Friday, July 3, 2026, Day 24 – Trier to Lieser – 39 miles, 1500’ of elevation gain
Today’s ride was the easiest of the whole trip. After having biked between 40 and 65 miles a day for the last 20 days, 39 miles seemed easy. Another reason it was easy is because we rode on bike paths along the Moselle River for the majority of the day. A third reason it was easy is because, in contrast to the last few days where we did significant climbing, we only had 1500 feet of elevation gain today.
Germany’s bike paths are among the best in the world and seem to be everywhere—we saw them in cities, villages, and on both sides of the Moselle River which begins in France and flows into Germany where it twists sharply for 150 miles and empties into the Rhine on its way to the North Sea.
Like many days before, I saw evidence of the Christian faith on the roadsides, many nice churches and crucifixes.
Yet this area has a history of persecuting Christians as you can see when you zoom in on this roadside panel that I took a picture of.
This region is characterized by winegrowing. Vineyards are everywhere, including on steep hillsides where they get maximum sun exposure. I don’t know one wine from another, but I was interested in seeing the extreme care and ingenuity behind the production of it.
The area where we traveled is the biggest winegrowing center of the Moselle River region, dedicated mainly to the production of Riesling. I learned that vineyards located on slopes receive even more horizontal sun power than the flat lands. Consequently, about 40% of the vineyard acres in the Mosel are located on steep slopes (at or over a 30% pitch) and the best vineyards typically face south. I am yawning just by writing this paragraph.
When we arrived at our final destination, the Village of Lieser, we were all impressed by the stunning castle that we are staying in tonight called the Schloss Lieser.
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