Koblenz to Mainz - Day 67

Date: October 24th, 2009
Distance: 126km
Country: Germany
Song of the Day: Find the River - R.E.M.

Well, I tried getting up early and getting a good start. Things just have a way of being slow on cold mornings though. I didn't mind too much. The sun was out and I was hoping that it would help dry out my tent a bit. I only got on the road just about 11:30.

From there I ended up going back north into Koblenz. I didn't see any good way to cut back from the Mosel to the Rhine. Still I got to see the giant statue that had been just a shadow the night before. Apparently the people really like a guy named Willhelm.

Heading south was amazing scenery wise. At every bend in the river was a quaint town or maybe town. On every third for forth hill there was a castle. Actually, the castles seemed to fall into three categories. First, actual defensive fortifications. Second, royal estates meant to look like the first category. Third, ruins. Often you could see all three types in one castle.

There is also a weird dichotomy between the river and the towns. Everything along the river is in transit. The boats are plying the waters. Moving containers, or fuel or ore. There are trains going by on both sides. Roads with cars on both sides as well, with "Fahre" boats every few kilometers to move them to the other. Even on the cycle path there are walkers, joggers, and cyclics. But the towns, many must have been around for a few hundred years. Some of the castles are probably 800 or older. Everything moves but the towns stay the same.

Anyway, the weather on the other hand was not great. Headwind. It really rips through the river valley. Just greuling. If you do plan to bike along the Rhine, you might want to consider going North. (Or, if you are doing a circut along the river, well, just expect some wind.) I just ended up going slow and tried to enjoy the view.

Oh, I forgot about the vinyards. Along the steep slopes of the hills are these vinyards. I watched some people out there picking grapes. I will take my headwind over having to haul buckets of grapes up and down those slopes, thank you.

I should mention more about the river boats as well. They are long and skinny. Most look almost like barges. Except they have a mast at the front for two flags. I am not sure what the flags say, maybe company and country? Some of the boats are really like two regular boats lashed together, litterally. The part in front has the prow, and I don't know if it even has engines. The rear part has the cabin and engines to the push the whole thing along. In the middle you can see the cables that are holding it all together. I am thinking this is done to get through some of the smaller locks. But I could be wrong. There is one other wierd thing, many of the boats had cars sitting on the aft end. Just a few, the most I ever saw was four. I can't imagine that this is the way cars are shipped down river. Coordinating all the different arrivals would be hell. Maybe it is for the crew, when they get into port they can have a car? I don't know. Maybe someone with a little more nautical background can comment.

Other than castles, there was also a prety cool ruined bridge. I guess it is the Hindenburgbruke. Here are some pictures of it. As I mentioned before my fascination with ruins.

So after Bingen the trail diverges from the river. This wasn't bad, as it got me out of the wind. I finally started making some headway. I did get quite lost outside of Mainz though. But with the help of some strangers I was able to get the location of a camping site and find my way there. Amazingly enough it was still open, until October 31st. So I have another week. I think I may have to do more research before Italy, to make sure their camping sites are still open after November.

-Dravis