Beilstein & the Mosel River

Last full day in Cochem today.  It’s been great to drop anchor here after our last two relatively short stays.  Today was a ‘day off’.  But what is a day off when on holiday?  Ya have to do something.  We decided that we’d take the boat back to Beilstein, a small town that was our last stop before arriving in Cochem.  That visit was cut short by a sudden downpour / mini storm which although only lasted 30 minutes, was enough to interrupt the visit.  This morning is (for a change) heavily overcast and only 16C. Expected high is about 21C, so the heatwave has officially ended (in these parts anyway).
The morning started well with the usual big feed at breakfast, but this time with champagne!  Yup they came around with some bubbly (on the house).  It’d be too rude to say no!  Wunderbar!
All aboard.
Passing St Martins gate (Martinstor – 1352).
I think I snapped these buildings on the last boat ride. Worth a repeat.
Vines vines and vines on slopes slopes and slopes.
There’s a few folk out amongst the vines today. Seems today’s job is to tie the vines. Steep!
About to enter the lock (about half way between Cochem and Beilstein).We’ve got the green light to proceed.  The water level will be raised 7 metres (to the top of the black section you can see on the sides).Ok we’re in.  Up we go.  Surprising how quickly they fill these things up (Mind you, there’s no shortage of water to help us out!).
Nearly there.
And….  green light. Ready to roll.
There’s Beilstein.  A massive town <not> with a population of 137 (but who’s counting?).  We’ll climb up to the top of the Burg Metternich ruins, and not just to the ruins.  We’ll also climb to the top of the tall tower (just because it’s there!).
At the ‘main street’ Bachstrasse.In Marktplatz is Tithe House, a quarry stone building with polygonal staircase and half-hipped roof that dates back to 1537. (Updated in 1759!).Heading along Bachstrasse to find the walkway to the ruins.Otto’s cellar!Here it is.  (From the uphill side).It’s a relatively steep slog (but not a long slog). Noticed a few oldies putting in the hard yards, so well done to them.  Or was that me I just referred to!!  Dahhh….!  They sting you €2.50ea to walk up to the ruins!  Crazy. Fortunately, while Kath was paying I noticed a €5 note on the ground. Cost immediately covered!! 🙂First glimpse. Don’t expect anything startling. They are ruins after all.  You guessed it. The castle (which dates to 1268) was destroyed by the French during their castle bashing tour of Germany in 1689. Up and in.  It’s warming up a bit.  Jacket off!  But on the other side the wind will soon pick up.  Today the weather was sort of like New Plymouth weather.  Cloudy, sunny, cloudy, windy, rain, sunny, windy, cloudy, sunny etc <repeat>.  i.e. a pig’s breakfast.From the ruins I zoom in on the lock.  Our boat is heading into the left channel.Great views of the loop in the river.  Here’s the small town of Ellenz-Poltersdorf.The entrance to the old castle keep.  Up we go!  It’s a tight climb split into 4 sections (coz there’s no passing lanes in the tight stairways).
The view from the top, looking down on part of the ruins and the town.
Sweeping views from up here. The wide angle lens isn’t wide enough. Shoulda coulda done a panorama snap. Never mind.
Where shall we build our sports facilities?  In the vines of course!!Heading down.

And yes there’s a restaurant up here so drinks and food all ready for you!Down we go.  Ruins art.
Back into the main street (there aren’t too many others!).  This is the old toll house which dates back to 1634.Restaurants but not much else in Beilstein so ladies, forget coming here to shop!
We stopped in at a restaurant on Klostertreppe to sample a couple of the local wines.  As expected, they didn’t disappoint.
Photo taken by the folk opposite us. We returned the favour (as you do).

And a vine canopy thrown in. Nice.
Soon we’re boarding our boat for the return journey.  We’ve got company in the lock.  Enough room for us and one big bad boy barge, that’s it!

Start dropping the level!The overflow spillway. Going down!
Open sesame!Timeout for a moment.  I just want to say that we’ve had a variety of neighbours during our stay here in Cochem. No problems with any of them. All friendly. But today… we have some new American neighbours (from Arizona – they didn’t tell me, I overheard). Nice people anyway.  All along this 3rd level of the building are balconies, and the balconies aren’t exactly segregated so it’s easy to have a chat. Anyway, typically we have our doors to the balcony open during the evening.  Currently I’m sitting inside typing this blog post (as you do) and I can hear every word clearly from next door.  And I kid you not it’s like listening to a series of Barney crossed with the Waltons. LOL. Their conversations are soooo… ummm.. strange, if you know what I’m saying. Nevermind, back to task!
Below is our morning boat doing another run up the river.
Kath gets into the wine.  Probably due to another couple we met on board.  Man oh man.  Rick and Robyn from NY State.  Very nice people but as we all know, but sometimes Americans can be on a totally different wavelength when it comes to humour, and worldliness.  LOL. And we sure had some interesting conversations (both on the way to Beilstein, at Beilstein, and on the way back). Say no more!  But now I have that Bobby Day song ‘Rockin’ Robin’ stuck in my head.  Get it?  As soon as I heard their names. Cracked me up ‘Rick n Robyn’.
Oops sidetracked again.  Notice the camping in the background. Something we saw while driving through oodles of towns along the Mosel river. Camping grounds were heavily populated, and there were plenty of them as well.  Mind you, a beautiful river to camp beside!Ok I had to throw this pic in coz the boat was travelling the same speed as this dude, and he was with us for quite a while. 🙂Steep slopes, vines, a road, and river. <repeat>The An old monorack. Looks like a 3 seater.  Would you head up a 45 degree slope (and some) in one of these?Tieing the vines.  Watch your footing lads!  (A big zoom lens required for this pic).Another transportation track (probably just for gear going up and grapes coming down).These guys used the monorack.  Respect.  Looks like they’re also going to tie vines.Barge!All but back.
Outing done. About 4 hours altogether this round trip. Boat cost: €16ea.  Wine: €more.We walk towards the square and Kath makes a rare find. There’s Sauvignon Blanc in the window!!  Haven’t seen any until now (aside from a random few in the supermarket – including Brancott Estate from Marlborough @ €8.89 – NZD14.80).Into Markplazt again. The Rathaus closer up (virtually unchanged since 1739).
A couple shots in the square.
We wandered back down to the promenade to look for a lunch stop. With a name like Dudelsack, we had to go in!
Besides, this guy was in their display window!
Actually, not a bad feed.  I had a peppered steak which was cooked to perfection.  Kath had a schnitzel with ham and cheese on top.  Did the trick, we needed something after all the wine.
Time to cross the bridge to base, relax, drink more, blog, drink more, have some nibbles, drink more, and organise the bags for tomorrow’s departure.
Barge!  And full of bucket loads of scrap metal. Some load!
(Almost) barge art.
Ok… so it was soon time to crack into another of Willy’s takeaways from Dambach-la-Ville. Loved this Pinot Blanc.
Ooops I nearly forgot this one.  Scenario:  You’re at a supermarket in the Mosel river valley.  There are literally aisles and aisles and aisles of wine, and you’ve never heard of any of them.  You’re on holiday and work is not on your mind at all.  It’s a relaxing summer holiday.  Question: Which wine do you choose?  Answer: Below.  🙂

Ok… enough for today. Got things to do.
Guten nacht!