Time for a rest

Sonia pedalling like a champ.

Today's cycling was about as varied as can be, ranging from smooth-as-a-baby's-bottom asphalt, to reasonably smooth paving stones, to said paving stones heaved up by tree roots every 5 metres, to steep (but relatively short) hills, to dirt roads. But of course, the Moselle was our constant companion. The hills we climbed repaid us with some nice and different views of the river and surrounding hills.

The Moselle from on high (this is actually from a bridge).

Crooked selfie. 

Don't judge...

Our mid-morning stop featured some excellent strudel and "cappuccino" (I just can't...) and when we finally stopped for lunch, after about 45 km, we had peanut butter and jam sandwiches (since northern Europeans eat ham and cheese for breakfast, we decided to have what we usually eat for breakfast for lunch), enhanced with chocolate spread and bananas. One of the benefits of cycle touring is that you can eat whatever you want...

It was a fairly hot day today, so we got an early start. As a result, we arrived in Cochem just before 2 p.m. I had heard it was a pretty town with a castle on a hill, so I was looking out for it as we approached.

On the road. 

Our first view of Cochem's hill-top castle.

The Airbnb we splurged for has turned out to be spectacular, and after five days on the road, we decided that we (and our bottoms) could do with a day off. Alas, the apartment is not free tomorrow. But our host has a friend just down the road who has a room free. It's not nearly as opulent, but it's close, less expensive, and nice enough. Tomorrow is the feast of Corpus Christi, so naturally, everything is closed here (!!!). Good thing we heard about it, so we stocked up on groceries. Showers are forecast for tomorrow afternoon, so we're going to use some different muscles and do some hiking in the hills around Cochem tomorrow morning. It will make for a nice change.

The view from our balcony.