After yesterday’s 27 kilometres, this fourth day of hiking will be much easier, with around 15 kilometres to cover and “only” 550 metres to climb (and descend) to reach the wine-making village of Winningen.
I’m woken fairly early by the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread, croissants and cakes wafting up from the bakery on the ground floor. By breakfast time, my stomach is rumbling!
The day is cloudy and misty as ever, but as I leave my room to go down for a tasty breakfast, I discover that the air is damper than usual and that light rain is starting to fall. As I eat, I can see that the cars passing outside have their windscreen wipers on. Could this turn out to be a rainy day, even though the weather forecast says it will be dry?
After settling up with the friendly owner who has been baking since early that morning, I set off at around 9:30, later than usual as I don’t need to walk so far today. As soon as I leave, I put the cover on my pack to protect it, but remain hopeful that the rain will stay light and that I won’t need my rain jacket and trousers.
However, as I walk along the road and up the bridge to cross back over the Moselle to Kobern-Gondorf, it begins to rain quite heavily. The trail crosses the road, heads down a few steps and passes under the bridge before leading into the town. I make the most of the temporary shelter of the bridge to put my rain jacket on before heading into the town centre.
And, of course, shortly after I set off again, the rain begins to ease off! It continues half-heartedly for a while, but I can already tell the rain jacket will be coming off pretty soon, probably before the day’s first climb to the castle above the town.
After a quick stop at the bakery in the Rewe supermarket on the outskirts of Kobern-Gondorf to pick up a sandwich for lunch, I cross the quaint square of the small town where there’s a statue of the Tatzelwurm, a mythical, lizard-like creature with the face of a cat, the body of a snake, two forelegs and no hind legs. There are tales of such creatures in several areas of Europe, including here in the lower Moselle valley. The last report of one was back in the 17th century, in the Alps, so I don’t reckon I’m going to come across one today, but the beast clearly plays a role in local legend as the first section of today’s trail follows a circular path set up by the local council that is called the Tatzelwurmweg. I’ll be following it to the Rosenberg hill at 285 metres before it veers off the Moselsteig to return to the town.
From the square, the trail passes the large church and then begins to climb up to the Niederburg and Oberburg castles in the vineyards above the town. The former is the more impressive of the two, with the latter now just a few ruined walls. Once again, the trail is lined by the different stations of the Cross on the way up. The rain has now stopped and, even though the sky remains grey and cloudy, the jacket comes off and is stowed away for the rest of the day.
From the Oberburg, the trail continues to climb to the Matthias Kapelle, a small church dating from the 13th century. When I get there, I see a number of trucks parked nearby and hear the buzz of chainsaws. Just then, a young woman in full terrain clearing gear appears, spots me and tells me that a team is working around the chapel. If I want to take a look inside, I’ll just need to yell when I’m ready to continue. Otherwise, I can follow her and she’ll tell her colleagues to let me through right now. I decide to take advantage of this offer and set off after her. She gets the other team members to stop work for a minute and shifts a few branches to clear the way for me, before wishing me “bon voyage” in French, proof that after living 40 years in France I clearly have a French rather than an English accent when I speak German now.
The trail now passes through an expanse of woods that are tinged with all the colours of autumn, with plenty of leaves underfoot.
It heads down to the bottom of a valley and then climbs up to the Rosenberg where I find myself in farmland again with a number of fields to cross. As I enter the fields, there’s a terrific view back over the Niederburg below.
This is where the Tatzelwurmweg veers off to follow a loop back to Kobern-Gondorf while the Moselsteig enters the woods once more and descends to a narrow valley before a 200-metre climb up the other side of it.
This climb will be a tough one. There’s even a sign at the start of it warning that it’s going to be steep.
And steep it is! The narrow track heads uphill at a sharp angle, with steps in place on certain sections, zigzagging up to a viewpoint with a bench overlooking the valley where I decide to take a break for lunch before continuing the rest of the climb. While I’m sitting there eating my sandwich and chatting to my parents in the UK on WhatsApp, a mountain-biker comes barrelling down the path from above like a bat out of hell. Fortunately, he’s on a different track to the one that I climbed, but any other hiker further down could be at risk. Shortly after, a couple of ladies arrive at the spot where I’m sitting. Luckily, they didn’t encounter the maniac on their way up. He must have veered off the hiking trail but he remains a danger all the same, mostly to himself on this steep terrain.
After a good rest, I resume the climb, which is soon over. Towards the top, I pass the two ladies who are having their lunch break. They tell me they preferred to finish the climb before stopping as they probably wouldn’t have had the energy to complete it otherwise.
From this point, the trail begins its gentle descent to Winningen along a fairly wide path through the woods, high above the river. It’s a very pleasant section, with fine views of the autobahn bridge that crosses the Moselle. Indeed, the trail passes through a motorway service area, under the bridge on a walkway and then through another service area on the Winningen side. The noise from the autobahn is deafening and I’m glad to get away from it as the Moselsteig heads down from the bridge to Winningen.
As I’m way too early for the check-in time at the hotel, when the trail enters the vineyards above Winningen, I spend a while taking photos of the vine leaves with their different hues at this time of year.
I then head down to the village and, even though the trail arrives just a few streets from my hotel, I decide to take a walk around Winnigen to take a look at restaurants for dinner as it’s still too early to check in. It’s a pretty village with vines strung between the houses on most streets, countless wine cellars, a huge number of restaurants for such a small place and a statue of a witch on the main square (more about that in the next post). I spot a place for dinner in a beautiful old building, then head back up to the hotel to check in.
After a lazy afternoon reading and caching up on my blog, I head down to the Gutsschänke Schaaf, the restaurant spotted earlier, for a terrific dinner in the beautiful old restaurant, served by the very friendly staff. And the 60-metre climb back up to the hotel after is ideal for my digestion!
Footsteps 