One for the Vine

2-3 June

Just a short trip, 48 miles, to Mehring on the River Moselle today, taking advantage of the lower priced fuel before we left Luxembourg. Only £1.00 per litre of diesel! Our destination was Stellplatz Mehring, which has around 72 pitches and is situated right on the river bank behind a cafe/bar/restaurant, where toilets and showers (extra cost) are also available. Water is available (1 Euro per 100 litres). We arrived at Mehring in time for lunch in the sunshine, with a backdrop of vineyards extending to the horizon and watching barges and river cruise vessels make their way down the river.

It suddenly occurred to us that we haven't really planned exactly what we are going to do here so we hopped on the bikes and rode along the north bank of the river, passing through various villages to see what we could find.

In Mehring we located the tourist office, which was rather unhelpfully only open in the morning. After about 8 km we came to a bridge at Thoernich and crossed to the other side of the river, where there was conveniently a Gasthof to sit and enjoy a beer / wine. The ride back to Mehring on the south side of the river was more direct, as the cycle path hugged the river with no deviations through or around villages. We arrived back at the Stellplatz feeling shattered and decided to go across to the restaurant for our evening meal; the Jaegerschnitzel with chips and salad was both delicious and reasonably priced. It was just a shame that it started to rain and drove us inside from the terrace. Hoping for a particularly good night's sleep tonight after all the exercise.

Next day was “low key” to catch our breath, do a few necessary chores and update the blog, while sampling the Kaffee and Kuchen at the cafe. The Stellplatz remained only one third full, mainly Belgians, Dutch and Germans. We haven't seen a British motorcaravan since Bruges!

4 June

Only 17 miles along the Moselle to the next stop at Piesport. We had originally intended to stay at a Stellplatz for 6 'vans behind a small vineyard but when we arrived there was no one else there and the six pitches were pretty much in the vineyard which we found a bit claustrophobic. So we moved on to Stellplatz Piesporter Goldtroepfchen (translates as little drops of gold – how pretty!). This is a delightful Stellplatz with basic facilities for 30 'vans right by the river and we were even more pleased when we were greeted by English neighbours.

The weather was a bit unpredictable all day, but we ventured out for a walk in the early afternoon, visiting the vineyard, previously rejected as a stopover, for a sampling of a few wines, inevitably culminating in the purchase of a few bottles! Didn't confess to the owner that we didn't like his Stellplatz – hope he didn't recognise us! We also managed a short bike ride along the river, in the opposite direction to what I had intended; my sense of direction does not get any better.

The day ended by passing a very pleasant couple of hours with the neighbours, Trevor and Sue, and two bottles of wine in their palatial Hymer van.

5 June

Another massive journey of 25 miles to Camping Rissbach, www.moselcampings.de where we opted to stay on a site for a night for the extra facilities. Another cracking location close to the river, very like a Caravan Club Site, with a detailed registration process, quite a culture shock after the laid-back experience of the Stellplaetze. Given that the site is Dutch-owned, it's no surprise to find that it is largely occupied by Dutch "tuggers" (as caravanners are referred to in the motorhoming fraternity). En route we stopped at Kues-Bernkastel; Bernkastel is a charming old town on one side of the river, with half timbered buildings and narrow, cobbled streets, with Kues over the bridge on the other side.

We walked up to a viewpoint for some fine vistas of the twin towns.

There is parking for motorcaravans, with a motorhome service point, by the river on the Kues (west) side between 10:00 and 18:00, (but not overnight) free for the first hour, then Euro 1.20 per hour thereafter. Theodora is fourth from the right in the posse of motorcaravans in the photo below.