Mainz-Kastel to An der Loreley

July 2, 2015

On the Rhein Radweg

We are finally riding along the Rhein, one of the expected highlights of our trip. We got off to a bumpy start this morning. I went into the campground office to pay (and come out with change from a 20€ note) and didn't put on my gloves since I knew we wouldn't be going far before stopping for breakfast. When we got to a bakery-cafe at Biebrich, 6.5 km since starting, I saw that there was one glove on top of one of my rear panniers. I must have put them there when I took them out of my helmet to put my helmet on my head and then been distracted. Now there was only one glove. I left my panniers with Al at the cafe and rode back to the campground unloaded to look, but no luck. (So the distance above includes my doubling back.) When I got back to Biebrich, Al was sitting with a friendly local couple and they gave us directions to a bike shop which turned out to be Bikemax/Skimax, a very large shop. They had lots of gloves to choose from, mostly models from one brand, Roeckl. Lots of sizes too. I found a decent pair, though not leather like my nice Giro ones.

Packing up. We were too hot to take photos when we set up.

We continued to Rüdesheim, after stopping for cold drinks at Geisenheim. At Rüdesheim, we discovered we were out of cyclable road, unless we wanted to backtrack and ride up over a big ridge. Not in 35C+ temperatures we didn't. We took the ferry to Bingen instead and continued up the left bank of the Rhein.

We saw our first castle not very far out of Bingen and they appeared regularly for the rest of the day. This is what we came for! But the heat was getting to us so we decided to ride as far as St Goar, since it was a reasonable distance and Keith and Kathleen Klassen had enjoyed it last year.

The castle has a museum. We were too overheated to contemplate riding up the hill, but later regretted that decision.

A photogenic village on the far side of the Rhein.

It was only after we had settled in at a hotel (and I admit I wondered about the size of the place) that we realized we were in An der Loreley, 1.5 km before St Goar! We had arrived melting from the heat and the hotel was very nice so no big deal. After working on my journal (wifi, finally!) or snoozing (Al) we were reasonably recovered. We had dinner at a restaurant closer to the river and walked into St Goar afterward. I had my first eis and Al had a milkshake. The ice cream was really good but the milkshake wasn't as cold as one would expect.

Walking back it was still hot but our corner room allowed for a nice breeze through.

Burg Katz, across the Rhein from An der Lorelei and St. Goar

St Goar firehall. We liked the bike racks

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Today's ride: 81 km (50 miles)
Total: 677 km (420 miles)

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