Messerich Wanderings

Day 38. Messerich. Saturday 20th.

This morning after Yvonne had a rest we went again to Trier after lunch. Today we both bought a _serious_ pair of hiking boots each - made for Scotland I think! We both now feel much cosier and more comforatble. Then we went for a drive along the Mosel River, which is amazingly pretty countryside. The Mosel is quite sinuous and in places the valley walls are quite steep. But they grow grapes all along the valley, even on the realy steep slopes, which is truly amazing! We stopped at a small town with a castle ruins (Berncastle) and had a short wander around the town - some amazing looking houses - narrow at the bottom of the house and then wider up higher - quite amazing! We were there at a lovely time of the day, with the sun just setting, so the colours were really beautiful. We then drove back to Bitburg and went to a traditional German Pub for dinner. Angus managed to down two flagons of Bitburger Beer, and I had a little one, and we ate great food - Angus of course had a Schnitzel with sauerkrauet and potatoes and I had a Turkey steak which was really tasty!

Day 39. Messerich. Sunday 21st.

This morning we drove to Ectanarch, which is just over the border in Luxembourg. Yvonne and I went to a church service together and Angus had a coffee and found some free wifi. After church, we went and had a coffee and cake (yummy!) nearby. Then we went for a lovely drive to a forest where we had a picnic lunch. After lunch we went for a walk through the forest - it was really lovely. The area is filled with crater lakes, so the views over the lakes are lovely. The forest is full of large trees, with small leaves that are at the moment turning into autumn colours - golds, oranges, reds - really pretty against the dark and light greens and browns of the other trees. It was a lovely walk, and we also came upon a pear tree with pears that were really tasty! We then went back to Yvonnes. It's the apple harvest at the moment and today is festival day, so Angus and I walked up to the local pub, an underground cellar-pub which makes its own schnapps! So we decided to try an apple schnapps and a slice of appple cake! Yum. We also tried a couple of other schnapps, and had a chat to the guy behind the bar. It was really nice, and full of people with a good atmosphere. We then went back for a nice dinner with Yvonne ;-)

Day 40. Messerich. Monday 22nd. Happy Birthday Muma!

Today Angus and I rode into Bitburg. We had lunch in a small cafe overlooking the mall and had a short wander around. It was really pleasant, but a bit cold! We met up with Yvonne after she finished work and we went to the supermarket with her to stock up on supplies for chirstmas (beer and wine!!) We had a quiet afternoon at home chatting, and after dinner we played a game of 'tom rummy', which was fun!

Day 41. Messerich to Amsterdam. Tuesday 23rd.

Trains again all day! We rode to Bitburg this morning leaving Yvonnes about 8am when it was about 2 degrees! eek. Angus still wore his shorts, but put thermals on underneath! It was a nice ride - luckily it was a bit uphill so we kept warm. We stopped in bitburg for a warm up coffee and then rode on to Erdorf which is where the train left from. The sun was up now but it was still _freezing_ cold, so we froze as we rode down the hill to Erdorf! So once we were at the train station we stood in the sunshine until the train came (late) about 30minutes later. The rest of the trains went really smoothly, we had 3 connections and it went really easily even with the bikes. We got to Amsterdam Centraal about 6:30 and then eventually managed to find our way to David and Jose's apartment, which is great - on the corner of two canals, the top two floors of an apartment building. We had a great meal and then a chilled out evening.