To Rudesheim

July 18, 2024

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Despite out baggage issues, we enjoyed our time in Frankfurt. But, it was also time to move on and get this tour on the road.

We've been getting up at 4am most mornings. So, we put on the kettle in the room, had an instant coffee to satiate ourselves until breakfast at 7am. With a stroke of luck, we were able to get seated early for breakfast at 6:30 on account of me heading down to the sleepy desk clerk to ask if there were any more instant coffee packages that they might be able to spare. In that conversation, he invited us down early since the breakfast area was already prepared.

After breakfast, we grabbed the bikes from the storage area, put our panniers on and were about to leave when I decided to use the pump to put some more air into my tires. What ensued was a frustrating scenario as the valve core of my tire was loose and kept unscrewing off as I unscrewed the pump. With rapid whoosh, I lost air from my tire at least five times. I managed to tighten the valve core enough with my fingers, and was able to carefully pump enough air into my front tire to at least get us going. A frustrating and sweaty affair before even taking a pedal stroke.

Once on the road, and negotiating a few navigation problems, we arrived at the Main River. We followed the Main southwest and pretended to race the flotsam floating downstream in the swollen river.

Crossing the Main with the modern towers of Frankfurt behind.

It took us a while to escape the urban sprawl of Frankfurt, but once we did, most of the day was spent on separated cycle paths hugging the river. As the sun moved higher in the sky, so too did the heat. Today was a hot one and we were always grateful when the paths took us into shaded forests. The section of riding between Frankfurt and Mainz was interspersed with paths along meadows and forests, but also had large industry like petro-chemicals, and other large sprawling manufacturing centers. It was interesting to view this juxtaposition along the way.

Nearing Mainz. we knew we were going to say goodbye to the Main and say hello to the Rhine. It was interesting when we arrived at the spot were the Main River joined it's much bigger brother, the Rhine; a vast and expansive river that seemed to have a higher than normal volume at this time of year.

Beautiful cycle paths like this for most of the day.

With about 40kms in our legs, we took a break along the Rhine facing the city of Mainz. We contemplated riding across the bridge and into the Altstadt, but after having just left and negotiating the traffic of one big city, we were not enthused about negotiating another one. Besides, the tranquility and peacefulness of riding along the quiet cycle paths was hard to leave. Next time. We convinced ourselves that we were not going to miss anything. But, I have to tell you the incredible Mainz skyline was alluring.

After Mainz, the terrain hugging the Rhine began to slope upwards from the river with rows of grapes crops used for the famous Riesling wine from this region, and machines driven over the grape vines we being used to trim back the tops of each row of grapes. At this time of year, the grapes were small.

At Eltville, we stopped for a quick lunch before heading on to Rudesheim. The cycle route along this part of ride brought us through beautiful old medieval towns with narrow cobbled streets and half timbered houses, some of them dating back to the 1300's.

We were grateful to near Rudesheim as the heat of the day was repressive. We were both looking forward to a cold shower, or maybe even two or three, as our hotel booking at Rudesheim did not have air conditioning tonight. Ugh.

After getting cleaned up, we ventured off to see the sights of Rudesheim. It was clear from the long river cruise boats parked along the Rhine that we were in river cruise territory, as throngs of grey haired tourists like us roamed its medieval streets. Rudesheim was clearly a destination spot for the itineraries of the river cruise world.

Drosselgasse street is famous a narrow street in Rudesheim filled with kitschy souvenir shops where shop owners are dressed in lederhosen and dirndls, just to give it that 'authentic' German character.

See the gondola behind us, flying tourists over the grape crops above.

Rudesheim is, however, a charming little town once you get away from the busy main drag facing the river. So, with that said, I think I'll leave it there for now and save telling about our evening in Rudesheim for tomorrow. I'll add more photos of our day later.

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 76 km (47 miles)

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