Day 10 Koblenz-Stolzenfels to Alken 17km

Fantastic day! Such good walking. Such good walking culture. Imagine getting up on a Saturday morning and having dozens of places to choose from for a walk!

Took the bus from the centre of Koblenz a little bit south to Stolzenfels, the start of the Mosel-Camino. It’s only 6 or 7 km, and so I had thought I would walk, but then I thought I would make an easier day. And it was nice to just get right onto the route! Mosel-Camino is what they call it. The marked route is less than 20 years old. My guess is that calling it a Camino rather than a Jakobsweg is a bit of marketing.

It was a short day, just 17 km. The start is on the Rhine. And then up to a small church with a lot of statues of the tortured Jesus — arrows, blood, the whole thing. I met Alex and Yvonne, pilgrims from somewhere in the north of Germany, while I was eating my breakfast (quark — why can we not get quark at home? - and a banana) in the church garden. This route is much more popular than the last one, and the Mosel valley is a touristy place. So I am guessing I will see some more pilgrims.

Lots of elevation right off the bat and for a good while, but the grade was gentler than the paths last week. 15 minutes in, there is a humongous castle, looking out over the Rhine at another humongous castle across the river. This one is Schloss Stolenzfels. Very impressive- but it was not open yet, so no visiting.

Unlike last weekend, there were a lot of people out walking today. Well, maybe not a lot, but some! A walking group with a lot of very noisy poles. And a few mountain bikers. A man pushing a stroller up a very steep rocky track. And a good number of people just out for a stroll. Busiest place all day was the recycling drop off and the place to drop off yard waste.

After the castle the path stays in the woods for a good while. I caught up to Yvonne and Alex (I was trying not to) and walked with them for a bit. But then I went for coffee and a raisin bun at a bakery just off the path, and so I didn’t see them again until much later.

It was mostly overcast but every so often the sun came out. I’m trying to manage my own temperature better. My main complaint has just been over heating going up hill. So more stops to take my jacket off and put it back on!

One of the cool things on this Camino is that a lot of the markings are on bird or bat boxes or insect hotels. There is some kind of biodiversity project at work here.

I apparently missed at least two stamps today, though I got one just before coming down into Alken. After a super long period of descending, the trail, annoyingly,
goes up again and then comes out of the woods to, finally, views where you can see the Mosel - valley and river - and another castle. There’s a small beautiful church and benches and signs for about 20 options of how to descend. A group of people were having a picnic , with wine, outside the church. It was so European.

I got a stamp inside the church. Had the sandwich I’d been carrying around all day and then did the last super steep bit down into the village. So steep that there is a sign at the top advising you to have proper footwear ! Along the path were - the guidebook says, I would never have know - seven (not 12!) stations of the cross!

The path goes through grape vines and there were little signs telling you which ‘weingut’ they belong to.

Alken is a long narrow town along the river, with not much in terms of everyday services but a lot of wineries and wine tasting rooms. And a lot of tourists.

I’m staying in rooms over top of a bakery. It was clearly the place to be today around 4:00, but, incredibly, I did not feel like kaffee and kuchen today!

I had a fab dinner with wine from the hill I had walked down! A few hundred metres from the table! Some other people came into the restaurant carrying packs with hiking poles. Maybe there will be other pilgrims tomorrow.Read more