A truly spectacular day!
It just shows you shouldn't judge a day how it starts as more miserable it couldn't have started. The rain wasn't heavy, but very persistent, which made me feel very clammy. My pocket rocket hasn't got any vents, so it got steamy!
The hotel where we stayed was excellent. Breakfast was as usual, but again a search for some black tea.
I wasn't really in the mood for cycling when I saw the weather, yes, I have to admit that thoughts of getting a train did cross my mind, but people thatknow me will vouch that I am not someone who usually give up. So off we went.
It rained for pretty much the whole morning so most of the photos I took looks quite bleak. But then the landscape changed and we went into the valley. Oh my word, spectacular!!
The angle at which they planted their vineyards are truly remarkable. It seems that 70 degrees is the norm, sloping down the hillside. We even saw a digger halfway down one of the steep side of the hill. In every town we cycle through were Weingoet (wineries) and most of them seemed like family businesses. No, we didn't stop as we knew we had a pretty long day ahead and we had a later start than usual (not by much but 8.30 seemed late). That said, we did stop about 5 miles from Koblenz when the sun was briefly out to drink a Koblenzer beer. That tasted so nice!!
There were a large number of cruise boats on the river and the most frequent company was Düsseldorfer - Köln. This is a company that does day trips along the Rhine between those two cities (Dusseldorf and Cologne), and boy did that sound appealing. But unfortunately my suggestive talk didn't help; Mr Bowden said No. I know he was right as the cycling was beautiful.
Now let me tell you about our stay for tonight. We are again in the Jugenherberge, the German Youth Hostel, but this one is very special. It is situated inside an old German fortress called Ehrenbreitstein Festung. There are 2 ways of reaching this fortress which is on the opposite side of Koblenz and that is via a very steep road up the mountain or via a cable car. We took the cable car, see below!
The bikes fitted in well and we all arrived safe and well at the top. The hostel is very modern and we have our own bedroom with proper beds, not bunk beds, an ensuite bathroom and even towels and toiletries were supplied. Tomorrow is a similar day through the valley and we will end up in Bonn. Let the days roll on!
It just shows you shouldn't judge a day how it starts as more miserable it couldn't have started. The rain wasn't heavy, but very persistent, which made me feel very clammy. My pocket rocket hasn't got any vents, so it got steamy!
The hotel where we stayed was excellent. Breakfast was as usual, but again a search for some black tea.
I wasn't really in the mood for cycling when I saw the weather, yes, I have to admit that thoughts of getting a train did cross my mind, but people thatknow me will vouch that I am not someone who usually give up. So off we went.
It rained for pretty much the whole morning so most of the photos I took looks quite bleak. But then the landscape changed and we went into the valley. Oh my word, spectacular!!
The angle at which they planted their vineyards are truly remarkable. It seems that 70 degrees is the norm, sloping down the hillside. We even saw a digger halfway down one of the steep side of the hill. In every town we cycle through were Weingoet (wineries) and most of them seemed like family businesses. No, we didn't stop as we knew we had a pretty long day ahead and we had a later start than usual (not by much but 8.30 seemed late). That said, we did stop about 5 miles from Koblenz when the sun was briefly out to drink a Koblenzer beer. That tasted so nice!!
There were a large number of cruise boats on the river and the most frequent company was Düsseldorfer - Köln. This is a company that does day trips along the Rhine between those two cities (Dusseldorf and Cologne), and boy did that sound appealing. But unfortunately my suggestive talk didn't help; Mr Bowden said No. I know he was right as the cycling was beautiful.
Now let me tell you about our stay for tonight. We are again in the Jugenherberge, the German Youth Hostel, but this one is very special. It is situated inside an old German fortress called Ehrenbreitstein Festung. There are 2 ways of reaching this fortress which is on the opposite side of Koblenz and that is via a very steep road up the mountain or via a cable car. We took the cable car, see below!
The bikes fitted in well and we all arrived safe and well at the top. The hostel is very modern and we have our own bedroom with proper beds, not bunk beds, an ensuite bathroom and even towels and toiletries were supplied. Tomorrow is a similar day through the valley and we will end up in Bonn. Let the days roll on!
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| The cable car at Koblenz |
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| 70 degree vineyards! |
hi welna, it is a pleasure to run into your blog +thx for your blog list mention.
ReplyDeletei have added your adventures to my reader +glad to have found you. i see good narrative, bikes and beer. a splendid line of common goods
best regards xxom <3