First flight to Germany: EBCI to Koblenz-Winningen (EDRK) with a go-around, and back along the Mosel

See description below (with timestamps at the bottom). Weather: EBCI 011150Z 05013KT CAVOK 03/M04 Q1025 NOSIG EBCI 011220Z 04011KT CAVOK 03/M03 Q1025 NOSIG EBCI 011250Z 04011KT 350V070 CAVOK 03/M04 Q1024 NOSIG EDFH 011320Z 04009KT 360V090 CAVOK 03/M04 Q1020 EDFH 011350Z 03009KT 350V110 CAVOK 04/M04 Q1020 EDFH 011420Z 03013KT CAVOK 04/M04 Q1020 EDFH 011450Z 03011KT 360V070 CAVOK 04/M04 Q1020 EDFH 011520Z 03012KT 010V080 CAVOK 04/M05 Q1020 EBCI 011550Z 05015KT CAVOK 04/M06 Q1022 NOSIG EBCI 011620Z 04012KT CAVOK 04/M06 Q1022 NOSIG The first day of March brought perfect flying weather, so it was time to make sure I get some air-time this month too by finally visiting an airport that has been on my which-list for years already. The destination was the airfield of Koblenz-Winningen, 118 nautical miles (straight line distance) from Charleroi, making this my longest flight between two different airports to date, pushing EHMZ to second place (which was only 69 nautical miles). Covering 236 nautical miles including the return trip, it has pushed my long cross country flight (EBCI - EBZW - EBKT - EBCI: 193 nautical miles) from my training to second place in daily distance flown too. Of course the numbers are only statistics, what was most interesting is flying in German airspace for the first time, landing at the very scenic airfield of Koblenz, situated on a plateau over the river Mosel, on top of a steep hill, 130 meters above the bottom of the valley. While the weather was great, there was quite some orographic turbulence in the first third of the flight towards Germany, before I could climb above the turbulent layer. From then on, it was more smooth sailing, especially on the way back at 4500 feet in the calm, late afternoon. At Koblenz I was a bit surprised by the amount of German on the radio, and even though the AFIS talked English to me, and I could make my calls in English (as permitted by the dual En/Ge note on the charts), I will definitely familiarize myself with the basic German calls to take my situational awareness to a higher level. EDRK was very busy (especially for a weekday afternoon), with multiple arrivals and departures around me; I even had to go around once due to traffic landing too close in front of me. At least I got to experience the whole traffic pattern once. This time I even had time for a short walk outside of the airport, which is a must if you ever fly here, as the trails along the steep vineyards provide magnificent views to the Mosel and the surrounding areas. I am sure I will want to come back here on a warmer day too, and walk all the way down to Winningen to have some food on a nice terrace. While on the way to Koblenz I took a basically direct route (making only a small deviation to be able to overfly the famous race track of the Nürburgring), I followed the Mosel for a while on the way back to enjoy the hilly landscape and check out a few castles from above. The arrival to Charleroi was again a bit special as I got approved on a direct entry to the CTR disregarding visual reporting points. The landing back on RWY 06 was significantly less smooth than what my standard is, partly due to having to fight with a strong late gust on short final, and partly probably me getting tired at the end of a long day. Still, it was safe, and I was fully satisfied and fulfilled after another beautiful day of flying. 00:00 Taxi request 01:14 Take-off EBCI RWY 06 02:20 Leaving the CTR of EBCI (shout out from ATC) and checking in with Brussels Info 03:22 Introduction to today's flight from the flight deck 04:27 Cirrus clouds above, and fighting the orographic winds 05:00 The lakes of Coo 05:46 Checking in with Langen Information 06:22 Nürburgring 06:51 Long descent briefing 08:18 Descent and leaving Langen Information 08:39 Contacting Koblenz Information 09:13 Reminder to keep looking outside for traffic 09:42 Example German calls (from other arrival traffic) 10:31 Joining EDRK left hand downwind for RWY 06 11:34 Turning left base 12:21 Turning final 13:01 Going around due to traffic on the runway 13:33 Turning left crosswind 14:04 Left hand downwind 14:33 Turning left base 15:14 Turning final 16:08 Landing RWY 06 (replays follow) 16:46 Vacating the runway and taxi to the parking 17:24 Shutting down (and out for a walk) 18:31 Views and a small message from the walk 18:50 Departure briefing (partially shown) 19:10 Requesting taxi information from Koblenz Information 19:31 Taxi to the holding position and plane spotting during the runup 20:43 Taking off EDRK RWY 06 21:40 Turning right crosswind 22:05 Turning right downwind and climbing further 22:27 Leaving Koblenz Information and checking in with Langen Info 23:27 A few words on the routing and views of the Mosel area 24:53 Hands-free flying in the calm air 25:53 Handover from Langen to Brussels Information 27:16 Landing instructions with a direct approach to EBCI 28:41 Right hand downwind RWY 06 30:14 Landing RWY 06 32:26 Final words