From Zell, we headed to Cochem, another relatively easy day - only 40 km. Pretty typical ride through the vinelands, so lots of beautiful scenery, picturesque towns -ho hum!! Several interesting places to stop along the way. Stopped on the bridge to watch a ship going through the lock -not ours, but she would be coming along later. Cycled on to Bremmer-Calmont where we marvelled at the world’s steepest vineyard, at 65% grade. It is just mind-boggling to think of how challenging that must be to plant, tend to and pick the vines on a slope that steep! Not far from there we saw across the river the remains of a monastery that dates back to the 12 century.
At Beilstein we pulled in to have lunch and then hiked up to the ruins of Metternich Castle, which also dates back to the 12th century. It has been developed with a restaurant attached to the castle. Mer and I decided to climb up to the top of the tower for a panoramic view of the surrounding area. It was up a one-person-at-a-time spiral staircase, but well worth the effort for the amazing view of the Mosel from there!
Continued on to Cochem, with a stop just shy of there to take pictures of the 11th century Colchem Castle, which sits high on a hill overlooking the town. Arrived back at the ship in time for afternoon coffee and treats, followed by an even better treat up on the top deck - the bottle of Piesporter Reisling that Mer and I had picked up for Irv when we rode through there.
Another delicious dinner, a quick walk along the waterfront to try and capture the castle all lit up, and then back to the ship for Tombollo night. This is essentially a raffle where you buy tickets for draw prizes. There were some good prizes as well as some pretty lame ones. Our table was not a lucky one, unfortunately. Mer won a bag of chips! Several of the passengers won multiple times. Guess the Tombollo gods were just not smiling on us!