Biking in Mosel Valley vs. Rhine

I biked both last summer (june), but I stayed in both so can't speak to the day-trip plan. I biked one day along the Rhine, starting in Bacharach and going north. Along the Mosel, we started in Cochem and went west. The valleys are very different. The Rhine is steeper along the banks, and more industrial feeling (the Rhine is a shipping waterway). The Mosel is a broader valley, and more bucolic. Curiously then, I preferred the Rhine ;)

In Bacharach we rented bikes for the day from a guy who rents them from his garage. We got directions from our b&b. The house was on the northern end of the town. There is a formal bike rental, but our b&b told us, if it is closed (it was) to go to the guy's house. You ring a bell and he comes down and fits you for a bike. In Cochem we rented from a place near the train station (across the street and toward the town center from the station about 1-2 blocks). This was a bike shop, so would be easy to find by googling (and for that matter, you could probably find a place along the Rhine that way too). We didn't go to winery's but did go to castles. Biking was a wonderful way to spend those days. I don't have specific start/stop points, I would base that on what you want to see (in our case, a specific castle along the Rhine - Marzburg, and a specific town with ruins along the Mosel - can't remember but got it from RS book). I just followed Ricks recs for places for both.

So, pick the things you want to see, then find bike rentals nearby. You can't really go wrong

jessica

Here is a resource for scheduled bus-with-bike-trailer for the Mosel area, with trail maps. Train also handles bikes.
https://regioradler.de/pages/en_en/start.php?lang=EN
There is a nice bike trail along the river in a disused railway bed.

They really don't have "wineries" in the Mosel valley. It is all small mom-and-pop types of places with the winery in the basement. We stayed at this "weingut" in the village of Briedel a few years back and got a short tour of the operation.
http://reis-kroth.de.fc-host37.de/

If you are there over a weekend. Look for for village wine festivals, Strassenweinfesten. Do a search at:
http://www.mosellandtouristik.de/en/wine-cuisine/wine-events/wine-festivals/

They really don't have "wineries" in the Mosel valley. It is all small
mom-and-pop types of places with the winery in the basement.

Just curious: Why wouldn't that type of place be a winery?

I guess I am interpreting an American impression of what a winery is. US, France, Italy, a large estate with a staffed tasting room and no appointment necessary. I did not see that kind of operation in Mosel Valley. People owned (or had family rights) to a certain area of vines on the hillside, which they cultivate on their own and harvested with the help of a couple of migrant workers. The wine press is on the ground floor, along with the tractor and cart used to commute to the vineyard. The fermentation and storage tanks are underneath the back patio. A work bench had a hand bottling machine and sheets of labels he moistened and pasted on the bottles. The town "brand" was Briedel Herzchen and all the wineries in town labeled their wine as such. Down river in the town of Zell, their brand was Zeller Schwarze Katz.

So it is not the kind of place to breeze in spur of the moment and want to do a wine tasting. Hubby is probably in the vineyard a mile away, and wifey is busy doing the chores, laundry, shopping. Staying in one of the two guest rooms, they did have a wine list and any time you wanted a bottle, you just asked and hubby would run down to the basement a get a bottle and put it on your bill. Just don't ask in the middle of a football match on the television, wait for the interval.

We have spent time on both rivers but only biked between Cochin and Beilstein which was very enjoyable! We are going to do a 10 day bike tour on the Mosel next year through Velociped. You might look at their website for some ideas.