Lahn Cycle Path: Koblenz to Beilstein

Saturday, 6th June 2020

Today, my mom and I were about to start our final stage of our Lahn adventure. The attentive reader might be thinking: 'Huh? Yesterday, the Lahn already flowed into the Rhine? Where else do they want to go?', and of course, the reader is right.

Let's see it more as part of our journey back home, because my dad would pick us up in Beilstein by car. And Beilstein is still a day's bike ride away from Koblenz, which we would do on the Moselle Cycle Path.

But why exactly Beilstein? It's just a village! One of my dad's uncles lives there, and since he's already old and we're in the area, we want to visit him as well. In this sense, our journey back home of our Lahn cycle path adventure begins!

Our last day started again with a very extensive breakfast in the hotel dining room. We were the only ones there for a long time, but as always, we were just very early. There was everything you could wish for, and there was really good music playing in the background! And the hostess was really nice, we talked to her for a long time about the effects of Corona on her inn, because besides us, there were hardly any people there.

Then we set off, and the weather played along again: actually, it was still cloudy when we drove to the German Corner, but the sun was shining through more and more frequently. Unfortunately, it was still cool.

And then we went along the Moselle, which was lined with vineyards on both sides, with steep slopes! Although our cycle path ran quite close to a busy road, the noise didn't bother us much when we had such a great view. So we continued for a while.

At some point, I noticed how the dark clouds in the sky increased, but the sun still shone through. Quickly, I took a couple of photos, and just as I put my phone back in my pocket, it started to drizzle. And then it happened quickly: it poured down! Luckily, we were right next to a village, where we quickly rode in and sought shelter under a passage between a residential house and a garage. We waited there for a while until the rain subsided. Then we slowly dared to continue.

From now on, my mom was cautious: when we passed a shelter in Löf a few kilometers later, we decided to stop there just in case, even though it wasn't raining. However, there were bushes there, behind which we could pee while overlooking the Moselle. When my mom got bored waiting for the rain, we continued.

Hardly had we started again when it started to drizzle lightly again, but that was still bearable. It was only when we reached Burgen that the rain became stronger and stronger. Because it was already half past 11, we planned to look for a shelter in the village and have our packed lunch there. However, we didn't find any. Disappointed and quite wet, we rode out of Burgen again - and we could hardly believe our luck!

Right on the side of the road, but protected, there was a chapel! A very small one, but it had wooden benches on the walls and was open. A sign on the wall explained in rhyme that all hikers and cyclists were welcome here and could find refuge from heat and weather, as long as they didn't vandalize anything. We left our bikes outside and sat in the chapel with our food.

First, we took a comfortable break, ate, drank, and talked. Soon, however, we got very cold in our wet clothes. But we couldn't think of continuing the journey anytime soon. So we had to warm up somehow. We did that with the song 'Laurentia, beloved Laurentia'. If you don't know the song: every time the word 'Laurentia' or a weekday is mentioned in the song, you have to do a squat. If you sing the song all the way through, you will have done 63 squats. We had a lot of fun, and afterwards we were warm again!

Finally, the rain subsided again, and we were able to continue our journey. Always very close to the Moselle, we continued, sometimes slightly uphill, but mostly very flat, close to the riverbank. We approached Cochem from above, and it was a fantastic view! If we hadn't been so wet, we would have probably taken a closer look at the town. And we passed by the infamous Bundesbank bunker, where 15 billion Deutsche Mark were kept top secret until 1988.

From Cochem, it was not far to Beilstein, and the route was beautiful along the flowing Moselle, surrounded by vineyards. Finally, we arrived in Beilstein, which is also beautifully built into the slope. There are small restaurants, souvenir shops, and shops belonging to the local winegrowers. On top of that, there is a monastery with a café, which was our destination. We left our bikes at the ship's landing stage down below and walked through the beautiful narrow alleys. Actually, we wanted to stroll leisurely, but then it started to pour down again for the third time that day. Once again, we reached the safe shelter only when we were already completely wet.

Nevertheless, we sat in the café, and the boss came over immediately. She is a good friend of my dad's uncle and helped him renovate and operate the café. My parents have known her for a long time. We had cake and coffee there and chatted. Finally, Uncle Schorsch, also known as Father Justin, came. He is already over 80 now and although he is still fit, you can tell his age.

He told a lot: about the war, his childhood, his missionary work in Brazil, how he built and operated the café in the old monastery building, and he philosophized about theology and physics. It was really interesting.

Later, my dad finally arrived by car. Together, we bought several boxes of Moselle wine, walked around the castle and the vineyard, and finally had dinner. There are also two guest rooms in the converted monastery, where we stayed overnight, attended a church service the next day (in which Father Justin participated especially for us), and finally drove home. On the way home, dad had a surprise for us: during our absence, the first strawberries of our own had grown in the garden, and together with my brothers, he had baked a strawberry cake for us!

Stage: Koblenz to Beilstein

Distance covered: 62 kilometers

Weather: sunny and cool at first, then windy, then cloudy with frequent heavy rain showers