cruising by the Rhine

14th May and today we intended to have a lazy day as we have been full on since we started our trip. We wanted to catch up with laundry, odd jobs etc and maybe do a bit of fishing too. When we went to the reception and bought our token for the washing machine we asked about cycle routes from the campsite and the lady there gave us some leaflets and explained about one particular route by the Rhine. That made us want to do it - so blow the domestic tasks for today and off we went on the bikes. She had also explained to us that the weather forecast spoke of thunderstorms for the 15th May so we chose to go today to make the best of the good weather.

The cycle route was 46 km long but we were up for it and we were certainly not disappointed. After some kilometres of uphill cycling away from the caravan site it was all downhill through mind bogglingly beautiful scenery to descend down to the Rhine Valley. There was so much 360 degree angle beauty at times that it could not be captured on the camera - made us wish we had a camcorder - but it will remain with us in our memories for sure. We arrived at the Rhine and cycled along its banks for about 20km - it was a wonderful cycle path and well used. At St Goar we stopped at a riverside restaurant overlooking the famous Loreley Rock for a spot of lunch and a beer. The sirens at the rock did not have any effect on Steve though so we were able to cycle on after the lunch. At Boppard there was a train to take us part of the way back - uphill thankfully. We had not chickened out of the ride by the way - it was part of the cycle route on our leaflet. Some schoolchildren were using the train too going home after their day at school and we had a very stilted conversation with two girls who used us to practice their English and we used them to learn some more German. At Emmershaulsen we got off the train and cycled the final 9 km back to the caravan site. Tired but very satisfied with our day we ate and drank and then visited the restaurant onsite to enter a blog and catch up with some emails - that is the hotspot on the site. I am sure we will sleep very well tonight.