Zell

We all knew we would be in for a hot day of riding. In fact it would be the hottest day so far. One of the advantages of these bike and boat trips is that there is no pressure or expectation on anyone to ride if they don't want to. There is always the option of spending a relaxing day on board the boat instead. And that is exactly what Maggie and I did.

After yesterday's hot ride and after being one of the few to make the hard climb to Eltz Castle, we just were not enthused enough to climb back on the bikes in the hot sun.

This left us with the morning free to explore Cochem, before the boat was due to depart. As it turned out, we got back about an hour early, which was just as well because the boat was already getting ready to leave. I don't know what would have happened if we had been back any later.

The city of Cochem is dominated by the towering Cochem Castle. This can either be reached via a tough walk, or an easy bus ride. Maggie and I had decided that we would take the bus, however we discovered that the first bus was not until 10.30 am, which would leave us very little time to explore the castle anyway. Oh well, you can't see everything.

At 11.30 am we were off and sailing. It was a real tonic to be able to sit and watch the scenery pass by. In fact it was just like being a passenger on one of those infamous "pyjama boats". On such boats you really don't have to do anything apart from slip into your pyjamas on the first day, and then just look out the window of your cabin.

To make us a little more comfortable the steward had folded up our beds and converted them into two seats. This also made the cabin considerably more spacious.

The recurring feature of this part of the Moselle is the steep hills on both sides of the river. Most of these steep slopes have been covered with vineyards for hundreds of years. We wondered how tough it would be tending the vines on such unforgiving ground. It was little wonder than many of these vineyards had developed little motorised carts to cope with the gradient. I wondered what would happen if they ever suffered a brake failure.

We enjoyed a light lunch on board with a small number of fellow passengers who had also made the wise decision to avoid the heat.

Each day at around 4 pm the riders are welcomed back on board the boat with a hot tea or coffee and a slice of cake. Of course, this time we were the first in the queue.

Tomorrow is also predicted to be another hot day, although the predicted top temperature of 29C is a little milder than today's scorching 33C.Read more