June 25, 2018

We started early to day, (8:15 a.m.) as we knew we had some serious hills to climb. The weather was cool but not cool enough to put the windbreakers on.

We cycled through Lahr and laughed about our memories of Lahr, almost all of them were food related. This place did the best Strammer Max (the Schussel), this one did the best Chateaubriand (the Lowen), we had the best hot raspberry dessert (Zum Schwannen) at this one. We remembered the Riminihof for venison and a wonderful pork and spaetzle dish, the Schutterzel Muhle for flammenkuchen. Also the best Trout place with its own trout farm. It is amazing we weren’t the size of houses when we returned to Canada.

We cycled through Kuhbach where we stopped at the Heimat Museum. I think it used to be the old sword makers place, Ralf was not so sure. There used to be an old fella who made swords and put them on wooden plaques with your family crest on the plaque. They were a great keepsake of this area. We remembered him telling us the story that after the castle was destroyed the \”swordmaker\” had to become a blacksmith, he was no longer allowed to make swords. This was decreed from 1656 or thereabouts and he was only allowed to make ceremonial swords to that day.   Of course I am guessing he is long dead now.

The old forge is now a local history musem.  One of the really neat exhibits was the wood school.  It has several logs on a post and when you opened the log it would tell you what sort of wood it was and how to recognize the tree.

Today I was very proud of myself and also really disappointed in myself. I cycled over the Biberach Hill to the Geroldsecker Castle. I geared down and just kept pedaling. It was approximately 208 metres of climbing over 6 kms. I was very proud of cycling over the hill.

We had no paper maps to follow today. We had a rough idea where to go and followed the signs.

Ralf took some photos of the Geroldsecker Castle and we carried on down the other side of the hill towards Haslach and Hausach.

Haslach has a very pretty downtown area and we cycled through the downtown because there was an umleitung (detour) on the route.

The first half of the day was beautiful, the Black Forest as we remembered it, clean colourful and some beautiful old buildings.

We passed the Open Air Farm Museum. The traditional houses of the area were moved to this spot to preserve them. I remember going with Nikki and Chris and the girls. The girls ordered this huge ice-cream that they could barely finish. Again, memories of food.

One of the funny things we saw was a Robo Lawnmower. Ralf took a video, but I couldn\’t get it uploaded.  It is like a Robo vacuam cleaner but cuts your lawn instead.  Do not get the two mixed up.

We stopped in Hohenburg for some lunch, Edeka is more expensive than Lidl. We did have a nice lunch with dessert for E12.

An old fella chatted to Ralf about the route and told him we were heading for a tough climb.

As we headed out of Town Ralf hit the side of a wall and came of his bike. He scraped his arm and has a large egg forming on his hip.  He might be a bit stiff in the morning.

We knew it was a long steep hill to Villengen Schwennigan but I thought I was ready for it, I wasn’t.

Eight kilometres of a continuous climb, pushing the bikes most of the way 2 hours up hill and then a 2 kms short downhill which took less than 5 minutes. I even considered taking the bus, but we had missed the last one of the day.

At one point I thought we had crested the hill and was ready to celebrate, then I saw the road climb again. All I wanted to do was lay my bike down and cry.

Every time I stopped to catch my breath Ralf would take a photo.

We stopped to check the map in this small village of Langenschiltach, 22 kms to get to Villingen-Schwennigan and more hills. We were going to be heading back up two more hills for another 220 metres of climbing, we had already climbed 1,091 metres (3,579 ft). I was done I couldn’t cycle anymore. 

There was a gasthaus (hotel) so we headed for it, hoping against hope it wasn’t their Ruhetag (Rest Day). Yes, hotels and restaurants close for rest days in Germany.

Fortunately, it was open or at least it was going to open at 5:00 (it was 4:15) we could wait.

A lovely room, with good hot showers and an excellent restaurant. We had pork steak in a cream sauce with mushrooms and homemade spaetzle and a lovely salad for dinner for E40, about $60.00, it was sooo good. I am sure it will help me get up the remaining hills to Villengen-Schwennigan tomorrow and on towards Donaueschingen – the source of the Danube River.

Sooner or later we have to get back on budget.

While I was writing the blog, Ralf discovered this book in the book case.  I cannot get away from planning – it was a really interesting book with maps, regulations and statistics.

Windmills. Still no more windmills. Running Total is Ralf 13 Jacky 6

June 24, 2018

 What an awesome day we had cycling down memory lane. We had been told from other people who had returned to Lahr not to come back, it has changed so much, remember it how it was. We were hoping that it hadn’t changed too much and we wouldn’t be too disappointed.

Although the base and Kaserne area are barely recognizable. We were able to spot the odd building that still had Canadian markings on, 1RCHA Building and the old Centennial Club (NCO building).

Most of the airfield has new buildings used primarily for warehouses or as we were told a large online shopping warehouse – similar to Amazon, only the German version. They ship throughout Germany, France, and Spain.

Downtown Lahr is still very much the same. Yes, there are more Doner Kebab shops than Imbiss but I still recognized some of the shops that were still in business from 28 years ago.

The main challenge for today was to find the three apartments that we lived in when we lived in the Lahr area.

After breakfast and getting the first load of washing done and hung out, we headed out the Hugsweier “gate” towards Friesenheim. We cycled through the small Town of Schuttern.  I remembered the lady in the window from last time.  The Kug Fu Panda would never have been allowed \”in our day\”.

We crossed the railway the bridge to the last house we lived in when we were in Germany. We couldn’t quite remember which number it was (81 or 79) so we took pictures of both.

We headed to the main intersection of Friesenhiem. We were trying to decide which way to go when a lady approached us. She used to rent to Canadians on the same street we lived, her house number was 75. It would have been too much of a coincidence for it to be our old land-lady. We had a nice chat about the changes to Lahr and Germany. She told us that the young Germans were not so keen to keep everything as clean as the old Germans – “it was old fashioned to be so strict”. The “new” Germans from East Germany were not as clean either, and then of course you have all the refugees. Forty percent of the population of Lahr and area are not from Germany (she included East Germans/Russians) in that number.

She wished us a safe holiday and hoped we enjoyed our visit to the area.

Although we didn’t spend a lot of time in Friesenheim at the restaurants when we lived here, we did spend some time cycling the field paths. One time we discovered an old Roman Street in a field, the farmer had found it while ploughing his field. Archaeologist were bought in and discovered it to be a Roman station, a place to stop briefly on their road north or south back to Rome.  There are now road signs to direct you to the area. There are new signs with the history of the old Roman Station. “Alle wege fuhren nach Rome” – All paths lead to Rome. I am not sure we could follow this path to Rome!

We met a lovely couple with their baby who had cycled from Offenburg. We told them we had been here 28 years ago. However, the new signs were not here then. They told us that it had recently been upgraded and had been in their local paper informing people that it was open to the public.

We headed back to our room to hang the next load of washing. It was a good job we got back when we did, the cleaning staff were about to lock the room.

We cycled back into Lahr, via the “jolly green giant” our second apartment. This one was easier to recognize. We lived on the 7^th Floor. The area was still very clean.

When we lived here there were Married Quarters down the road that were hexagonal. We had been offered one of these “cheeses” but decided to move into the private apartment in the green building.

After the Jolly Green giant we headed to Geroldsecker Vorstadt, via the StadtPark.

Again the first apartment was an easy one to find. There used to be a gas station below and a small bier stube. The bier stube is still there as is the gas station, although it no longer sells gas, it is now a 2^nd hand car store.  We were not allowed to have anything hanging from the building – no satellite dishes in our day.

Finally, we headed to the Kaserne. The Canadian Youth Centre where I first worked, was still recognizable. Although it is now an art gallery. I also recognized the main Canex Office building. The rest of the Kaserne area has been converted to housing and some commercial buildings. The old officers mess is now a building for psychotherapy.

After finding our old apartments we headed into the lovely downtown which is Lahr.

We got a little turned around, but followed the Einbahnstrasse and we found the Storchturm.

Sorry Nikki I couldn’t resist that. When my sister visited us in Lahr they parked in an underground car park on Schiller Strasse (the bank Street). She proudly told me that they had parked on Einbahnstrasse and then they had followed the arrows that directed them to Einbahnstrasse and found the car park. Einbahnstrasse means one-way street. Ralf and I still have no idea how they found the car park following the one way street signs!

There were storks on the top of the storkturm and we were allowed to go up the tower.

We then sat and had flammenkuchen and a beer, a great way to spend the afternoon, relaxing and watching people. We also had a wonderful ice-cream from a new gelato place. It was very busy, the ice-creams were cheap – a large scoop for E1.50.

Sorry Nikki we didn’t go to the Schutterzell Muhle, we had forgotten how far from Lahr it was (15 kms). As we had already cycle 35 kms on a rest day, we decided not to cycle another 30 kms. The flammenkuchen at the bar was definitely not as good as the Schutterzell Muhle.

We really enjoyed the day down memory lane. Lahr has changed, it is bigger and not as squeaky clean as it used to be. However, Lahr still has a rest day on Sunday. All the stores are closed except the bars and cafes. Sunday is a day to relax and we certainly did that.

June 23, 2018

We decided to have breakfast at the campsite. An excellent omelette with ham, cheese and tomatoes. It kept us going all day.

We were about to leave when our “next door” neighbour approached us and started chatting. He was really interesting and told us how they were trying to convert Stuttgart from a Car City to a Bike City, they had regular critical mass rides. I do not necessarily agree with critical mass rides. If everyone shared the road as opposed to taking the road, we could all be safer. We told him about Portland and he said that was one city he wanted to visit.

One of the things we have noticed since being in Europe is the amount of e-bikes there are. He told us that in Germany there has always been a “perk” or a “tax” break in the way of company cars. The companies are now getting the same “tax” break for e-bikes. They are giving e-bikes as tax breaks – a 5000 euro e-bike and the new owner only has to pay the lease of 30 euro per month.

An easy ride to Lahr today, we followed the Rhine to Meisenheim and then followed the farm roads to Lahr.

We spotted this small lizard, but I think it might be a skink

Meisenhiem has some very old buildings and one very new modern Rathaus -City Hall. The new City hall is surrounded by a high fence, I wonder why. Why on earth would they build something like this in a traditional Black Forest Village. I don’t dislike the building, I don’t like where it is located.

As we cycled out of Meisenheim we were reminded why storks are important in this area.  Considering how many storks we have seen there should be a population explosion in this area.

I recognized this local land mark. The guys used to call it “Tit Hill” – It was the only hill in the area that has a small clump of trees on the top!!

We had a cycle around the old airfield and tried to recognize where places used to be. There are a lot of new warehouse buildings and the area is unrecognizable.

We are staying in a hostel called the Europa Inn. We think it was the old EuropaHof! The form we had to fill in to register threw me straight back to being a D/W a Dependant Wife!! The form asked for “accompanying spouses name”.

The bikes are cleaned, shopping has been done, I have sent some requests for warmshowers and we have looked at the route along the Danube.

Germany won at soccer against Sweden and the Town is celebrating. We are looking forward tomorrow to spending time looking around Lahr and going to the Schutterzel Muhle for flammkuchen.

On Monday we head east, we will have some hills to go over before reaching Villengen Schwenigen.

June 22, 2018

Last night Ralf spent time planning our route out of Karlsruhe and back on to the Rhine route. He programmed the Garmin to get us so far and hand drew a map for the remaining distance. It worked, ten kilometres later we were out of Karlsruhe and back on the Rhine.

The day was quite cool and windy. We wore our wind breakers all day.

We stayed on the Rhine all day. I was amazed at the amount of swans we saw. There were large groups of 12 or more without cygnets and then smaller groups with cygnets usually three cygnets. We have no idea where this black swan came from – it was the only one.

Most of the ride was on the berm along the top of the floodplain. It was very dusty and the bikes are in desperate need of a clean. We are due for a rest day and I usually get all the boring things done on our rest days – washing, bike maintenance and updating the blog if I am behind, which I am.

When we came off the Rhine briefly, there were a lot of small oxbow lakes or Alt Rhine Rivers – in one area there was an old boat moored.  This boat was an eel boat.  They harvested eels until 1989.  Eel is good in the morning for breakfast!

We had decided to camp today, we have to get back on budget. There is a great campsite in Kehl called DCC E18.50 a pitch, 0.50 for a four minute shower and E1.00 for 24 hours internet. We didn\’t pay for the internet as we knew we could update the blog over the next couple of days in Lahr. There is a little restaurant on site with basic German meals and also a small kiosk where you can buy fresh bread, buns etc. for breakfast. The kiosk also sells beer at E1.80 per 500 cl bottle.

This site is very popular with cyclists, there is currently eight small tents with two other couples and the rest are single guys.

The facilities are very clean, and there are also washing machines (not too expensive). This would be a great place to have a rest day, get the bikes cleaned, washing done etc.

There is a small pavilion where you can cook and eat. While we were cooking we were joined by a young German couple and an older Dutch man.

We all shared our riding experiences. The young couple had cycled in the North of Spain and really enjoyed the experience. The Dutch man talked about riding in Holland with the numbered junction system.

Although camping can be uncomfortable, when you meet really nice people and share experiences it makes up for the lack of creature comforts. We are usually asleep early and wake up early. However, at the moment it is light until 10:00 p.m. we have to wear our eye masks so that we can get to sleep early.

This is our last day on the Rhine, tomorrow we head inland to Lahr. Then we will be heading towards the Danube. The next leg of this trip.

One of the things I have enjoyed about this section of the trip is the amount of different birds we have seen. I haven’t seen Thrushes in years. They are the size of an American Robin with a speckled breast, a very pretty bird. They are hopping around the campsite looking for worms. Today we saw a lot of swans on the Rhine and of course the storks. The pied wagtails always make me laugh. They fly in front of you swooping up and down and then land about 50 metres in front of you with their tails wagging. Then they are off again swooping up and down. We have also seen lots of storks in this area and herons. Small hawks fly above the fields trying to spot small field mice. Today we saw black-headed gulls diving into the Rhine trying to catch their lunch in the slower moving river near the banks.

I have to comment on the dogs and their owners in Germany. Some of the dogs are running loose, others are on a long leash. However, as soon as the owner sees or hears the bikes coming he/she calls the dog to heel and the dog sits patiently by the owner until we pass. For anyone who remembers us riding through Louisiana, Alabama etc and the bloody dogs that chased us every day. This is absolute bliss. We thank the owners as we pass and their response is generally “of course, no problem”

Although we have had some ups and downs with the routing and the north being so dirty and industrialized it has been good to get back on the bikes and cycle every day.

June 21, 2018

Another day on the Magical Mystery tour of the Rhine Radweg.

We started off well crossing the bridge over the Rhine into Baden-Wurtemburg.  The dialects in diffferent parts of Germany can be very different and it took a little while for us to understand this new accent.

The day started of well cycling along the Rhine and spotting storks. We went through an area where there were 28 nesting pairs with all of them having one or two babies in the nest. We could hear the beaks clacking as we cycled past the nesting area.

Both Ralf and I hate the word umleitung – detour!  Everything went pear-shaped and we were detoured three times – Phillipsburg, and Eggenstein/Leopoldshafen was the worst area. The signs are usually pretty good to get you away from the route and then abandon you to find your own way back.

However, in Rosenheim we did receive divine intervention. We were looking at the map trying to work out where on earth we were when a young man came along side us on his bike. He asked if he could help and we told him that we were trying to find our way back to the Rhine. He took us to a “dam” and told us to cycle along the dam and then take a right and we would be back on the Rhine route. I try to remember to introduce myself and ask our “Road Angels” their names. His name was Gregory and he was the pastor at the local church. Maybe going into these cathedrals and taking photos of old churches is helping. 

One interesting area we came across was a very large nuclear plant. We checked on the internet and they are expanding the plant. Currently, they have closed production in one area for annual maintenance. However, EnBW profess to being green energy producers. They have expanded their production of wind power plants in the north sea.

We were hoping to not come into the centre of Karlsruhe. We wanted to outskirt Karlsruhe and find a campsite further south. We stopped at a Lidl for a late lunch, and considered getting on the motorway, as it was the very close to the Lidl but thought the police might object. We found a paved path through a wood and headed due south. The path bought us into the centre of Karlsruhe. We have no idea how, but it did. We found another Youth hostel (E68.) plus E3 for towels! – our very expensive places to lay our head and settled in for another night of sharing a dorm room. This hostel did not have any double rooms left, we had to have separate dorms.

After we had settled into our expensive Youth Hostel we walked into the main shopping area for some cheap eats. Karlsruhe is a University City. We were told about a couple of good places to eat – student places (loud with lots of beer), cheap eats, and a nicer restaurant. We choose a falafel place which was very good. We ate outside and chatted to the cook who was on his break. He was a Syrian refugee. He had come to Germany 18 months ago, in another 6 months he will get his permanent Identity Card and will be free to travel throughout Europe. The rest of his family are in Canada. We couldn’t quite understand why he wasn’t with them. He said that his Father had not written him down on the paper. He wanted to join them in Canada and had applied, but the consulate has refused him. He was a really nice guy and spoke good German. He was working as a short order cook in the falafel place, but was hoping for a better life.

When we got back to the hostel, I discovered two men in my “womens only” dorm. Ralf did not have anyone else in his dorm. We went to reception and the woman tried to explain what had happened. It worked out for the best, Ralf and I shared his dorm and the fella that was supposed to share Ralf’s dorm would be moved to my dorm (when he arrived).

Saturday we will be in Lahr for a welcome rest day. We lived in Lahr and Friesenheim for five years. The area holds a lot of good memories.

Windmills. Still no more windmills. Running Total is Ralf 13 Jacky 6

June 20, 2018

 Happy Birthday Dave and Kelly

We had planned a short day of about 50 kms today and camping. I needed to get some washing done, clean the bikes and update the blog. Obviously that didn’t work out. The day started with the church bells waking us up at 7:00. I had woken at 6:00 and gone back to sleep, the bells were an excellent alarm clock. Leaving Worms we got totally turned around. Partly due to a detour and the directional signs pointing in opposite directions and partly because we didn’t look at the map properly when we left the hostel.

Eventually we got on the right road and headed south-east down the Rhine. We only briefly saw the river today as we were on the other side of the berm for most of the day. We cycled along small farm fields and through woodlands. The farms are not very big here compared to Canada, but they seem to work. Because of the early spring they can often get two or three crops of the same field.

The woodlands were really nice and cool. We went through one area where there was a detour due to birds nesting. We passed these geese that had babies but were not too aggressive. A couple of ladies warned us that the geese further along the path were more aggressive and we should be careful of them. As we cycled past the Canada Geese, one of them hissed at us – I told it we were from the same country and it should be nice to me (or I would kill its cousin and eat if for Christmas dinner). I am glad we didn’t encounter any swans along this path as they are very protective of their nests.

It was a really hot day today – a high of 33 degrees, cycling through the wooded areas was really nice.

We got to Aldtrip where we knew there were several campsites and a small lake. All of the campsites were for permanent campers and trailers (private) and no tents were allowed. Our only alternative was to carry on to Worms and another night in a hostel, or go back to the other side of Aldtrip to a possible campsite. Cost for bed & breakfast and evening meal (3 courses) at the hostel is E61.

The signs were not very good today and we got misplaced a couple of times. This sign might explain why.

As we entered Speyer there were directions to the Youth hostel, which outskirted the downtown.  The youth hostel was close to the Technick Museum which has lots of exhibits of planes, trains and automobiles and a lot of hands on exhibitions.

Tomorrow we cross the river and continue heading south through Germany. If we stayed on this side of the river we would enter France. We should be in Karlsruhe and hoping for a warmshowers. We should be in Lahr by the end of the week. I am looking for a cheap hotel in the area as there are no campsites.

Lahr is where we used to live and we want to spend a couple of days looking at our old “stomping ground”.

Once we had settled in to the hostel, I updated the blogs and did a bit of washing.  Ralf headed out to try and find the continuation of the maps that the the young guy gave us in Koln.  The first bookstore called the second bookstore who directed to him to the third bookstore who had the maps we needed.

Speyer was a Roman City and is one of the oldest Cities in Germany.  Ralf had taken his camera with him on his walkabout and got some excellent photos of the \”AldtStadt\”

The route today

Windmills No windmills spotted for the last few days – Running Total is Ralf 13 Jacky 6 Mat 5 so long as you count towers that look like windmills without their sails!

June 19, 2018

 Our day started with a quiet breakfast, the children were not eating until 8:00. The teacher we spoke to last night said he had a good nights sleep and all the children were accounted for. Ralf had heard a couple of the boys saying they didn’t get to sleep until 2:00 a.m. The teacher laughed and said they will regret not getting enough sleep today. 

We hurtled down the hill to Bacharach and had a little cycle around the Town before continuing our journey along the Rhine.

Ralf noticed the the three layers of walls – the inner city wall, the railway bridge and the outer city wall.

 This is not a windmill (Mat), it is the entrance gate to the Town.

Looking at the Hostel from the road, it doesn\’t seem that far away, but it was up a very steep hill, 16 degree incline.

The route took us a little way off the Rhine today and through the agricultural areas including small wheat fields, and vineyards.

A couple of the areas were a little rough through woods, but it hasn’t rained and we didn’t get bogged down in any muddy areas.

As we were away from the Rhine there weren’t as many castles to see. There was even one section of the Rhine that had no activity on it, no boats it looked very peaceful.

We negotiated the streets of Mainz and didn’t get lost even though there was a couple of detours. The area along the river was being prepared for a week-end festival. There is even a “beach” in Mainz.

As we left Mainz through an area that is undergoing rejuvenation, we spotted some graffiti. When is it graffiti and when is it art?

I noticed this sign and initially wondered why it didn’t have the usual famous places like New York, Sydney, London etc. Then I realized that they are all wine routes. We have cycled from Adelaide, Bilbao (Spain), Porto (Portugal) we are in the German wine areas of Rhineland and Baden and we are heading towards Italy. Is there a method to my cycling?

As I cycled through the vineyards I was trying to work out how many bottles of wine this area would provide.  We met a man many years ago that told us that one area of his vineyard was for his family he bottled 600 litres of wine for him and his family.  The rest went to the Winzergenossenshaft (wine growing co-op). 

We saw a couple of storks – one was in its nest and had a baby in the nest. I don\’t think it was a human baby waiting to be delivered, but it was difficult to see as the nest was quite high up.

The other was tidying up its nest for the morning – even storks have to do housework.

Trivia, the storks use the same nests year after year.  When they return from their winter in the sun (Africa), the male generally returns first and prepares the nest for his female.  They were thought to be monogamous but they have been found to change partners over the winter.

The other storks we saw by fields that the farmer had just harvested the hay. I am not sure what interested them in that area.

We got to the Town of Oppenhiem to the campsite where we were hoping to stay. Unfortunately, it was a permanent site for mobile homes and tents were not allowed. The restaurant said we could stay there for E5.00 but there were no shower facilities. It was only 2:00 so we decided to carry on to Worms. We thought it was only another 25 kms. However, there was a detour and that added about 5kms. My longest day in the saddle for a long time 110 kms. I felt good even at the end of the day.   Tired and hungry but good. We are once again at a youth hostel in Worms cost E63 including breakfast.

We passed a commemoration of the Battle of the Bulge. This was a wide area of the Rhine that the Americans crossed during the second world war.

Our last push into Worms was along the top of the berm, fortunately this one had been cut and was a little easier to negotiate.

The Rhine barges have changed their cargo from coal and gravel to trucks – 100 trucks on this barge.

Worms (pronounced Verms) has a large cathedral which is almost impossible to get a good photo of due to the surrounding commercial and residential buildings. Martin Luther (the founder of the Lutheran Church) was the first guy to break away from the catholic church. He was excommunicated as a priest, for failing to denounce his writing and beliefs, from the Catholic Church in Worms (1521). There is going to be a commemoration of this event in 2021.

I like reading Dan Brown’s books, are these signs that he would recognize? – the Luminati and the sun through a prism? These two “signs” were on the doors to the Trinity Church

Another good day of cycling, the sun was out when we headed out, but it clouded over quite quickly so it wasn’t too hot.

Windmills. Ralf 1 Jacky 0 Running Total is Ralf 13 Jacky 6 Mat 5 so long as you count towers that look like windmills without their sails!

June 18, 2018

What an amazing day on the Rhine Radweg. The breakfast at the hotel was really good and kept us going all day.

The hotel was a Bett & Bike hotel, which means they provide space for bikes and encourage cyclists. We spotted this lovely sculpture outside another Bett & bike hotel.

 We had a couple of power bars to keep us going, we didn’t need to stop for lunch. I have been having some trouble getting used to the taste of the local water. It tastes highly chlorinated and my tummy feels as if I have been drinking draino. This is why people might have been wishing me a Gutes fahrt yesterday. Sorry, toilet humour – Gutes Fahrt actually means Good Journey. As we are on the subject we both went to the public washrooms in Koblenz which cost .50 cent about .75 cent Cdn – an expensive wee. However, Ralf mentioned that in the urinal there was a picture of a fly – a target. The gentleman next to Ralf saw the fly and moved to a new urinal, he hadn’t realized it was a picture.

Today, I didn’t hydrate very well. I think we might have to buy bottled water, which I hate doing because I think it is a waste of money when (usually) the municipal water is good to drink.

The weather was a little overcast and cool, which made for a good day of riding. Although every time I stopped I seemed to be covered in little midges, my bright yellow cycling jersey seemed to attract them like bears to a honey pot.

As we were leaving the hotel we cycled around the Town of Andernach. As were many of the Towns we cycled through today it was once a walled city. The Town Castle was erected in the 12^th Century. Last extension 1491 -1495 was the erection of the powder tower and addition to the Keep. Destroyed by the French in 1689, the ruins of the castle are considered to be among the best preserved of any medieval town castles in the middle Rhine.

The other claim to fame Andernach it has a cold geyser. I am guessing that a geyser is the same except this one shoots out cold water. You could take a boat trip to see it, but we were not that interested.

Today was a day of amazing villages, castles and vineyards. There were so many villages and towns with beautiful old buildings, it seemed as if we were stopping every five minutes for Ralf to take photos.

Occasionally the route sent us on a detour, always across cobble stones and more often than not up a short but sharp hill.

We would also spot two old men sitting on a bench looking over the Rhine.

We stopped in Koblenz briefly. The Rhine and the Mosel meet here at a place called the Deutsch Ecke (the German corner).

The Wehrmarkt building was originally built for priests and orphans from 1723 to 1729. Later on the building was used as a prison, and poor house. In 1816 the government moved in and it is now used by the Office of the Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service support. It has undergone many renovations and rebuilds over the years.

As we cycled along the Rhine there was less and less loaded gravel/coal river barges. However we did spot this loaded container boat with approximately 72 sea containers.

These are the signs that we are now following – good signs.

This small walled town had the levels of the river marked on its “gate”. The highest the river reached was in 1882 and it was almost 2 metres.

Every village or town has a large church, of course being Germany they also have lots of restaurants, bars and bakeries. What more do you need?

If you double click on the pictures you will be able to see them better.

The last section of the route followed along side the B9. River on one side, the road and then vineyards as far as the eye could see.

We saw more touring cyclists today. Some are “credit card” touring with a couple of bags or even carrying a back pack. Even this little girl had her own panniers.

Eventually we arrived in Bacharach. Many years ago Ralf and I had taken an afternoon trip down the Rhine on one of the many tour boats we visited some of the small Towns we cycled through today and I recalled this amazing youth hostel in Bacharach.

I have always wanted to stay in a castle, but couldn’t afford the prices they were charging. Tonight we are staying in a castle which has been a youth hostel since 1926. The castle was built in 1136, it was besieged during the Thirty year war and was destroyed by the French in 1635.   The French destroyed a lot of things during that time.:) It was reconstructed in 1920 and became a youth hostel in 1926

Bacharach Town is a lovely historic Town.

The only thing I forgot about my last trip to this youth hostel is where castles generally are located! They are always located at the top of a hill for protection. After a 78 km ride we had a 1 km hill which we had to push the bikes up the hill. The incline was 16% for one kilometre.

For me it was well worth the push, so that I can say I have stayed in a castle.

Tomorrows ride back down to the Town of Bacharach should have me pulling on my brakes all the way down.

The Stahleck Castle was first mentioned in 1135. A Staufer fortification building with bulwark, fore-castle and water-filled moat. (Just to keep the riff raff out). It was owned by the Cologne Archbishops and residence of the electoral Count. The City of Bacharach walls were built in the 14^th Century, the castle was integrated as a corner bastion. During the 30 years war it was besieged, the damage was repaired in 1666 and then it was blown up in 1689 by the French. It was reconstructed as a youth hostel in 1925.

We paid for dinner at the Youth Hostel which included salad, main and dessert for E9.00 about $12.00. We hadn’t seen many other people at the hostel and thought it might be a quiet evening. That’s when they came out of the stonework – I would normally say woodwork, but this castle is stone. Hundreds of children that were on a school trip. O.k. there was only 29 in one group from one school and another two smaller classes from two other schools, about 50 kids in total.

We spoke to a teacher and asked him if it was an end of school trip. He told us that this was part of the school program for history and outdoor activities.

He told us that in Germany at Grade 4 (age 9 or 10), the kids are divided into separate schools. The highest level of school is for the kids that are going on to University, the other schools the kids will go onto more general education and trade schools. I thought that was too young, to divide kids. The decision as to which level of school the child goes to is a combined effort – the child, the parents and the teachers. However, he said that it was not set in stone, between grades 4 -6 some kids will move up to the higher level of school and other kids will move down to the more general education. In Germany there are only schools and Universities, no colleges. At 18/19 you choose the career you are going to take at University. No wishy washy, everybody gets a gold star, everybody gets a trophy. If you can’t cut it at 9 years old you better pick-up your socks, work harder if you want to go to university.

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures that were worth including from todays ride.

I think I might add a few bikes in the front of the house in Brockville ! What do you think Lia and Diane?

I forgot to mention Ralf spotted two windmills yesterday, today Ralf spotted one and I spotted one. Running Total is Ralf 12 Jacky 6

This is the elevation for today – note the last few hundred metres!

June 17, 2018

First and foremost you will be pleased to hear that I am not in jail. I don’t think you can be put in jail for thoughts, at least not in Germany.

The boys in the large group that arrived on Saturday, that had been playing the god awful music, decided that as they were camping with limited adult supervision they would not go to sleep and talk all night. There was one kid that I was ready to strangle as he did not have a volume control.

The boys were told at 12:00 to be quiet and again by other campers at 1:00 and at 2:00! I was not one of them, because it would have been an international incident. Although I have ear plugs they are not very good, they do not shut out all the noise. Ralf slept blissfully next to me. I think I got about 4 hours sleep.

The next almost incident was when I went to pick up the fresh baked croissants that I had ordered yesterday. The woman had no idea how close she was to being killed or very seriously injured. She said there was a problem with the order. I told her I had ordered two croissants – she very quickly gave them to me and everyone was safe for another day.

We left the campsite at about 9:30/9:45 rather late for us as we do like to get an earlier start.

The tent had been covered in cherry bird shit, so we needed to wipe that off and let the tent dry before we could leave.

Despite the late start we had an excellent day. The route was easy to follow. The signs were all in place where they needed to be and no graffiti covering them. The route was good well-paved and people were very friendly. Everything you need for a good days cycling.

The Rhine today was what I thought all of the Rhine was going to be like. Castles on hilltops, with vineyards or green forests.  Of course I do have to remember that the North of Germany is very industrialized, and is not as pretty as the middle and southern part of the Rhine.

Three times today we were changing the maps to the next area (the maps that the young cyclist had given us) and three people asked us if we needed help.

We passed through a Town called KonigsWinter – King Winter, I knew my hubby was a prince.  I think this building was probably the family estate – needs a bit of work.

Erpel was a pretty little Town.

We chatted to a couple who were hoping to do a big trip on their tandem. He was from Lancashire and she was German, they lived not far from Remagen (where the ferry crossed from Linz).  We told them about warmshowers and recommended that they join.

Along this stretch of the river there are also areas where you can take a tour along the Rhine.

A lot of the Towns were having summer festivals.  At Remagen we had to walk our bikes through a pedestrian area where the sidewalk cafes were full of people having their Sunday afternoon coffee and cake.

In a small village called Namedy we spotted this beautiful old house.  It is actually a moated castle built in the middle of the 15th Century originally belonging to the Husman Knights of Andernach.  Since 1909 it is in the ownership of the Rheinish Line of the Hohenzollern Dynasty.

With Ralf\’s new zoom lense he could get a good picture of the door.

It was Sunday and there were a lot of cyclists out enjoying the shorter routes. Although last week in Holland and Belgium there were a lot more cyclists enjoying themselves on e-bikes.

In Andernach we looked for a campsite. I thought I had seen one on the map. Unfortunately what I had seen was not a triangle indicating a camp site but a horses head indicating a wild life park. Please do not laugh, I didn’t have my glasses on. Anyway we arrived in Andernach with the only campsites 5 kms back up the river on the other side. We don’t go back!

Ralf waved down a fellow touring cyclist and asked if he had seen any campsites or a way across the river. He thought there might have been a ferry crossing a couple of kilometres down but didn’t recall seeing any campsites. We chatted for a while and then he headed towards Bonn and we tried to decide what to do.

As I had an awful nights sleep I wanted a good nights sleep tonight so we opted for a hotel with breakfast. We had pizza for dinner.

We are staying at the Hotel am Martinsberg for E70 per night including breakfast. I know we have to start sticking to the budget, but sometimes it is worth breaking the budget for a good nights sleep.

The weather today was overcast but warm, it looked as though it was going to rain all day.

June 16, 2018

The campsite had filled in quite a lot overnight. This 1960’s VW had arrived and is in excellent condition, I want one. 

A lazy start to the day, breakfast and coffee in the camp kitchen. At about 9:30 we took the train into Cologne. It cost us E13 for the two of us return, however, we could have hopped on and off the UBahn or underground all day for the same price.

As we crossed the bridge to get to the train we noticed workers scrubbing the graffiti from the glass walls. The graffiti was new and they were scrubbing it off with very strong chemicals.

We headed straight to the Globetrotter Store. A huge outdoor store that included a pool so that you could test your canoe or dive equipment! We bought the Europe road maps for Ralf’s Garmin and they are working!!! Unfortunately, they do not show the cycle paths, but we managed on all of our other trips with road maps. If we need to make a direct route we can follow the Garmin. I think we might be making our own routes.

We also bought the Donau maps for our trip across the Danube to Passau. The store was amazing and we could have spent a fortune in there, but we are limited to how much we can carry and really we have everything we need. Except maybe a glass of wine!

After getting the maps and the garmin maps we found a phone shop. Yes, the Canadian phone is locked. We bought a cheap E17.99 phone that we can text and call (an idiot phone). Ralf sent a message to Renate and she called us so we know it works. We really only need a phone to call warmshowers hosts or in an emergency.

After we got the necessities done we became tourists. The Cathedral is huge and of course is undergoing some renovations. The Dom was built in 1248-1473, further work was added from 1840 -1880 and then renovations after the war in the 1950s to the present day. The Cathedral has 11 bells and two spires with a total height o 157 m (515 ft. There was no charge to go in, however you could pay for a guided tour.

We spent some time drinking ice coffee and watching people. There are several pedestrian only areas where you can sit and while away the day shopping, eating and drinking.

There were a lot of buskers around ranging from African dancers to a young German playing small steel drums, they had a really nice sound.

It is amazing the things you learn as you walk the streets.

and the strange things you see when you look up.

About three o’clock we returned to the campsite.

We chatted to another cyclist who is heading north and he told us the route further south is much nicer and easier to follow. He then gave us his maps that he used and does not need them any longer. He had already bought maps for his route north. He is heading home to the Faroe Islands via Denmark. He is trying to follow the Eurovelo routes and planning his route via a large map and his cell phone with maps.me. He asked about one area which didn’t show any roads or trails and had hash marks across a wide area. It was around Paderborn. Ralf said it looked like a restricted area. I remembered my Dad being stationed in that area so I told him there used to be a British Army base there, which is probably why there may still be some restrictions to going through that area. We wished him luck on his journey.

We now have maps, a phone and the Garmin – we should be good heading south, forever the optimist.

Currently we are listening to some god awful music and kids running around in the rain!!

We are in our tent hoping that it doesn’t leak as it is raining. We have got an almost new fly and the inner is new thanks to Big Agnes. Our new sleeping blankets are working well, lots of down filling. Again we were sent new ones from Thermarest as the filling kept falling to the sides on the old ones.

It is supposed to stop raining and be a nice day tomorrow.