Day 20 - Bad Honningen to St Goar - Planned Spontaneity

July 11, 2018

Day 20 - Bad Honningen to St Goar

The 'other' side of the river

First thing I did today once we were ready to roll was take some pictures, first for Dodie, then a couple for Steve:

Look, Dodie, the packing is a lot more streamlined.

The backpack has disappeared, and the panniers are all closed

So here is the kickstand that i installed. I didn't think to note the brand at the time

The attachment to the frame is very strong and the downward part is more robust than the last one, i think

One of the first things we did as we got underway today was to ignore the track that I had prepared last night by deciding not to cross the river but instead stay on the right bank; a good example of what planned spontaneity looks like! This meant we would be traveling without a map, just following signs for the Limas velo route. This worked out well as the signage was good.

We stayed on the right (east bank) of the river all the way to Koblenz and even past the Deutches Ech. For some reason, the Garmin sometimes shuts off from logging for no reason and until I notice and restart it, it doesn't record ,

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Our hotel in the morning. The hotel is older but very clean. The main draw back is that it is very close to the rail track but, on the up side, the rooms come with ear plugs! However, we were tired enough that the trains were not an issue. I would also suppose that they do not run as often at night.

Next year the town of Bad Honningen celebrates 1000 years of existence. Things like that really bring home how young Canada really is as a country.

A statue of school children in the Markt of Bad Honningen.

We may not know quite where we are headed but there is good signage to get there! Acturally, the sign that caught our attention was the lower one that indicates we are on the Limes route. The Limes route indicates how far the Holy Roman Empire extended into central Europe.

The original tower was destroyed for gravel. The one behind be was placed as a reminder.

This explains the area we are riding in better than I can.

The first castle we saw as we headed down the Rhine.

A whole family of cycle tourists. Even the children had child sized panniers.

In most places if you come across road work an effort is made to provide an easement for bicycles. This was no exception with a narrow path to the left.

We get pretty excited when we start seeing vinyards. It is just so impressive at where they can get vines to grow the the steepness of the slopes that the vintners work on.

This vineyard had been in existence since 1779. Have I mentioned how young Canada is?

We notice many areas where the vintners were working on the vines.

This indicates which vintner owns these vines. There may be long areas of vines where that can be several different vintners indicated.

This church was build in 1335. It is unfortunate so many of the are locked. I would love to be able to go inside more of them.

We may not be fast but we do pass the barges that are working their way up stream.

Evidence that many of these villages were walled at one time.

Some of the homes in Germany will have this type of decoration in the front of their homes to indicated a bit of family history. I believe that this family may have come from the Munich area originally.

Marvin liked the idea of playing with the grandkids on this bouncy log.

A true dead end that had us turn around and reroute.

A group of school children out for a walk. I love how they each have a safety vest and a buddy to hold hands with.

Quite a wide variety of path surfaces today.

While the woods are very pretty, they often have some of the roughest paths as the asphalt is in poor repair. We find the dirt trails in woods are actually smoother for riding.

We saw some garbage high in the trees that gave evidence of the flooding from March.

These fellows were working at cutting a door way into this old wall. It is hard to see but the rock they were cutting through was over 12 inches thick.

The hotel we stayed in the last time we were here.

It is nice when the castles are close enough to get a really good view.

Benches are a good thing, especially when saddle sore.

This stone was carved to give a history of the area.

These poor fellows got their boat up on some rocks. No tide coming to help them out.

In the main square at Boppard. Over 60 km done and ready for a pick me up.

This house had amazing carving on all the beams. Hope someone is able to put the resources into keeping it in good repair. At this time it is starting to look a bit rough.

We are staying in the town of St. Goar. The basics but clean and a welcome rest.

View from our room of the ferry to the other side of the river.

The day was pleasant with cool-ish temperatures. Marvin complained of being chilly at times but Erika found it perfect. Erika did have some problems with being saddle sore but a bike shop in Boppard helped out so hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 876 km (544 miles)

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