years BCE. Some ruins and artefacts commemorating that ‘adoring Bacchus’
was an important pastime, do prove this. Somewhere along my walk I saw an
inscription that said: Wine is the noblest drink in Germany (Richard von
Weissaecker, former President). Although I believe indeed that there are a
couple of regions in Germany where wine is very popular (and relatively good!)
I would be willing to argue that 95% of Germans would disagree: BEER is King in Germany…and will always be! (See my previous blog on Koelsch tasting).
So
I took an evening train from Bonn to Cochem town where I could hardly find a
hotel room. Checked finally into a very ancient hotel ‘Alte Thorschenke’, had a
‘Veltin’s beer and slept. The next morning I crossed the village of Cochem,
still full of mainly Dutch and Belgian tourists sipping coffee, and started my
walk with a steep ascent so I could have my first view of the old castle and
the vineyards already at 9am. Weather was perfect and nobody on the go…just
this Anton boy-man. The special treat about walking along the
Mosel is that in general one goes up the ‘Moselsteig path=hiker’s trail’ and
descends every time the next village pops up. Good for the calves of your legs;
less good for your knees. The trail guides say this is a difficult route…I do
not think so; everybody with a normal pair of legs and lungs can do this; just
consider a bit of sweat! The vineyards displayed themselves in abundance…wine
ripening; maturing and in some villages the wine harvest parties were already
announced (I missed these as most of these start as of mid-September). Villages
came and went during the first day: Cochem, Klotten, Pommern, Karden,
Moselkern. All of these beautiful…but without a life!! What has happened in the past 30 years…..Let
me tell you my opinion after talking to Heinz in the bar of the hotel ‘Zur Burg
Elz’ in Moselkern, where I arrived around 6pm.
Heinz is in his eighties and was having a coffee (and a Schnapps which I
offered him gladly)…retired wine farmer… loudly complaining about the lack of
‘stuff happening’ in his village of Moselkern. He said that 30 years ago there
were 23 ‘Kneipen’ (local bars) and today only 2. All the younger Germans are
leaving, not wanting to do the heavy work that wine growing requires…this is
done by cheaper workers from Eastern Europe, who come and go and do not stay
nor invest in this village. Then the tens of thousands of tourists that
populate the campsites with their tents, caravans and campers (50% Dutch!!) do
not buy in the villages nor go there for food/drink. No these guests, loaded
with dough, bring all their stuff from the NL, B. or F. or purchase what they
need in the large cash and carry markets like Lidl, Netto and Aldi, to name a
few. Local businessmen are only few now. Houses are being purchased by ‘tourist
immigrants’ that do not integrate….anyway this is an identical story as what
happened to many rural areas in France as of the seventies. So..no fun anymore
for travellers like me. Even the ‘Kneipe’ in which I met Heinz closed up before
10pm.
All
what remains is walking…and oh Lord, the Mosel area really is a pretty sight! I
could not understand why so many cyclists believe that their way of pedalling
is so good…the cars that pass over the provincial road are in the thousands
every hour….the exhaust….pffff. No Good at all. I was seeing all this while
walking about 40-to-100 metres higher overlooking the road that follows the
meandering of the Mosel. And again…surprise…no fellow walkers at all!
The
next day took me through Hatzenport (very nice village with some life), Loef
(see pic with vineyards…a dead village!), Kattenes, Lehmen to finally Kobern,
where it started to rain so much that I quit and waited for the train to
Koblenz…it was 13 hours and only 15 kms walk to Koblenz. I decided to go for lunch in Koblenz where I
had a thick Argentinian streak with a pint of Koenig’s Pilsener. Walk
finished. A bit tired but as MSF would
say with ‘sweet pain in the legs and shoulders’. Then train back to Bonn Bad
Godesberg.
Friends
and readers, it is as simple as this: walking in Germany is always good; the scenery
along these tested trails remains what it has been for over the 150 years that
people walk them. Like me…you will find beer, sausage, sauerkraut somewhere…not
everywhere anymore…but somewhere and in that
sense Germany does not change! And I finally tasted some good acrid
white Mosel wine….had three big tumblers…and that was enough. I am a red wine
drinker!
1.
I walked on my
Meindl’s GTZ with vibram soles
2.
Did 44.200 steps
day 1 = about 33 kms (up and down but not too much)
3.
Did 26.700 steps
day 2 = about 20 kms even less up and down than day 1
4.
I only had 1
Veltin’s, 2 Bitburg Pilsener's and 1 Koenig’s Pilsener and 3 big glasses of the best Moselwine I
could buy in the only bar I visited. No sweat next morning at 7am
5.
Food…not
special…all tourist’s catering these days I am afraid
