It’s like we’re obsessed with ice cream!
We are ushered out of Koblenz by William I, first emperor of Germany; this statue (below) was dedicated in 1897 for his role in the unification of Germany – back in the 1870s; not the reunification that happened much more recently.
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One almost perfect day
What makes a perfect day on a bike tour?
The scenery. That’s big. And today we spend 50km riding through the perfect scenery of the Rhein Gorge: a sparkling, blue/green river, steep hillsides covered with grapevines, medieval castles atop rocky hillsides, postcard perfect river side villages. All the clichés.
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Castles, castles, everywhere!
It’s time to take a day off the bike and to enjoy the Rhein Gorge in the very best way – from a ferry cruise on the river. All we see is castle, after castle, after castle.
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The most beautiful and mysterious town in the world (Victor Hugo, on Bacharach)
Left or right? That’s the dilemma of the morning. Left means certainty. Right means uncertainty and possible delay.
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And just like that … there’s grapes again!
With pleasure, we turn our bikes away from Worms, heading generally north as we follow the Rhein’s meanderings, slightly east, slightly west. A river never runs straight – unless perhaps humans have had something to do with it!
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Industry makes the world go round, but it sure is ugly!
It seems I have learnt to sleep properly. This morning when I notice the church clock chiming, calling people to early Mass, Neil tells me it went all night, every quarter hour. How did I sleep through that? He also tells me that he was awake to hear the 2:45am chime, but told himself to be asleep before 3am. And he was. How does he do that?
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Do NOT pay the ferry man!
Neil survives the night. My Garmin does not, or rather it remains in its endless boot loop, and there is no fix or reassuring message from Garmin Australia. It seems today I will be following Neil around, rudderless, so to speak.
While he is feeling a lot better today, it has been a somewhat torrid night for Neil, and he doesn’t shut down my idea that we could take the train to Speyer if he’s not up to riding. The weather is looking pretty rubbish today as well, so it could be a bit of a chore riding anyway.
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Watch out for Allergen 14 and unwanted software updates
“What are you doing in Karlsruhe?”
We are actually wondering that ourselves, even before our lovely waitress at dinner poses the question.
The answer is pretty simple: it’s because Karlsruhe is about 60km from Drusenheim, and that’s a reasonable day’s ride for us.
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Rain Runners
What is it they say about the best laid plans? Something about them going awry.
This morning we’d planned to leave our bikes and luggage at our hotel and to go out and explore for a while before taking our short(ish) ride to Drusenheim. Over breakfast Neil announces a thunderstorm is approaching and after checking the weather the best we can, we decide, reluctantly, to just get on our bikes and go!
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Where we have to watch out for marauding tractors now as well!
Sélestat is quite a different place when we emerge with our bikes this morning. There is a market on – a bit like the Heathcote market, but on steroids – and people are everywhere. I don’t know who would think of buying a bed at a street market, but you can here in Sélestat! It would be a challenge to carry home on a bike.
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