Monday 23rd June 2025 – at the Land Rover dealership in Trier. They are having to put our car details on the computer before anything so we are waiting in the showroom! They can get the cable and fit it tomorrow. The bad news is that the cable is €180 (I would pay £20 for an aftermarket good quality part in the UK) and their labour rate is €200/hour. Outrageous but little choice at present. In hindsight it is better to find a local mechanic (not straightforward to find here though) and order parts from the UK by courier. Wastes a couple of days but so much less painful on the wallet.
Now beside the Moselle (Mosel) river at Mehring. A bit of rain and wind this morning. Mostly Reisling grapes in this area.
Lots of freight on the Moselle (Mosel) in huge barges including coal, metal and waste.
Tuesday 24th June 2025 – George is now fixed, it took half a day and was treble the cost of having it done at home (ouch). The garage did however give us bus tickets to go into the town of Trier. The town was heavily bombed by the British and later Americans in WWII including incendiary bombs. Huge amounts of damage were caused to the historic town (the second oldest in Germany).
The Porta Nigra (Roman gate) at the entrance to the town.
The main market square.
The Steipe (medieval origin) which served as a meeting place.
St. Peter’s Fountain in the main square.
High Cathedral of Saint Peter, the oldest in Germany and a UNESCO site.
Palais Walderdorff
Perfect Garret to read overlooking the Cathedral.
Palais Kesselstatt.
Fountain depicting local artisans.
Baroque pulpit inside St. Anthony’s Church.
Formal garden of Electoral palace.
Electoral Palace (Kurfürstliches Palais.
Interior of the Konstantin basilika (Basilica of Constantine). Destroyed by bombing in 1944 and left quite austere after restoration. The organ played itself during the fire.
Roman baths.
Jesuit Church.
Interior of the Jesuit Church (Jesuitenkirche).
Organ within the Trier Cathedral (Hohe Domkirche St. Peter zu Trier) installed in 2014 with 6,000 pipes. The cathedral is incredibly ornate and quite extraordinary. It was built between 1235 and 1270 but there was a Roman site here from 270AD.
Baroque Cathedral interior at the west end.
Statue of St Peter.
The cathedral altar.
Funerary altar of Archbishop Lothar von Metternich.
The last supper on the Funerary altar of Archbishop Lothar von Metternich.
Detail of the base of the organ pipes.
Statue of Saint Michael the Archangel.
The grim reaper pointing a boney finger!
The Baroque domed ceiling at the west end of the aisle.
Detail of exquisite marquetry panels (there are 26 tall panels around the west end). Difficult to photograph. They are inlaid with Ivory.
We are staying on a lovely campsite at Wintrich with Ash and Walnut trees for shade. It has no staff. A machine give you a ticket to pay €15 per night, the toilets are 50 euro cents and the showers €1 for 5 minutes. There is even a vending machine that dispenses bottles of wine!
Walked 17 kilometres today! Still sitting outside at 10pm, it’s 23 degrees Celsius. Lovely.
It is ironic that without the handbrake cable breaking we would not have seen Trier and one of the finest Cathedrals in Europe. Everything happens for a reason – serendipity.
The new solar system on George made by Victron, a Dutch company, is working well. The fridge can drain the second battery rapidly if it is having to work hard in the heat. An audible warning goes off if the battery gets too low allowing you to shut off the fridge and give the battery a rest. It hasn’t sounded at all on this trip. It went off fairly often with the previous Renogy system that proved horribly unreliable. I got my money back because it wasn’t fit for purpose. George does need to get sun on the panel to charge the batteries which ironically does heat up the interior of the vehicle so the fridge has to work harder! Seems to work well on balance however.
Wednesday 25th June 2025 – removed the air-conditioning belt to silence the pulley bearing noise but there was still a noise from elsewhere. Profoundly frustrating day. We decided that we must get the bearing noise investigated before we experienced a catastrophic failure. We visited a Land Rover specialist near Baden-Baden and their mechanic diagnosed that the water pump bearing was failing. They had a good quality one in stock and fitted it. On fitting the new pump one of the retaining bolts was spinning indicating that it had been overtightened in the past so the housing will need changing at some point. Hopefully it won’t leak in the meantime.
However a different noise was apparent having changed the water pump. The alternator bearing was also noisy. So we changed the alternator. In doing so it was clear the fan and pulley were out of true therefore putting pressure on the bearing. New alternators dont come with a fan or pulley. A secondhand fan was sourced in better condition than ours. The pulley will need replacing as soon as we can. Another expensive experience. 20% Import duty is added to the cost of parts from the UK.
Thursday 26th June 2025 – thunderstorm during the night plus rain. Travelling south east today. Likely to go into Austria soon. Carefully checked the coolant level on George this morning following the water pump change and again after one hour on the road. All the air had been bled and vented from the system. We travelled through the Black Forest today but due to rain no photos. There were cherry orchards there for making the famous black forest gateau! We hoped to taste some but didn’t get an opportunity (perhaps not the most healthy breakfast anyway!). Also ski lodges and ski lifts in that area. Found a nice campsite at Ottobeuren. It is looking like rain again which may sadly curtail exploration on foot.
Friday 27th June 2025 – visited the Basilica of St. Alexander and St. Theodor, which is part of the Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren in Bavaria, Germany. It is one of the world’s most important Baroque churches. And it is stunning. It was between 1737 and 1766.
The fresco depicts religious scenes, including the Holy Spirit inspiring the Apostles and the Four Evangelists writing the Gospels, emphasizing the teaching and sacraments of the church, such as Baptism.
Rococo sculpture within the Basilica.
The pulpit, a key feature in the basilica, is richly decorated with stucco figures and golden accents, characteristic of the German Baroque and Rococo styles.
The prominent ceiling fresco, known as the “Benediktinerhimmel,” depicts Saint Benedict being uplifted by angels to see God, surrounded by saints who lived by the Benedictine code.
The organs in Ottobeuren Abbey are the work of French organ builder Karl Joseph Riepp (1710–75) and are considered among the most treasured historic organs in Europe.
The ornate guilded panels are made of Walnut.
Statue of Saint Sebastian, a Roman martyr, typically depicted tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows.
The basilica features dome and ceiling frescoes and altar pictures by the Tyrolean cousins Johann Jakob and Franz Anton Zeiller.
Picnic view for lunch in Southern Germany.
Monday 6th October 2025 – staying in a 400 year old building in Ruthen:
