September 22, 2025 - Bacharach, Germany

 

I left Koblenz headed south, the bike path was just out the front door of the hotel. I mentioned that I had ridden through Koblenz in 2014. I was wrong I looked at my blog for that trip, it was 2012.

Today started out cloudy and cool (51 degrees) with a 5 mph tail wind. Because I am on a part of the river that winds through the hills, the tail becomes a head wind or a side wind from time to time.

There were castles and castle ruins all along the river. If I put all of my pictures of them in the blog, you would get tired of seeing the almost same picture and reading the almost same comments.  They are however beautiful and scenic.

The views on both sides of the river are awesome. There is so much to see. To try to know the history of everything you see would require a personal guide or maybe a river cruise.

Speaking of which, this is a Viking River cruise ship moored in Boppard. I am sure the passengers have bused to the castle above them. I have seen at least ten cruise ships today. Most of them have been Viking. 

I am adding a selfie. This is to prove that I am here and not adding the pictures through photoshop. You can also tell that after all these years I am still not good at selfies. 

The vineyards are now appearing as I go further south. The Rhine vineyards produce a lots of good wines and a lot of good table wines. I just may have one tonight. The bike path is separated from the road by a nice barrier. However the speed limit on the road is not high. 

This was interesting. A street sweeper on the bicycle path. It just demonstrates the amount of tourist money bicycle tourism brings in for Germany and other European counties. The bicycle infrastructure has changed greatly in the last 13 years on the Rhine Radweg (bike path). The old path is still there but now in many places it is reserved for pedestrians. At times I switched for the old to the new but mostly stayed on the new. 

In Saint Goar I rode by a cuckoo clock store. I did look at prices in the window. They were expensive. Then you would have to pay a duty (tariff tax) as you brought it into the country. But as we have no place to put it, I passed the shop on by. I do believe you could get better prices at the Cuckoo Clock Outlet in Mainz if you were really looking for one. 

This is the famous Loreley, a mythical spot where a siren lures boatmen to their death. In reality it is a narrow passage on the Rhine and many shipwrecks have occurred there over the centuries. The winds are also said to make an almost haunting sound. I have been through here twice and did not hear any sound. It could be because I am somewhat hard of hearing 🤓,

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I found my hotel and had, as hoped and planned, time to walk up to the local castle ruin high above the town.  According to the signage the castle was built in the 1400s. The spot was first made an inhabited fortress in the 1200s. I climbed to the top and took some pictures of the valley below. The picture above is the sign providing information about the castle. Notice the vineyards. They have steep paths with steps through the vineyards but I took the longer winding road.

The view from the ruins. I have a few more (dozens) if you want to see them.

My meal for the evening, I breaded fried chicken breast. It was very interesting. Especially the sauce between the mayonnaise and the ketchup.  It is Lao Gan Ma (old godmother) a Chinese hot condiment. It was very good but spicy. Yes, that is a fried egg with it. 

My innkeeper, cook, bartender, and hostess was from Hong Kong. She was very nice and had good English skills. We had a nice conversation as she seemed to be happy speaking English. 

Tomorrow I ride until about noon and then take a 30 train ride back to Frankfurt. I will spend the rest of Tuesday cleaning and packing my bike. I hope to blog some after that task is complete. Wednesday I shop and Thursday I return home.