As we’d just had a hectic couple of days we decided that on Monday we’d explore back down the Mosel away from Koblenz on our bikes. We had a lazy morning and then after lunch set off on the northern side of the river to Winningen, about 10 km away (sounds like Vinegar – let’s hope the wine tastes better than that!) The ride was lovely as we found a path alongside the vines away from the road, and it was a warm and pleasant day too which added to the relaxed journey.
However, once we arrived at Winningen we realised that it was right in the middle of their wine festival. Unlike Cochem, the place was very busy, with all the bars and restaurants packed with customers, as well as outside stalls doing brisk business. And being mid afternoon by the time we got there, it was apparent that most people were well lubricated!
We parked our bikes with dozens of others in the village’s main square and set off on foot to explore. We came across quite a few people propping one another up, as well as a group of young ladies singing drinking songs as they walked along. However, there were areas which were quiet away from the crowds, and we were able to get a good look at Winningen’s sights.
We then plucked up courage and sat down at a crowded bar to wine taste. We both tried the local Riesling – grapes grown at the Domgarten vineyard on the hill overlooking the village – and very nice it was too, sharp and fruity – all the while being entertained by the antics of the locals. We then made our leisurely way back to Guls and the campsite.
On Tuesday we were up and out by nine o’clock as we were driving to Cologne, about 70 minutes away up the autobahn. I’d decided to use one of the many Park & Ride car parks, as I’d read that Cologne’s City centre was very busy and parking hard to come by. I’d chosen one to the south east of the city as this was the right side for us, yet was still a 30 minute tram ride from the centre. I’d managed to get it programmed into SatNav Satan and we arrived without a hitch, albeit that the area was very industrial. Having parked we crossed the bridge to the platform for Cologne, and a tram arrived as we approached, so we got on straight away. I’d expected to see a ticket machine at the station, but there wasn’t one, so assumed we’d buy tickets on the tram. However that wasn’t possible either, and as we neared our destination, we realised that we stood a better chance of not being pulled up for travelling without a ticket if we got off early, so that’s what we did. Our chosen stop also had a ticket machine so we bought tickets for the return journey whilst we were there.
We’d left the tram about 2 km away from the centre so we set off to walk, and having stopped for coffee and passed through a couple of shopping precincts arrived at our destination, Cologne Cathedral, also known as the Kolner Dom.
We’ve seen dozens of cathedrals on this trip, some more spectacular than others but this one simply takes your breath away. It’s huge! At 157m tall it’s the largest cathedral in Germany. Construction started in 1248, but building was eventually halted in 1560 when funds ran out. The half built church stood for nearly 300 years and was even used by Napoleon as a stable and prison when he occupied the town. Eventually the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV provided the funds for it to be completed, and it was finally finished in 1880, some 632 years after it was started. Who says the Germans always get things done on time?!
Miraculously it escaped WWII bombing raids, despite all around it being razed to the ground. We spent most of the time admiring the outside as there was a service in progress inside, so access was restricted to the rear of the building. However it is the outside which is most spectacular, so we didn’t feel short changed at all. After we’d taken in as much as we could, we set off on a guide book recommended 2 km walk down one side of the Rhine, crossing the Deutzer Brucke and the Hohenzollernbrucke, and back up the other. The Cathedral continued to dominate the skyline throughout, and if anything the view of it from across the river was even more spectacular, as you realised how small the surrounding tall buildings actually are when compared to its grandeur.
The last leg of the walk was on a pedestrian walkway alongside the railway bridge across the river. The bridge parapet is covered in padlocks, all colours, shapes and sizes, put there by those in love to demonstrate their undying affection for another, or indeed each other! The bridge is about 400 m long, and every square inch of space was taken up with a padlock. I’ve seen this before in Paris, but not on this scale. And as expected, there were entrepreneurial engravers offering locks for sale in close proximity. If I were the local council I’d be worried about how much strain this extra metal was putting on my bridge!
By now we were getting hungry and thirsty (the temperature was in the high twenties once more) so we stopped for lunch and a drink at a riverside restaurant. I tried the local speciality which was baked black pudding, crispy fried onions served on a bed of mashed potato – delicious! Karol was grateful for something other than sausage, so she had chanterelle mushrooms in sauce with saute potatoes.
We then walked off our lunch by strolling around the rest of the old centre. Cologne was obviously very badly damaged during WWII, and the city is a odd mixture of mainly new buildings in and amongst the few remaining old buildings. We came across a church which had been restored in a modern style onto what was left of the original building. It was very effective. We stopped for a last drink, a glass of the local Kolsch – a slightly sweet, lager type beer – in the square overlooking the cathedral before heading for the tram station (also confusingly known as the underground!). We asked for directions (not realising that the tram and underground were the same thing), headed to our platform and caught a no 16 tram to take us back to the park and ride. Everything was going swimmingly until we hit the surface streets and then we ground to a halt. We waited for about 15 minutes in the sweltering heat (about 40 degrees in the tram car) before there was an announcement and everyone started to get off. We didn’t know what to do so Karol went and asked the driver who explained that the tram in front had broken down, and he didn’t know when it would move so he’d suggested to customers to try line 18 instead. Of course this was no use to us as it didn’t go to our station, but a few people had remained on board, and luckily after another 5 minutes the tram in front moved off, all the passengers we’d left crowded back on, and we were off. There were no other hold-ups and 20 minutes later we arrived at our stop, picked up the car, and drove back to Guls.
The weather was fine again on Wednesday so we cycled further beyond Winningen to Kobern. Kobern is yet another beautiful village surrounded by vineyards, and is home to allegedly the oldest half timbered house in Germany, the Haus Simonis, which was built in 1321.
The market square was particularly pretty, with incredibly well maintained buildings, and as we found everywhere in Germany it was spotlessly clean.
We stopped for a coffee and had a walk round the village before cycling on to Gondorf which had a good write up in our local guide book but which was a bit of a disappointment after Kobern. We headed back towards the campsite, stopping at Winningen for more local wine, and plum cake for me – it was much quieter this time, we think Monday must have been a local holiday.
It rained heavily on Thursday morning as we were packing up to leave for Zeeland, it is definitely much harder to break camp in the rain! We set off at 10 and all was going well until we were north of Cologne, when we hit an enormous traffic jam. It looked as though there were two separate incidents within a very short distance, and yet again our exit off the motorway was closed. Along with everyone else we got back on the motorway, and crawled on our way for the next half hour. Satan was trying to get us to take the next exit – difficult to know if she was just trying to get us to turn round or if the exit would have taken us in the right direction – so we ignored her and carried on to take a road which wasn’t finished when our map was printed! Luckily it was fully open and a very good, quiet road, so we drove through part of the Netherlands near Eindhoven, and then on into Belgium. The roads here were much busier and not as good but we navigated the Antwerp ring road and headed north back into the Netherlands. Immediately the roads improved and were so quiet we reached our campsite at Groot Valkenisse on the west coast of Zeeland within an hour.
Our pitch is mostly in the shade and quite muddy after the recent rain here, but we set up and went for a walk to find the beach.
This area has is home to the highest sand dunes in Europe but someone has very kindly put in steps (over 100 each side of the dunes) so we get a good workout just going to the beach! But the view from the top is stunning. The beach is very wide, has lovely clean sand, and is almost deserted. Cargo ships pass by amazingly close to the beach; we can sit for hours just watching them. There is also a very convenient cafe/bar!
On Thursday night we had a thunderstorm with the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard – it’s a good job we have subtitles on the TV. I know it’s quite sad but we are hooked on the TV series 24, and it has become our routine to watch at least one episode each evening! We managed to watch Jack Bauer resolve another crisis but it rained heavily again during the night and the next morning all the things we keep outside were splattered with mud – annoying as we’d cleaned them all off when we moved to this site. We decided to ask at reception if there were any other pitches available, and on Monday we’re moving about 100 metres to a pitch which is not so much in the shade – hopefully even if it all gets soaked again we can dry it more easily. We’ve also found out a strange thing here in the Netherlands – many places, shops, restaurants, campsites, will not take credit cards or even debit cards – only Maestro cards which just about every other country has phased out in favour of Visa or MasterCard Dedit cards. Maestro are identified by the fact that their numbers are not raised. This is a problem for us as all our cards have raised numbers, so Grant set off to find a cash point so we could pay the campsite in cash. He eventually came back after about an hour after a frustrating drive round, but luckily with some cash! Nowhere else that we’ve been has had this situation but just a warning for anyone visiting this country.
Saturday had a good weather forecast so we cycled to Domberg, about 15km away and on the north coast of Zeeland. As we set off the sky looked ominously dark in the direction we were cycling, but we persevered thinking the clouds would blow over. Of course they didn’t, so we ended up sheltering under some trees and chatting to a lovely couple who have a holiday home in this area. They insisted we must carry on to Domberg and not turn back, so we continued and despite another shower (we weren’t adequately dressed for the weather, just t-shirts and shorts) the sun was shining when we got there. What a fabulous cycle path, right along the coast with gorgeous views all the way, especially around Westkapelle where the cycle path is high above the beach. Domberg is lovely, an unspoilt small town with cobbled streets and pavements, lots of mews cottages in-between the shops and cafes, and a fantastic beach. We just walked round and enjoyed the atmosphere, especially when a small brass band starting playing jazz to entertain the crowd.
Grant thinks he’s got gout again, so whilst Karol looked round the shops he found a pharmacy, and with the help of Google Translate (gout is jicht in Dutch in case you didn’t know) eventually got some ‘alternative’ medicines, one made from sea coral, which will allegedly make it better. We’ll see!
Having been inland for some months we were both looking forward to trying some fish again, so found a nice looking restaurant advertising mussels for Grant, and fish and chips for Karol (which turned out to be a whole plaice.) Both dishes were superb, and we once more walked off our lunch strolling around the small town, where we spotted an old fashioned, and more importantly working windmill. I think this is the first I’ve ever seen working.
Karol’s bike brakes had been binding on one of our previous rides and I’d adjusted them at the time, but today both wheels were binding once more, and I’d forgotten to bring my tools on the ride. YouTube proved helpful in letting me see exactly what I needed to adjust, but as there was a cycle shop in the town centre, I popped in there, and the guy adjusted the brakes for me with no charge. That’s a lesson for me – don’t go out without a coat or your tools!
We had a nice ride back to the site, retracing our steps along the cliff top, and called in at the supermarket on the way back for supplies. We arrived back at the caravan in the early evening – I’m not sure if it was the exercise, the sea air, or both, but we could both have fallen asleep on the spot! Using nothing more than willpower we still managed to get a couple of episodes of 24 in before retiring!