ALONG THE MOSELLE RIVER

With a clear blue sky and temperatures around 60 F., it was a beautiful day to be out walking in Luxembourg. I spent my first two hours going due east across relatively flat farmlands,  heading for the vineyards stretching out above the lovely Moselle.

But before reaching that panoramic view, my water began to run low. I made a detour into a quiet little town, but no shops were to be found. I finally saw a couple who were working in their garden while their granddaughters played nearby. Conversing in French (the native tongue of neither of us), the grandma told me the nearest shop was a km in the other direction. She ended up giving me 2 bottles of water. Sometimes you just have to ask for help.

There are lots of languages being used in this region:  Luxembourgoise ("Letzebuergesch"), German (with Germany right on the other side of the river) and French. I sure haven't heard much English in this part of the country. I'm enjoying getting lots of French practice, and am very happy to have a little dictionary with me.

Some posts are covered in signs for a variety of hiking paths. Sometime during the day, without explanation, the GR5's yellow circle suddenly morphed into a rectangle, which I continued to follow the rest of the day.

After my first couple of hours in the flat farmlands, I suddenly was presented with an expansive view of countless vineyards soaking up today's warm sunshine, with cute little villages nestled along the Moselle's riverbanks.

Because it's just April,  grapevines haven't even started to sprout any leaves yet. However it looks like the bottle crop is doing well and is ready for an early harvest.

I was out about six hours again today, but covered only around 15 miles. There a lot of starts and stops, taking photos, looking at the map, backtracking to the previous yellow mark if you haven't seen one in awhile (this usually means you missed a turn, which I did several times today). Sometimes the trail is well-marked, sometimes not. I have learned the hard way to stop when referring to my map, because I have accidentally walked right past a turn while looking for it on paper. This photo shows a skinny little lane that I totally missed (and continued on for 5 minutes before suspecting something) because a parked truck had blocked the sign.

That lane led me to a great picnic spot, but not without pain involved. 580 steps later, I made it to the shrine which provided a great view over the river valley. And a couple of hours later, 217 steps gave me another dose of diet magic. But it was a great afternoon, walking on the little paved agricultural roads that zigzagged through the vineyards which stretched out on the hillsides.

As in France, its amazing how many shrines, memorials and statues exist, both in towns and in the countryside.

And now I am relaxing at my little hotel/restaurant right by the Moselle. Lots of people are out enjoying a nice walk on the riverside promenade, but I think I've done enough walking for the day.

Time to refuel my body. Will I be able to resist dessert?