The Romantic Rhine: Warm and with company

July 27, 2013 to July 28, 2013

After a week in Mainz I figured I had better get a move on if I was to get anywhere close to calling this a world tour. Sure, I could have happily stayed there forever, but it wouldn't have made for much of a movie. Unless Karin and I moved into a house and the house turned out to be haunted. Perhaps by the aliens from Independence Day. And then Will Smith could turn up with Gillian Anderson and Carlton from Fresh Prince and they would kick the ghost aliens butt. But all that seemed unlikely. So cycle on I must. You've paid your money, you've got your popcorn, you're expecting a show. Something more than a waffle hunt and a guy on a unicycle anyway.

Now, before I go on with the events of the weekend, I must tell you that exactly nine months earlier I had been cycling along the Rhine on my way home from an earlier long bike trip. I was a bit lost and a lot broke, and completely unsure what to do next with myself.

Now, fast forward nine months and I found myself once again cycling north along the Rhine. A few things were different though. Back then, it was bitterly, bitterly cold, I had barely a cent left, cycling back to my home country with no idea what to do next, jealous of a guy named Paul, and I was very, very alone. Now, just nine short months on and it was scorching hot, I had more money than I'd ever had, I was setting off to cycle around the world, and I had a lovely girl cycling beside me. Kerching!!! Ding, ding, ding, ding!!! Jackpot! Woop! Woop! Oh yeah!!! In your face 'cold and lonely'!!!!

Sadly, Karin was only cycling with me for two days because of the whole 'having a proper job to be at Monday morning' thing, but who cares about that because it was a brilliantly amazing weekend! We could hardly have had a better setting, this part of the river being known as the Romantic Rhine. The banks of the river become steep hillsides, dotted with castles amongst vineyards and cliff-faces. But amongst the pretty scenery, the cycle route was entirely flat, running alongside the river and making for perfect cycling.

Lots of barges make their way up and down the river

The Lorelei, a famous rock 120 metres high that marks the narrowest and most dangerous part of the Rhine gorge. Apparantly many of the boat accidents that have occurred here are blamed on the beauty of the rock "I was distracted by the Lorelei!"

We laughed, we sang, we talked, we raced, we played. When we got too hot, we just jumped in the river and swam (until Karin slipped and suffered a near-fatal graze to her leg.) By Saturday evening we had reached Boppard and sat on a wall looking out over the river and I thought about how I'd sat like that at the end of the day while touring a hundred times before and thought about how great it was but how I wished I had someone beside me. And now there was someone beside me. And I looked at Karin and smiled.

A shot of the Rhine towards Saturday evening

Karin cycling besides the Romantic Rhine

Lots of castles line the hillsides of the Rhine valley

I've waited a long time to see that in my mirror

On Sunday we reached the biggest city of our route, Koblenz. Here the river Mosel which I had abondoned on its twisting and turning path through the mountains south-west of here, finally broke through and ran into the Rhine and the waters united on their quest for the sea. At the junction of the rivers was a town square type thing half full of cyclists. Those that had cycled the Mosel I suppose were ending their journey here and stood at the end of the river with far-away looks as if they had reached the end of the world. Those of us heading down the Rhine had similar looks, but ours were more in a sense of confusion as to how to get past the Mosel in order to continue north along the Rhine. I looked around at the other cyclists, hoping maybe to see Bernt again, but with his electric motor he would have passed here long ago, if he was cycling this way, which he wasn't. In any case, if I saw him, I'm pretty sure he would have pretended not to know me. I asked Karin what she thought of Koblenz. "The statues are too big" she replied. Quite.

The far too big statue at the apex of Rhine and Mosel

We rode with a New Zealand couple for a while. They were super fast and helped us to make it on time

It was quite busy with it being a summer weekend on a popular cycling route and all. At one point we cycled beside a playground and a small boy shouted "Hallo something" at me. The boys father told him to SHHHH rather abruptly which made me curious as to what the little tyke had called me. Whatever it was Karin found it very amusing. When she finally stopped giggling she explained "He said 'Hallo postbote' He thought you were the mailman with your yellow t-shirt and yellow bags"

Cycling through the forest close to Cologne

We rode into Cologne at sunset and it was a really special way to end. We went to the magnificent cathedral and sat together. It had been a perfect weekend. But what was next?

Those awesome upside-down-L-shaped buildings in Cologne

(Quote of the weekend by Karin - "I was so distracted by the smell of lavender that I almost ran over a small dog")

27/07/13 - 83km

28/07/13 - 131km

Today's ride: 214 km (133 miles)
Total: 972 km (604 miles)

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