The Moselsteig – Day 11 – Ürzig to Traben-Trarbach

This was a relatively easy day with just 14 km to cover. However, it was made a little complicated by heavy rain. It also saw the first stirrings of a muscular problem that would bother me on and off over the coming days.

Breakfast in Ürzig was a relatively simple affair, but served in the hotel restaurant that had a stunning view of the river below.

The day’s trail was fairly undulating, but with no steep ascents or descents for once. Even so, it was the usual start on this trail with a climb up from the hotel to reach higher ground at the Burgberg with a great view back over Ürzig and the Hochmoselbrücke in its entirety.

The trail then wove between the woods and the vineyards for the rest of the morning, more or less at the same altitude. Again, we had the same fine views of the valley as on previous days.

The walking was easy and we were making good progress, and so likely to arrive way before the check-in time at our hotel. We decided to keep going anyway, with the idea of having a bite of lunch on arriving in Traben-Trarbach.

Above the village of Wolf, we were treated to a wonderful view of a bend in the river that we were able to see in its entirety for once. Often, the trail is too high above the river and the slope below too steep to get a clear view of such bends that are typical of the meandering Moselle.

Shortly after passing a holiday centre that seemed very popular with Dutch tourists, on a brief section heading downhill, I suddenly felt a twinge in my left calf, in a muscle that often cramps when I’m swimming. So I began drinking a lot more water which usually helps to ease cramp. It seemed to work, but, nonetheless, a dull pain lingered.

And then, at midday, the heavens finally opened. As we were only about 2 km from our destination at this point, I thought I could manage without my waterproof rain trousers, thinking that the quick-dry hiking trousers that I was wearing would suffice. But it was quite a downpour and, after a while, I began to feel very uncomfortable as the rain streamed over my pack cover and began to a trickle down between my buttocks! I tend to learn something new on each hike and I now know that the rain trousers have to go on as soon as possible, despite the hassle of getting into them, to avoid discomfort in the nether regions when using a efficient pack cover!

In the rain, we missed the turn-off to the Mont-Royal fortress that was built under Louis XIV and continued to make our way down to Traben, passing a group of unhappy grape-pickers who had been obliged to halt work because of the rain.

At this point, the nagging pain in my calf was getting a little more intense and, as we approached the town, we spotted a winery with a restaurant and headed straight for it.

There, I was able to sample a seasonal speciality of this area, onion tart served with Federweisser, in other words fermented freshly pressed grape juice. It seems that it is found in wine-producing countries all the way across central Europe, as far as Armenia and Georgia. According to Wikipedia, it is known in France as vin bourru or vernache, but I had never heard of it in my 40 years living in the country. I had seen signs outside restaurants offering it since entering the wine country proper in Leiwen, and now I had the chance to finally try it. Despite its rather unappetizing aspect, it was surprisingly delicious and very refreshing. Definitely something to have again. As for the onion tart, it was so good I had two pieces.

When we left the winery and set off down the slope to cover the last few hundred metres to our hotel, the pain in my calf was much more intense after an hour or so without moving. Even though it was only 2 PM at that point, we decided to see if our room at the hotel was ready. And it was. We hung everything up to dry near the radiators (the pack covers had again done a great job), and did some stretching exercises in an attempt to ease the pain in my calf. That seemed to work, and after resting for an hour or so, we went out for a good slice of cake and tea at a beautiful local coffee shop. We then took a walk around the town in an attempt to find a place to buy a few snacks for the next day’s hike, but didn’t find anywhere right away. We even crossed over the river to Trarbach, but found nothing but restaurants and wine stores.

We then went back to the hotel to rest a little more before going out to dinner. This time, we had been sure to reserve a table, but the restaurant, Litziger Lay, had been unable to fit us in before 8:30 PM. It was a place specialized in Austrian cuisine about 1.5 km from the hotel and, when the time came to set off, the heavens opened again with another terrific downpour. Fortunately, we were able to borrow two umbrellas from the hotel reception, but arrived nonetheless at the restaurant soaked from the knees down. The rain had stopped by the time we finished eating and we were able to return to the hotel without opening the umbrellas again. And, by the way, the food and the Austrian red wine that we had with it were excellent. Further confirmation that the Moselle Valley is a great place for foodies like us!