The Moselle Cycle Route

A guidebook to the Moselle Cycle Route. Cycle the entire length of the Moselle river, from its source in the Vosges Mountains in eastern France to its confluence with the Rhine at the west German city of Koblenz. Suitable for cyclists of all experience levels, the 512km route is well-waymarked and the route is mostly on well-surfaced cycle tracks.

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Overview

This guidebook provides 14 stages of route description to cycling along the Moselle river, a route that offers stunning scenery, plentiful accommodation and places to eat and drink, and straightforward cycling throughout. A well-waymarked, generally downhill 512km route, it is mostly off-road and on well-surfaced cycle tracks (mainly asphalt) with virtually no gradients, and the majority is along the riverbank or on canal towpaths. From its source in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France, the Moselle flows through the French region of Lorraine and crosses into Luxembourg then into the German Rheinland region before it reaches its confluence with the Rhine at the west German city of Koblenz.
Suitable for both veteran long-distance cyclists and for newcomers to cycle touring who wish to start with an easy-to-follow journey, the route can be completed in a week by fit cyclists, cycling two stages per day. Two weeks allow for alternative stages and optional excursions through the Saar and Rhine gorges and to visit the Boucles de Moselle and the city of Luxembourg, and give enough time for sightseeing and a leisurely riding pace.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
Background
The route
Natural environment
Preparation
Getting there and back
Navigation
Accommodation
Food and drink
Amenities and services
What to take
Safety and emergencies
About this guide
The route
Stage 1 Col de Bussang to Remiremont
Stage 2 Remiremont to Épinal
Stage 3 Épinal to Charmes
Stage 4 Charmes to Nancy
Stage 4A Charmes to Toul
Stage 5A Toul to Pont-à-Mousson
Stage 5 Nancy to Pont-à-Mousson
Stage 6 Pont-à-Mousson to Metz
Stage 7 Metz to Thionville
Stage 8 Thionville to Remich
Stage 9 Remich to Trier
Stage 9A Remich to Trier via Luxembourg City
Excursion 1 Konz to Merzig: the Saar Valley
Stage 10 Trier to Leiwen
Stage 11 Leiwen to Bernkastel-Kues
Stage 12 Bernkastel-Kues to Zell
Stage 13 Zell to Cochem
Stage 14 Cochem to Koblenz
Excursion 2 Koblenz to St Goar: the Rhine Gorge

Appendix A Route summary table
Appendix B Language glossary
Appendix C Useful contacts
Appendix D Principal tourist offices
Appendix E Youth hostels

Maps

There is no specific series of maps that provides comprehensive coverage of the whole route. For France, sheet 516 of the Michelin map Alsace, Lorraine (at a scale of 1:200,000) or sheets 314 and 307 (at a scale of 1:150,000) give an overview of the route across Lorraine without specifically showing cycle routes. As the route is under development, things change frequently and the best way to ascertain the up-to-date position is via the Lorraine tourist office, which publishes a map showing sections open, those under construction and those planned (http://lorraine.voie.verte.free.fr).

For the latter stages between Metz and Koblenz, Esterbauer Bikeline publish a cycling guide (see below), which includes strip maps of the route along both sides of the river at 1:75,000. The stretch from Schengen, on the Franco–Luxembourg–German border, to Koblenz, is also covered by a laminated folding strip map of the Mosel-Radweg (sheet 198), published by Publicpress publications (www.publicpress.de). They publish a similar map for the Saar-Radweg (sheet 617). Although these are at 1:50,000, they contain less detail and are less accurate than Bikeline guides.

Various online maps are available to download, at a scale of your choice. Particularly useful is Open Street Map (www.openstreetmap.org) which has a cycle route option showing the route in its entirety, including the planned but not yet constructed stages. This can be a little misleading, as when a track is built it does not always take the exact route originally proposed, and moreover it leaves you to make your own choice of alternative road routes to bypass missing sections.

Updates

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December 2020

Author updates

Mike Wells has provided these updates

Moselle route update Nov20 (128.927 KB)

October 2020

Doing the route on a tandem

The main thing you may struggle with on a tandem are the offset barriers that are used in France to slow down cyclists and prevent them from emerging too fast onto vehicular roads. The author has had difficulty sometimes negotiating them on his ordinary cycle with panniers sticking out, which restrict clearance. With a tandem you may need to dismount to get the bike through. Pictures of such barriers can be found in the guide on p47 and p99.

The other problem is transporting a tandem to and from the start and end of the route. Neither flying nor taking a train is easy with a tandem and research will need to be undertaken.

Reviews

December 2015, Seven Day Cyclist

The Moselle Cycle Route: "Am I tempted? Well, yes. This is not an area I know awfully well. Who better to take me there than Mike Wells and Cicerone?

I have used Cicerone guides for many years and have never been disappointed. The information and mapping reflect the fact that Cicerone authors know their regions very well. In my experience a Cicerone guide is a grand companion on a cycle tour and a pleasant friend in the lounge."

Read the full article here: http://sevendaycyclist.co.uk/the-moselle-cycle-route/

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September 2015

A great review from thewashingmachinepost - read the full review here.

"author and cyclist mike wells, in keeping with the format applied to almost all of the excellent cicerone guides, explains the moselle route in great detail, presaged by a brief history of the regions through which it travels. the latter is most helpful in identifying the heritage of many of the elderly buildings that can be seen along the way, and given the ideal travelling size of these guides, it's simplicity itself to pull the book out along the way to check prudent details... as has been consistent in the majority of the cicerone guides i have been privileged to review, the moselle cycle route is every bit worth purchasing even by the armchair explorer... should i ever be overcome by the wanderlust that seems to inhabit the minds of cicerone's authors, i have the ideal script to follow."

monday 15 september 2014

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