…and now for the best section of the Rhine Cycle Route: Mannheim to Cologne, (more specifically, Mainz to Koblenz is the best).
Wednesday 27 April 2022. Mannheim to Heidenfahrt |120 km|
[Weather good; no rain. warming up, and the sun even popped out. On EV15 for a lot of the way, except when I lost it. Which was often. Variable quality surface but mostly OK bitumen].
I got away to a good start at 08.30 from Sturm and Christina’s caravan park and followed their directions through the industrial area back on to EV15. But I soon came to a sign that announced “Fahre Kaput” 🤣and a blocked-off canal bridge, and had to work my way around the long way. It was 3½-hours before I came across EV15 again but the GPS set to destination Gernsheim seemed to know what it was doing and I just followed along.
I stopped at a working class kebab joint in Biblis called Prestige Döner and Grill and ate a hamburger and a very nice salad while charging up for 1½ hours. I’ve found that this type of Middle-eastern-owned food establishment is always reliable in terms of their quality, friendliness and desire to help. After Biblis I soon found myself back on EV15 again and headed for the ferry crossing at Oppenheim.
They always give preference to pedestrians and cyclists and I was the first on to the ferry, but after I parked up on the kick stand and was moving away from the bike, it fell over behind me and knocked me flat. Luckily the car coming up was in the next lane and it didn’t run me over when I went sprawling.
I ruefully struggled straight back up as the ferry guy came running over to help, me not wishing to make a fuss and pretending everything was alright, but my left thigh was mighty sore and I got a nice bruise to show for it.
The scenery on the left bank of the Rhine is very pleasant both before and after the winery town of Oppenheim and I was well and truly back into wine country now, all the way to Mainz (and then on to Koblenz).
On a whim, I stopped cycling quite early in the day at a busy wine Stube on the river bank near Heidenfahrt that had a campground attached to it and goes by the name of Inselrhein Heidenfahrt Campingplatz Wein und Bier Garten . The omcb guy (owner, manager, chef and bottlewasher) was very extremely rude and doesn’t take credit cards either – I had to dash off to the nearest town to get money out of an ATM to pay for my first drink, which didn’t go down well with the omcb who harrangued me and kept my wallet as security until I got back to pay for my drink.
Just for a laugh – and you’ll see what I mean – click on the link to their website and press ‘translate’. Here’s just an excerpt of what they have to say about the Corona Virus pandemic: “…masks are undesirable. They are propaganda for submission and show strong socipathic damage…if you have problms with this opinion, you should visit other, nice places.”
Anyway, I thought it was nice enough there in the end – a bit windy out on the terrace, but the sun was shining and the beers were flowing, so all good. The camp site, with power, was €18 and I can’t remember what the rump steak with rost kartoflen and two Rädler (low alcohol beers) cost. Probably a lot.
And by the way, my tent is the faded MSR in the background. The flashy new one in front looked like it had never been used before, just like all the rest of his gear, including the bike.
Thursday 28 April 2022. Heidenfaht to Koblenz |100 km|
[It was a fine cloudless but cold day as I headed out just before 9.00 am. But things aren’t right! I’m riding through the pain barrier of my left thigh that the bike fell on yesterday, and can hardly walk. No power in the legs today. The cycle path itself was perfect].
I’d been craving a genuine German schnitzel all along and after only 48 km I stopped at a fancy restaurant on the quay called Lorelai Blik because their menu board outside had them on it. They, very reluctantly, allowed me to charge the batteries but the mean bastards refused to allow me to use their internet – for guests only, they said. I tried my “crying face” but it doesn’t work in Germany, only in France.
But I can’t over-exaggerate just how nice the Rhine cycle route really is along this section. Counting both directions, [Posts #53 and #44] this was about my 4th time along here now, and I’ve loved it every time. I took a lot of photos but even with my low standards very few were good enough to make the final cut into this post. I could have taken at least 20 pictures of castles alone. Of course its always a bit wearysome stopping to set up for a photo when you’ve got a sore leg.
The best scenery is centred around the town of Boppard and the ‘Big Bend’ in the river Rhine.
The whole section from Bingen to Koblenz is ideal for the cyclist. The EV15 route is right alongside the left bank of the river for most of the way, in a narrow valley with precipitous vine-clad hillsides, hill-top castles and picture-perfect little towns along the way. I also like the hectic industrial aspects of Rhine River life as well, with the constant barge traffic in both directions and the freight trains constantly roaring through on both sides of the river.
My two black front pannier bags had holes worn through in several places and weren’t watertight anymore. They were too small anyway, so I decided to replace them in Koblenz at the same bicycle shop where I bought them 5 years ago. I spent some time searching (zoom in on the GPS track at Koblenz) but couldn’t for the life of me find that shop, but never mind, I did find a huge ‘Fahrad Franz’ store (it even has an indoor test track!) and bought a nice pair of stylish red Ortlieb Front Rollers for €140.
In Koblenz, I stayed at the campground KNAUS Campingpark Koblenz/Rhein Mosel which is situated right opposite the famous statue of King William I at the confluence of the Rhein and Mosel (French: Moselle) Rivers. There were a few of us touring cyclists there, in our own little tent section of the campground, and we had a good exchange of pleasantries about our respective trips.
The restaurant attached to the campground was ok too. I had a very convivial dinner (Schnitzel and 2 Radlers) with Jens, a cyclist from Karlsruhe who was going to Amsterdam (mostly on the train. as it turned out). The chug-chugging of the barges plying up and down river all night was somehow pleasantly reassuring.
Friday 29 April 2022. Koblenz to Cologne (Niehl) |119 km|
[It was a good day for cycling: 13 – 17°C, clouds, not much wind. I was without navigation until Bonn because the maps needed updating, and the way the Bosch system works, navigation is automatically turned off in that situation for safety/legal reasons (in case someone comes to grief following out-of-date map instructions and wants to sue Bosch, I guess), even though most of the time the updates are usually either somewhere I’m not ever going to go to or just trivial things, such as a road deviation. Well, ok that’s not so trivial].
The pleasant riding conditions, including both the weather and the great views, continued as I worked my way down the Rhine.
And here’s Ziggy, looking all resplendent kitted out with his new front pannier bags:
Halfway into the day I stopped at the terrace of a café on the quay in Bonn, Café Bar Rhein Pavillion, but only because they had internet and I could use it to update my GPS maps – it took a couple of hours too, and I was beginning to feel embarrassed using up one of their valuable seats by the end of it.
Next was Cologne (Köln in German) where I was desperate to stay on a Friday night. I searched around the CBD for an hour or so and must have tried 6 different hotels, even some expensive ones, but they were all booked out. You can see my frantic tracks if you home in on Cologne on the map above. Nothing for it then, but to continue on North down the river.
I arrived fairly late into the dismal non-descript town of Niehl on zero remaining battery power since Köln, a full 15 km away. The second establishment I tried, Burgerhof Hotel, had a single room left that was just fine (and for €114 it ought to have been). Ha! Booking.com says it’s in “North Cologne”.
There was the choice of several restaurants nearby in the main street and after some prevarification I chose Tamedi because (a): it was family-run by Georgians, and (b): I’d never had Georgian food before. Meh – it was OK but nothing special – it turned out to be vegetarian Georgian, with a lot of small meze-like dishes. And if it wasn’t for the party of 12 Georgians (relatives? pre-wedding party?) making up the rest of the clientele, it would have made for a pretty poor trading night for the owners.
There was a late-opener nearby where I rounded out my fun-filled evening with the purchase of: 1 can Gin and Tonic, 2 cans Jack Daniel’s and coke, 2 iced coffees, 1 packet of Haribo sweets and a ½-litre can of beer. Oops! Scoffed the lot, too, I did.
– ends –
2022 in Europe so far: 1,868 km in 20 days (18 days of cycling)
Nights in hotel 9
Nights in tent 11
New bike defects/ repairs:
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- 2 punctures rear, 4 punctures front.
- 2 new tubes bought (Montelimar).
- Rohloff oil change (Toulouse)
- Repairs to rear kickstand (Toulouse)
- Two new Ortlieb Front Roller panniers (€140)
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