Pics and report from day 2
Stages 2 and 5 Schönes Moselland 1 and 2.
Rose ugly early to hit the first stages. We headed for the Mosel Vineyards, North East of Trier for SS2 and 5 Shones Moselland. The traffic was relatively light on the way to the stage and we eventually parked up at a village where shuttle buses were in operation to take you the final 4 km to the spectator point, great idea. On arrival we were greeted with the most spectacular view of the Mosel valley overlooking Piesport. You could literally see for miles of the stage as the rally cars twisted and turned through the vineyards. With the screech of tyres and popping and banging of the anti-lag systems echoing around the hills we found a decent vantage point, to watch the action for the first run through the stage. For the second run we ventured down the steep slopes and sat high on a wall above the cars from where you could see several hairpins all the way to the flying finish. It had to be the best viewing any of us had ever experienced on a rally. The fun part came after the stage had finished, where we had to literally climb back up the hillside through the vines for about 250 feet sometimes with a one in three gradient! When we reached the top and managed to catch our breath we chose to sample the local cuisine, giant bratwurst in a roll that worked out only a pound each, tidy.
A huge mass of people waited patiently on the roadside, obviously for the arrival of the next shuttle bus. We waited, and waited and waited until finally a bus arrived, but was already full! It turned around, nearly mowing everyone down in the process and simply drove off. At this, the crowd began to degenerate into a mob. The marshals and spectator advisors became the target of much Teutonic venom. It didn't take a master's degree in German language to understand many of the expletives being hurled! We gave up waiting as a bad job in the hope of making the final stage of the day and decided to start walking, much to the amusement of one member of the Politzei. After walking for about 20mins and saying "don't remember it being this far…" several times, we began to understand where he was coming from. As luck would have it, upon reaching the junction with the main road another 30-40 like-minded explorers had congregated and the police were stopping the next bus here and sending it back to the car park. Now we had the answer to the lack of buses at the spectator point. They were only managing to get this far!
Once back in the car we noticed for the first time, that Mark's personal
car registration plate was attracting a lot of attention. We tried to explain
to the onlookers that it said "TROLL" but they still looked puzzled.
This would become a recurring theme throughout our trip…
We pressed on to SS8 Stein und Wein - great name.
The spectator point was pretty crowded due to its small size, but you could
just about view a right and left hairpin section, but nothing too spectacular.
After the stage we returned to Reinsfeld (more
strange looks at TROLL!). We had a great meal in a local Gasthaus and sampled
our first taste of decent German beer since our arrival! It certainly wasn't
our last from then on……
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Stage 8- Stein-und wein/ Fell-ruwertal 2
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