Gravel to Gerolstein

When I set off, it was cool, only seven degrees or so. Still, no problem, I was soon climbing up a hill that warmed me up. The hill road took me into a woodland that soon turned into a dark, coniferous forest. As the path went downhill, the temperature plummeted down to only two degrees, and I was getting quite chilly, with my summer clothing. Normally, I am happy to be in the woods, especially as they were particularly beautiful with the low sunshine shining through the moss-clad trees, but today I was happy to leave them behind and warm up in the sunshine as I went out into the open.
I cycled through Lissendorf, where we had once stayed many years ago, sharing a garden with a forensic scientist back from identifying victims in Bosnia and trying to get some peace in the countryside here. I joined the Kyll Radweg, following the river and railway along the valley to Junkerath. I am always struck by how these little Eifel villages always have apparently thriving small industrial estates full of small factories and engineering workshops making things. Perhaps the German economy is not as broken as the papers would have us believe.
On leaving Junkerath, the route went through the middle of Landal Wirftal. That involved cycling up an astonishingly steep road, which was only possible by a combination of the lowest gear, standing on my pedals and zig-zagging across the road. When I left the part, I continued to go up for quite a long way, until I was at 600 m height with spectacular views all around.
I then went through another dark forest. This time, it wasn't cold, but it was a very technical path; narrow, damp, and with great big knobbly roots across the path. It would have been challenging on my mountain bike, and I even had to get off and walk a few metres.
After that, I passed a small white chapel on top of a hill, which seems to be very typical of the Eifel and it was then mostly downhill into Gerolstein. As I went downhill, there was a clang, and the cap of my thermos flask overtook me , rolling down the hill. Apparently, it had not been done up tight and had worked itself loose.
Once there, I went to the Lidl and got some lunch, which I took to the nearby riverside park to eat.
The cycle path out of Gerolstein was closed due to roadworks, but fortunately that was only a short (albeit steep) diversion. It was less fortunate for a large lorry coming the other way which had decided not to believe the road closed signs and got itself thoroughly stuck.
After Gerolstein, it was only ten kilometres to get back to Hillesheim, albeit over a large hill. On top of the hill, a wind turbine had had its blades removed, and they were sitting on the ground. You would have thought they this was temporary, but they had been there long enough to accumulate some graffiti.
When I got back, there were 65 kilometres on the clock and about a thousand height metres. My Gavere had passed its test in the hills with flying colours.Read more