Return to Backnang Day 2

19 August
Luxembourg to Allmersbach am Weinberg
So there we were in the Seweburen Hotel, Rue Des Sept Fontaines. There were water pumping stations either side of the road so it was fanciful to think that this was the location of the seven springs. Although it is only a little side road now, I think that it was once the road that led to the village called Septfontaines. This name returns later in the trip because Simmer is actually the Luxemburgish for Septfontaines and that was the name of the hotel for the return trip. We had a breakfast. It was a quiet breakfast because there were no other residents there. After having squirreled away some breakfast apples for later I set out on a tour of the woods behind Seweburen with Tammy. The trail is varied with muddy fern filled trails, leafy shaded forests and some steep climbs. And the first sighting of the giant orange slug.
Back on the road we spin too far round the ring road and find ourselves spun off too far north we end up stuck in the heavy traffic of Trier creeping down into the Mosel valley. All of a sudden there are wind turbines everywhere, fields with solar cell arrays and every hillside carpeted with vineyards.

From holiday blog

Having not reached our target lunch stop we instead stop in Kaiserslauten at the first convenient place that we could park at. Unfortunately that just happens to be Macdonalds.

From holiday blog

Leaving Kaiserslauten the ride become much more interesting and we go on a long winding descent with the railway continuously crossing our path in and out of tunnels and picture box villages with rural train stations on the way. There were quaint village names too like Frankenstein and quite a few mills presumably built to harness the water that tumbled down the river towards Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
Instead of going straight to our destination we did a little detour to Vaihingen an der Enz with a left turn at Burger King to do a tea delivery. Here we met an interesting couple called Ian and Ingrid Watson.

From TamPicsBacknang2008

Ingrid is a painter but not just an ordinary painter. She paints on silk and to prevent the colours from running she has to apply small amounts of paint and then use an hairdryer to set the paint before the next brush stroke. Ian has a problem with low blood pressure and untreated he would lack any energy. The solution is dried leaves in boiling water but not any old tea. This has to be Fair Trade Tea from Marks and Spencers as apparently it is much more potent than your average tea. Without it Ian can not function and we brought a few months of this vital supply direct from Brent Cross.

From holiday blog

To thank us they gave us a magnificent spread in proper German style with pastries and pretzels and strong hot coffee (but Ian had tea). They pressed some bottles of the local sweet red Vaihingen wine into our hands as we departed.
Heading on at sunset a passing shower lit the sky up with a rainbow that spanned a complete arc down to the horizon. Our location was meant that we could follow this rainbow for the next 15 minutes and only the setting of the sun finally extinguished it.

From holiday blog

Welcome back to Backnang!