Bad news. Work on the ugly, unnecessary and extremely expensive motorway bridge across the Mosel at Ürzig has been resumed. Below is the view from the south/east bank of the river as taken by photographer Jon Wyand a week ago on 30 Oct.
The most energetic anti bridge campaigner Sarah Washington is so depressed by this that she has taken herself off to Brazil for four months but writes, 'as far as I understand it, the wine mountain on the Ürzig side has had the notch cut out of it in preparation for building a tunnel, and I have heard this week that the big machinery has just arrived at the bridgehead on the other side to begin sinking the foundation for the first pier'.
She adds however, 'I know the campaigners are not backing down, because everyone considers that the building process is going to throw up problems that in the end will be too costly or awkward to solve.'
Hugh Johnson, a recent convert to Twitter and one of the fiercest critics of the bridge along with fellow wine writers me and Stuart Pigott and winemakers Erni Loosen and Katharina Prüm, tweeted last night thus:
@littlestjames The creepy politicians win. The Mosel megabridge at Urzig is going ahead. God protect Wehlen, Zeltingen….the greatest Rieslings of all?