Sunday to Beilstein (via Cochem)

The original plan for Sunday was for my brother Jon to pick me up at the Cochem train station 10km from Beilstein where they would be staying. But they are traveling with kids and didn't think they would get in til evening (good prediction). So I decided to get a little hiking training in for my upcoming Philmont trip, packed my backpack and hiked along the Mösel to Beilstein. (I had always wanted to backpack through Europe. Does a mere 10km before staying in a nice hotel when you are 46 count?)

The train ride along the Mösel was gorgeous and Cochem was a charming town. Here are some hotels on the river just across from Cochem
And the upstream part of the town itself.

The walk allowed me to look back and get a picture of the bridge, which even this was cute.
I passed two or three villages along my walk. The valley is quite steep and wherever there was a flat spot near the river, there would be a settlement. Many of these now flourish on the tourist industry with charming little guesthouses or hotels, all with window boxes full of petunias and impatiens and terraces shaded by grape vines hanging above the tables.

When I did get to Beilstein, I ate, rested and then explored the ruin of a castle just behind it.
Another artsy photo trying to exploit the sun.
The keep of the castle was still standing and I was able to climb this and see for miles.

This is looking down river. Notice the pedestrian and car ferry in the lower left of the photo.

My hotel was on the river behind the first little dock sticking into the water. The village church to the right dominated the village.

Just as I finished this tour and was down by the river, Jon pulled up and said "howdy stranger." We caught up, I played with the kids, we toured the village (10 minutes if you walk slow) and sat down on the terrace for dinner. Here is Jon (notice a resemblance?)
His beautiful wife Andrea.
The fair maiden Cecelia (who turned eight in Paris just a week before).
And Mathew in a perfectly appropriate pose for a five year old boy.

That night, we watched the valiant German team go down to defeat at the hands of the Spanish 1-0. I am pretty new to soccer commentary, but even I could see that Spain played better. As Jon said, they seemed to always be a step ahead of the Germans.