The Final Night on Board

The final day of any extended ride is always a little sad, especially when the cycling conditions were absolutely perfect. Once you settle into a simple routine of daily riding, it really is hard to stop.

Today we would not only be completing our final ride, but we would also be saying goodbye to the beautiful Moselle River that had been the theme of our week of riding. It was now time to join the Saar River and then follow it to the end of our ride at Saarburg.

For almost the entire ride we stuck closely to the riverbank. At one stage we had a brief transit through the tiny country of Luxembourg, before catching a ferry back across the river back to Germany again.

Maggie and I rode by ourselves for most of the day and enjoyed the quietness and solitude. At the end of the ride we removed our personal gear from the bikes, and prepared for the next stage of our adventure.

That evening was the final night on board, and by tradition, this is when the captain plays host. He also made a special announcement that, because of the terrible mooring location in Trier, all the drinks would be free. I suspected that this would have happened regardless of where we had moored.

Needless to say, it was a very noisy night, and we were happy to retire to our cabin earlier than usual.

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to the Olympia, and look forward to a couple of bicycle free days in Saarburg.Read more