Distance. 69 km
Total. 880km
We did get a few little showers in the morning but we didn’t get the rain we expected. I think it was German rain and not the stuff we get in the Lake District. We enjoy a nice ferry ride to start the day and today was no exception. We crossed from Rüdesheim to Bingen and we started our drizzly and cloudy way up the Rhein Gorge. This is reputedly the most beautiful part of the Rhein, so it is sad that we only saw it with grey clouds.
We only glimpsed the Mäuseturm, a tower on an island which, according to the story, is where a greedy bishop was eaten by mice in retaliation for burning citizens who complained about paying his exorbitant taxes. The next key point was the Loreley Rock.
The river turns sharply at the rock. It is also a dangerous place for shipping and another story claims there is a ‘siren’ who lures sailors to the rocks. It’s another load of bilge if you ask me - just like the mice and the bishop. We probably didn’t see it at its best but we did see several lovely Schloß on the hillsides as we cycled through. We didn’t hang around because of the weather.
This is a Prussian milestone. A Prussian mile equals 7.5km. Also, the spelling of Koblenz was spelt with a C until 1926.
The first notable town was Bacharach. Of course we immediately thought that it was the home town of Burt Bacharach but we worked out.....it wasn’t ‘24 Hours from Tulsa’ and no one knew the ‘Way to San Jose’ but ‘Raindrops did keep falling on my head’!
It did start to dry up when we got to the town of Boppard. We had lunch and I managed to go into a cycle shop to ask for a washer to stop Janice’s screw loosening. It was potentially a problem.....going into a bike shop and asking to buy a washer! I thought they would think I wanted a dish washer or a washing machine when I only wanted a small metal disc with a hole in it. I didn’t have a problem as I took in the screw and made a strange gesture around it where the washer would go. The lady seemed to understand and gave me two washers and didn’t charge me. Job fixed!
For David’s benefit I got a cake and here it is. It is a chocolate cake with marzipan around the edge....mmm!
Today’s destination is Koblenz, a lovely small city at the confluence of the Rhein and the Mosel rivers. At the point the rivers meet is the Deutche Eck monument of Wilhelm I. It is perhaps the greatest German symbol of unity. By Eck, it’s a grand sight for a lad from Burnley. In German ‘Eck’ means corner, so it literally means ‘German Corner’.
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The monument is massive. Across the Rhein is the Ehrenbreitstein fortress which can be accessed by cable car. We visited the fortress when we came here 5 years ago but it is quite a sight with lovely views over Koblenz. We walked around the city and bagged a few more churches in the process.
We thought we deserved a little refreshment for our exertions of the day at a Bier Keller. Why not?
We thought that Koblenz would be a great base to explore the area as it is close to the Rhine Gorge towns, the Mosel valley and just south of Köln and Bonn. The wine of the area of the Gorge is Liebfraumilch but we didn’t see any Blue Nuns picking the grapes from the vines as we passed. I think that was the only wine we could afford back in the 1970’s, it certainly was the first wine I drank underage.....no-one told me I needed a cork screw to open it until I had bought it! Schoolboy error!
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