Saturday, October 8, 2011

Kattenes to Briedel 10-1-11

The Mosel upstreams of Kattenes
Burg Bishopsstein
Burg Cochem
Cochem waterfront
One railed tram to carry men and grapes up and down the vineyards
One rail tram.  These wind up the vineyards and over the retaining walls.  They run like a cog rail way
A load of grapes

We left Kattenes in a high fog and crossed the river to stay on the main route.  One of the riders was mad because the sun didn't show as soon as on the other side.  The canyon narrows and the grapes grow almost to the top of the hills.  The grape harvest is in full swing.  The grape pickers use little rail cars to get to the top of the vineyards.  Famous Mosel wines are made here.  Names like Zellerschwarzekatz, bullaybrautrock, Briedeler herzchen, Kroevernacktarsch.  There were more castles along the way, too many to photograph or remember.  At Senheim the trail went thru a deep damp woods on a muddy rocky trek.  The was more whining from the person who wanted to be on the other side in the sunshine.  Finally reached Treis and back in the sunshine and to Cond with Burg Cochem sitting above it.  We passed the steepest vineyards in all of Germany and arrived at our BandB in Breidel.  No one was home so we took a ride thru the very small village and found a wine garden where we had federweisen.  We returned to Arthur Fischer, winegut,  and got our room.  They had harvested their vineyard and were pressing the grapes while we watched.  Mac got a lesson on winemaking and Johanna sampled the grape juice.  The Fischers are a very nice old couple.  We went to dinner at the Restaurant called "Musikal Wirt".  The place was packed and we had sit with another couple from Hannover.  Had some good conversation and there were lots of hugs when we parted.   Because of the unavailability of rooms elsewhere we decided to spend another night there as a rest day. 










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