"Hiking for reconstruction" Crowds on the Red Wine Trail at weekend
Ahrweiler District · With sunny weather, more and more visitors crowded the Red Wine Trail. But in many places the traces of the flood are still clearly visible - nevertheless, the villages of Dernau, Rech and Mayschoß had already called for a visit to the trail a week ago.
The kind of weather the Ahr loves. Sunshine on all the slopes. Hiking time. On Saturday, the stream of visitors on the Red Wine Trail just won't stop. Along the district road from Esch to Dernau, every parking space is taken. Cars are also packed in at the fire station in Grafschaft-Gelsdorf, up to the industrial estate. This is fortunate for the visitors and also for the people along the Ahr, who are all still busy clearing up, drying, cleaning up, and where relief vehicles, trucks, police cars and, in between, loaded harvest vehicles set the tone. And the main road in the valley, the B 267, largely resembles a desert track.
Visitors from Jüchen have parked in Gelsdorf. They took the big shuttle to Dernau and smaller buses to Mayschoß. From there they returned via the Rotweinwanderweg. To their surprise and delight, the shuttle was free of charge. "That's why we were also generous and bought the SolidAHRity wine glasses on offer and also the wristbands," they tell us over a Blanc-de-Noir from the Deutzerhof winery in the Mayschoss vineyard. As fans of the Ahr, they are happy to be back. Nevertheless, they have noticed: "Down in the valley it is already oppressive.“
Visitors don't want to be a burden
The towns of Dernau, Rech and Mayschoß had already called for a visit to the Red Wine Trail a week ago. Despite the less inviting weather forecast, the public had already turned up, report Lee Condon-Schmitt and Alfons Schmitt, who are in charge of the stand. "Word of the invitation got around, many probably didn't want to be gawpers, but felt encouraged by the reports," say the Mayschossers. Pia and Britta heard similar things at the side stand of the Mönchberger Hof winery. "We didn't dare at first," guests would have said. "Without the invitation, fewer visitors would have come," the Schmitts think. Friends from Kamp-Lintfort rolled up to the Mayschoss campsite with three mobile homes on Friday evening. They had booked in May. The invitation from the three villages encouraged them to come despite the flood.
Between the harvest wagons, the harvest workers and the hikers, there is hardly any getting through on the bypass route over Mayschoss vineyard paths. Here, as in neighbouring Rech, there is adventurous one-way traffic. Consideration is the top priority. In Rech, traffic seems to come to a standstill at times, even though it is a one-way street, because the shuttle buses also have to pass through. Stunned, two people from Troisdorf stand on the Nepomuk Bridge and look at the wasteland on the other bank where half-timbered houses once stood. "We've been coming to the wine festivals and the St. Martin's bonfires for 20 years," they say. "We wouldn't have thought the damage would be so extensive." They had parked the car in Grafschaft-Holzweiler and set off on foot from there.
"You AHR not alone" is written on the jumpers of a group of helpers and friends who crowd together with the hikers at the two stands along the Red Wine Trail in Rech. The young adults from the Saarland already helped out in the first weeks on the Ahr. "The situation is better now, but not yet satisfactory," says one. Markus Bitzen from the Jagdhaus Rech offers hot food at a stall, the crowd is so big that it is impossible to have a conversation. Next to him, former wine queen Verena Kastenholz and her mother Bärbel Schreier have wine and other drinks ready. "The start was already good, but today it's great," she says. Wristbands and wine glasses are in great demand, she reports, and regrets that not more searches are taking part. "They are probably at their broken wineries or harvesting, we could use more stalls here," she thinks. Along the way, piles of firewood are stacked everywhere, provisions for the cold season.
Seats on benches and at tables are occupied
At the top of the Dernau vineyard, Dirk and Anne Wollersheim's "SektWerk", which was badly affected by the flood, has placed its cart. The public is basking on benches, vineyard walls and steps, enjoying the vintner's drops in the sun. About a kilometre further on, above the village, there is a crowd. All the many seats on benches and at tables are taken. A long queue has formed in front of the refreshment stand.
A couple from Bergisch-Gladbach found out about the joint action of the battered villages via the internet. The hiking friends came by train to Remagen and then by shuttle. "Without the invitation, we would have stayed at home. You don't know whether you are wanted as a tourist, you can't just drive into a disaster area like that," they explain. And they agree with the initiators of the campaign. They had assumed that many people would shy away from visiting the broken Ahr valley in order not to be a burden. That is why they had invited people.
Original text: Christine Schulze
Translation: Mareike Graepel
