Day 100: Koblenz to Bonn, Germany: The Bridge at Remagen (or not).

August 27, 2012

We are torn by wanting to see everything in the places where we are, and wanting to sally off to new places, so we don’t run out of time and miss them. Today we changed our minds about Koblenz and decided to sally off. We took some parting photos from the bank of the Mosel, and headed down the Rhine again.

At least, we began to head down the Rhine. Pretty much immediately, at Wallersheim, we ran into construction. “Lebensgefahr” (risk of death) said the signs, do not pass here. Yeah, sure, we thought at first, but soon saw they were serious. So we circled around, getting a “free” tour of this small suburban village, before returning to the bank of the Rhine.

Although we were back on the Rhine, it seemed like someone had flipped a switch and turned off the castles and vineyards at Koblenz. Instead we got some industrial scenes, and generally just a broad river valley with nothing in particular going on. It was still pleasant riding along the paved path, but no wow.

We did get a wow at Andernach, but that was wow, this is just as ugly as America. We started off photographing a “no photography” sign at an industrial site, and then got a few miscellaneous shots of the industrial activity itself. Grampies can be ornery.

Closer to town, we ran by McDonalds and Burger King, and a Shell station that had no Campingaz, They directed us down the street to the Centershop, motto “Ihr Allaround Discounter”. Unfortunately they were not well rounded enough to even know what Campingaz is. Soon it will be starve, eat cold, or eat in restaurants for us. True camping stores are hard to find in these picturesque towns.

After Andernach the Rhine began to recoup some of its glory, with a few vine covered hills and a good sprinkling of fairy tale castles. Some towns, like Bad Breisig were interesting, with many riverside hotels and restaurants. In general we did not go into the towns, which indicates that (a) we have our heads down and are charging ahead and (b) we do not want to spend the energy necessary to refind the signed path after wandering in a town.

Charging ahead is part of seeing the sands running out (seemingly ever faster) on this dream trip. On the other hand we have no evidence right now that we can not complete the itinerary we had set out at the beginning. Soon, though, we will have a tete a tete with Google Maps and see exactly how far stuff is and where we can reasonably go. If we feel we need to speed up, we have some options – like taking a boat from Koln to Neimagen, in Holland, and/or not going completely around the Isselmeer or into Amsterdam. We’ll see…

One special point of interest today was at Remagen. The bridge there had been captured by the Americans I 1945 after they found it still standing. It was the last standing bridge over the Rhine. The Wehrmacht continued to try to destroy it, and eventually succeeded. It collapsed despite the Americans’ attempts to shore it up.

The bridge was a symbolic victory at the time and later was the subject of a book and movie. What remains now are two large bridge towers on each side, part of the railroadway behind the towers and a very short projection of some bridge part from the left bank. In the left bank towers are a museum, and memorial plaques placed there by U.S. armed forces units in later years.

I wandered around behind the towers and through some rough brambles, looking for an angle to shoot the bridge parts on both sides. Back there things were a jumble, and I can upon some strange shafts or cellars of the towers, and jumbled bridge blocks. It felt much more like 1945 there than out front.

The museum was charging 3.50 and did not seem to have much, so we passed. Still some old war magazines that were on sale showed many original photos from here. The surroundings looked much different, of course. It would be interesting to have a look at photos like that, now that we have been at the actual scene. The magazines, of course, were too heavy to carry with us.

The Rhine offered up a couple more castles before Bonn: a ruin on one hill, and Schloss Drachenburg on the other. Drachenburg, in particular, has true fairy tale design.

Camping on the way to Bonn seemed particularly slummy to us, with jumbled trailers, little cover, and flimsy facilities. However, the last one (our last hope before the desert of Bonn) , called Campingplatz Genienau, was as nice as they come around here: not too crowded, place for tents near the showers, solid facilities building. Best of all, the lady set me up in the basically unused restaurant part of the registration building, with table and chairs, and light, and power!!

So here we sit at Bonn, contemplating our next move. We will at least cycle in to Koln to check out the cathedral. We are biased in favour of just cycling and cycling until someone pulls our plug and puts us on a plane home, but, we’ll see.

Statue of Wilhelm I at Koblenz. They seem to like giant statues in this city.

The little ferry from the camping to the city

Say what? Oh yes, port area with suspended loads and holes to fall in (I think). Hmmm.

The Rhine, just beyond Koblenz, has lost its charm.

The only container ship we have seen on the river.

They could easily drop a roll of steel on your head

This is a tricky one. I have not tried to translate the plaque yet. But I did find stories of US atrocities at a giant POW camp at Andernach.

Remaining towers on the right hand bank, Bridge at Remagen

Many boats on the Rhine, opposite Remagen

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 5,003 km (3,107 miles)

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