From Treves / Trier l was now following the winding road north at Schweich through the Moseltal, so taken by the twisting parallels of road, cycle-route and river that it was difficult to not stop every five minutes for a new viewpoint to sketch or a path to climb between the vineyards and old tower ruins. This was beautiful country !
My objective - to reach my campsite for the night, at Zell an der Mosel, halfway between Treves and Cochem, another jewel of the Mosel. But l would get there very late, stopping at Pölich, Piesport, Kröv, Bernkastel-Kues and Traben-Trabach, all fascinating and needing an eventual second visit.
Successive sketches en route...
On to Piesport, well-known for its Piesporter white wine, first drawn from high above then downhill to visit the picturesque village and work on a watercolour...
My next stop would be beneath Burg Landschut at the entry to Bernkastel-Kues, which gave rise to pastel and oil sketches...
...and also a set of tetrapak etchings combining different inks and in one version adding watercolor...
At Kröv - which always sounds more Polish to me than German ! - a coffee stop in the middle of a Flohmarkt complete with brass band for
a sketch of the Wolfer Kloster ( Ruine der Liebfraunkirche ) on the brow, which actually looks over onto Traben-Trabach as well, and onwards, downriver, north towards my destination for the evening. My trips along the german Mosel were becoming necessarily more flexible with so many unplanned drawing stops !
Traben-Trabach - in fact two villages which face each other, at first linked by a floating pontoon and then a stone bridge with a flamboyant 'porte' on the west bank - was as picturesque as l had heard it would be, its specific curiosity being its jumble of varied architectural styles ( medieval, jugend-style, modern ) ...
I was though more taken by the glimpse of the ruins of Grevenburg at the approach to the town, perched atop a sheer hillside, much as Turner seems to have been, considering the number of works he created following his arrival here in 1824.
I had to climb up to Grevenburg, of course. And the view was worth the effort !
I chose the steepest option for the descent down to the river, almost running despite myself. But l had more bends of the Mosel to take in before reaching Zell-am-Mosel and my campsite for the night !
To follow : Zell and the Black Cat
W. oct 2024
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