My hotel breakfast in the morning was OK and I sat having breakfast with my wee laptop out using the hotel wifi for the blog, finding my way back to the Rhine in the morning was much easier than finding the hotel the previous night! it was nearing midday by the time I reached the Rhine though and I was hoping to make Mainz from there, which was a fair cycle distance to then find somewhere to stay I knew I had to push on,
This area of the Rhine is called the Rhine
Gorge this is a popular name for the Upper middle-valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 for a unique combination of geological, historical, cultural and industrial reasons.it is absolutely gorgeous!(pun intended) I stopped far too often to take photographs of all the castles and churches along this section.I had another 30 odd km to cycle from Bingen to Mainz
I stopped for lunch in a beautiful place called St goar its a a real tourist town with a big cuckoo clock shop and picturesque churches and castle, I was looking at the menu board deciding what to eat for lunch and was going to order coffee with my food but noticed the radler was cheaper! I do like a radler especially a cold one in the sun, I first discovered the Germans love for this shandy when skiing in Mayerhofen over ten years ago, its a half and half mixture of lemonade and lager with a dash of lemon juice, its so popular in Germany it is available on tap in most bars, at this place I got it in a cold bottle it was delicious, so nice in fact that I stopped at a garage outside of town and bought a can to take further up the cycle path and find myself a spot on the Rhine shore to drink it while dipping my feet in the cool water, I would have liked to go for a swim but I never had time, the very pleasant paddle in the cool water would have to do,
Also this day I done my first cycling day whilst listening to an audio-book, I normally like to hear whilst cycling but the cycle path was a good one traffic free, I had been enjoying this months audio-book called salt path by raynor winn and ended up listening to it, while cycling for over five hours that day completing the book whilst also enjoying the scenery, I would do this again but only on roads where I didn't have to concentrate on anything else except cycling and scenery, these cycle paths were totally traffic free and i knew to cycle on the right side of the path allowing any faster cyclists to pass if i never heard them approach
It was a long cycle this day but very scenic I noticed that lots and lots of this area people had little plots of land all fenced of with huts of various sizes and types, some of which were what looked to be holiday cabins others were gardening plots growing fruit and veg, this is a very fertile area with vineyards and orchards dotted all along the side of the Rhine, I passed some good art work there was an artist who had left out cloths and free paints to hang your own flag along a section of road I would have done this but the latest one was already some Scottish visitor, on approaching the outskirts of Mainz the cycle path was going in various directions, there was tree stumps with storks nests and lots of little lizards running around countless types of birds, a stunningly beautiful area i could see why there is cruise barges going up and down loaded up with passengers, there was even a quirky one called Moby dick shaped like a whale!
as I was trying to work out where to go an old man cycled up to the cross roads. I asked him using my fingers to point Zentrum?(German word for center) He spoke a little English his name was Irvine, he asked me to follow him into downtown which I done, this was very good of him his gears weren't working on his bike and his legs were going fast as hell to try and make any speed,
Once I was in the center i said my goodbyes and thanked him for his help then started having a look for a place to have a beer, that i could then check for somewhere to stay for the night, I came across a great bar called sixties this was my sort of bar it had a great beer selection played good music it had WiFi and served food until midnight! perfect I decided I would find myself a hotel near here and get settled for the evening,
there was a hotel close by very reasonably priced which i booked and found easy enough, it was a bit strange though as its name was just a postcode and there was no reception just an electronic check in system where you put in your own details and booking code they sent via email
dinner in sixties bar was good the WiFi and beer was good also, after a few beers and food I had a walk around town there was a few decent places, lots of young people though so I was guessing a college or uni town, I stopped for one last beer in a big Irish bar it had been a long but good day, It was time to climb the five floors to my apartment open all the windows as it was roasting and crash out
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