To Bacharach

August 29, 2021

Our decision to split the ride to Bacharach into two days looks well considered when we wake this morning and find that we have grey but hopefully dry weather until around noon. We’re among the first in the dining room and roll out not long afterwards fueled by the usual muesli, cheese, rolls, assorted meats and coffee. The pavement is wet but the skies dry as we bike out of town and south along the Rhine. Unlike yesterday, today’s ride will be as effortless as it could be as we follow a smooth paved bike path all the way to Bacharach. Winds vary with direction as we round bends in the river but generally favor us. The ride is almost absolutely flat, with only a minuscule rise to the river. According to our Garmins we’ll have a net elevation gain of only twenty feet by the time we arrive.

This is a famous stretch of the Romantic Rhine. Castles line the ridges of either bank, and one improbably squats on a small islet in the center of the river. One colorful village follows the next and a steady stream of vessels cruise up and down the river, carefully navigating the S-shaped channel past the Loreley, the fabled slate cliffs of legend and literature.

This whole stretch of the middle Rhine is declared a UNESCO world heritage sight, worth a much longer look than the one we’re giving it as we hustle through hoping to stay dry. There’s little time for much photography and the light is poor this morning anyway, but I do stop a few times - long enough to fall about a third of a mile behind Rachael.

Along the Romantic Rhine. It would be nice to return here on a sunnier day.

Just past the Loreley I hear a startling pop and then my bike starts regularly clicking. Fearing I broke something - my first thought is of the retaining bolt securing my rack - I get off and check out the system - rattle the rack, spin the wheels. I can’t hear anything, but when I start biking it starts clicking again so I look more closely and soon find the culprit.

I think we’ve found the problem. And you’re only seeing the half of it. There’s at least this length bent on the inside.

I see from my Garmin that Rachael is almost a mile down the road now and moving fast (did I mention yet how much we love our new Garmin 1030 Plus?), so I fire off an SOS text to her - another feature of these Garmins - and set to work on the tire. I tell her she might as well just keep going to the hotel - there’s no point both of us getting wet if rains break out. In the end though she doubles back since the weather looks stable for a while and puts in a few extra miles for the team. I’m just about to call her to say I’m on the move again when she rolls up.

Three! And all on the same tire. I think this nail would have made it through any of them, but I’m starting to have second thoughts about trying to make this tire last through another tour. Anyone have an extra Schwalbe Marathon 406 lying around unused?

At least the rain is holding off. And what a romantic spot to repair a flat! I’ll remember this one for sure.

We bike the rest of the way to Bacharach together happy to have stayed dry and stop at the first open restaurant we find. Even with the flat it’s still too early to check in so we take our time and make this the main meal of the day.

Just another pretty place. I need to start keeping better notes apparently.

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, built in 1327 to collect taxes from users of the river. Remarkable that it’s survived nine centuries of flooding.

In Bacharach, arriving before the rains begin.

Video sound track: Candleman, by Billy McLaughlin

Our lodging in Bacharach, Hotel zur Post, gives us easily the best view from our room since we arrived in Europe. Unfortunately it’s on the second floor, which since this is Europe means this is really the third floor. And since the ground floor of this building is one floor above street level for some reason, it means we have four very steep sets of stairs to ascend and descend every time we decide to leave the building. Which we’ll do six times before we leave town.

One view from outside our room, but not the best one.

There’s a far better view from our balcony, and one just as fine looking down the street in the other direction.

We use up one of our round trips on the stairs immediately when we decide to go see the town before the rains start. Unfortunately between the time we leave the room and when we arrive at the street the rains start, so we just turn around and climb back up again.

Two hours later the rains nearly stop, so we take our chance and go out for a misty loop that takes us above town to see the castle, its associated walls and towers, and the ruined church that makes you think of one of the ruined Borderlands abbeys in Scotland. And some fabulous views looking down on the town. And some more fabulous stuff in town.

But I’m out of time. Think of this as an in-stream photo dump, uncaptioned for now at least. Partly to entice you, partly to remind us of what a great place Bacharach would be to come back for a longer stay some year.

From Wikipedia: Werner Chapel was built in 1426 and it was dedicated to St. Werner of Oberwesel, a 16-year-old boy whose unexplained death was blamed on Jews, leading to revenge killings of Jews across Europe in 1287. Since the Reformation the chapel was a famous pilgrimage destination. It was left to decay in the 17th century and partially demolished in 1759 and 1787. Today the impressive ruins are the landmark of Bacharach town.

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Ride stats today: 25 miles, 200’; for the tour: 637 miles, 15,300’

Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 638 miles (1,027 km)

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Bill ShaneyfeltDuring our assignment in Germany in 76-78, we took a Rhine cruise and I must have taken a dozen or more shots of castles. That was back when it cost about $.50 per slide for film, so I was really choosy. You never knew how they would turn out till a couple weeks later. Now I need to get them digitized. I have a scanner, but need to sort through my thousands of shots, arrange them and then scan. Going to take years!

Your photos are triggering memories.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltYou should get busy on that scanning project! Your own photos will trigger a whole lot more. Do you have photos of any old bike tours stashed away?
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3 years ago

Bill ShaneyfeltTo Scott AndersonI only have digitals from bike touring, and they are from 2008 and 2011.

The 08 pictures are on some sd cards and since the camera was malfunctioning, not many turned out.

I've often wished I had a camera on my first tour (age 17 from Mojave to Ventura and back over 6 days in 1963) I had a lightweight 26 inch single speed "no-name" (Tempo) discount store bike with pedal rear brake and a basket rigged to the rear that carried my sleeping bag. No extra clothes and a 1/2 gallon plastic Clorox bottle for a canteen. Wore a felt cowboy hat and had a lizard noose and snake hook hanging on the bike cross bar. Too bad nobody got a picture of me... that I know of.

I've been trying to sort photos by date for scanning and doing some scanning since I got the scanner last winter. Lots of "fixing" color, spots, scratches, etc. takes time. Got a couple hundred done. Mostly stuff inherited from parents from before my time up through grade school so far.
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3 years ago

Ben ParkeI got to stay in Bacharach a few years ago. You’ve got some fantastic photos. It’s an interesting town to photograph at night as well. I hope the hotel you picked is much higher quality than the one I stayed in....
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3 years ago

Andrea BrownAm I the only person stricken by this earworm? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrNpzSqtE4E
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3 years ago

Suzanne GibsonI really feel bad that Germany is giving you such lousy weather! I admire your enthusiasm in spite of it.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonWe really don’t feel that way at all, for all the whining we do. We’ve been in Germany for ten days now and in spite of all the threatened rain we’ve hardly gotten wet at all.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Ben ParkeI’ll bet it is great at night - we should really get out after dark more, something we used to do more of when we we were about 20 years younger.
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3 years ago

Ben ParkeTo Scott AndersonI find myself back in my room before 8pm every night this year too. Some of that is just better ride planning so I don’t arrive so late this year. Earlier bedtime is always good.
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3 years ago

Bruce LellmanIt's nice that all these beautiful old buildings were not destroyed in the war.
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3 years ago