The Peripatetic Coyote

 Picture stories today :) Stopped at the bakery on the way out of town.  Then stopped at the first hiker hut for a taste.   After an hour of “steep ascent” we are far above the Mosel where we started the day. Lots of amenities along the trail. Trail of the pines. Got an old culvert you’re not using?  Turn it into a hiker shelter.  Brought to you by the Active Seniors Club of Mehring Our destination town (right) Hiker guy Couldn’t decide if this was art or a place to offer firewood and kindling. Rare, almost-flat spot Elaborate trailside chapel Another attempt to illustrate the 3Vs (virtually vertical vineyards) of the Mosel Valley

Before we get into this: Let’s talk about Trier - the town we stayed in last night before we began our week of hiking along the Mosel/Moselle River.  It was “f ounded” (the Celts were here first) by the  Romans  in the late 1st century BC in the name of Caesar Augustus.  Trier is considered Germany's oldest city and was one of the four capitals of the Roman Empire in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries.   It has Roman baths, sports (the gladiator type) complexes, colosseum-looking gardens and one of the oldest churches in Europe, begun by emperor Constantine.  It belonged to France several times, among others, over the centuries and today lies only 6 km from Luxembourg. Yep, Karl Marx’s hometown Anyway, OK, back to the hike.  The stats look something like this: Perfectly flat the whole time (you can tell that from the elevation profile above). Distance - 12.5 miles Temp  - 50’s  2 rainstorms  1 mudslide  It was during this day that we developed these words to live by - If you have

As these things so often do, they seem to have gone by much faster than they really did, and at the same time, they feel like they must have been much longer than they really were in order to hold all the adventures we had. Our last day has plenty of the usual - going uphill, iconic river views, castles, etc.    I’m pretty sure we were in sight of at least 3 castles, all day every day. . Pictured are our new German friends, Claudia and Dirk, going, you guessed it, uphill. We finished the day in Rüdesheim, a hotbed of Riesling production, and the trail here passed through Assmanshäusen, one of the few red wine production areas in Germany.  Needless to say, the area held my attention and there’s been more than one wine tasting along the way - for research, of course.  One of the most remarkable things to me is that these hill/mountain-side vineyards are not terraced; they are laid out with the vine rows running vertically, up and down the slope.  It’s hard to capture on a photo just how

 You intrepid chronicler surmounted formidable obstacles,  endured unimaginable hardships,   deep in the forest beer bar side of the mountain wine-automat in order to bring you this environmental report: Mosquitos are not an endangered species in Germany. In other news…Today was a cruising day - shorter distance, less radical elevation gain and loss, pleasant weather and above all, more English-speaking folks along the trail.  We met folks from Chicago and Delaware and Virginia, Great Britain, and some trail buddies from northern Germany who have the same itinerary as we do (they keep showing up everywhere.). For the first time on this trail, we ran across make-shift refreshment stands!  We stopped at a middle of the woods bar and a mountain side weinautomat (pay with PayPal on your phone).  We took lots of the usual pictures and had time to wash out some clothers and relax a bit at today’s destination, Lorch.  Plan to do a wine-tasting supper this evening.  Tomorrow is our last day on