Day 16  Urmitz, Germany - Castles, Beautiful Views and Winding Rhine

Tony's View

Today was a really enjoyable ride. We had a lot of fun. There were several castles. The resource I am using says there are 29 castles on this route. They tell of the important history of the Middle Rhine Valley. Kings, princes, counts, bishops - they all built their castle on the Rhine.  The valley of the Loreley is not without reason one of the most popular excursion destinations in Germany. The big rock on the other side of the river is the beginning of the Loreley valley.

Here are some pictures of some of the castles that we liked. The one shows a campground. There are several campgrounds right on the Rhine, which makes it a beautiful setting.

The Liebenstein and Sterrenberg castles were built by two brothers. They ended up both wanting the same woman, Angela. She didn't want them to fight so she left and became a nun. The one brother built a wall between them so he wouldn't have to look at his brother. 

We were riding on the bike trail and saw a cool bicycle coming our way. Joan got my phone and quickly snapped a picture. It is entirely enclosed and had a solar panel on top. 

We saw these older people rowing this boat downstream and thought we would get a picture.

We started joking that it was the poor man's version of a river cruise, only they go one way. Then we saw a cruise boat go by them. 

We followed this boat for more than 20 miles. We would pass them and take a break, and there they were again. One time, it was a stop at a biergarten at 11:30am. The cool part is that I wasn't the only one drinking beer in the morning. 👍🍻 Joan got so excited watching them, she decided to jump in a boat and practice. I think the anchor was holding her back instead of me. 🤣

We ran into a guy who agreed with me that stopping at a biergarten is a great idea so we took a picture with him. 

This guy reminds me of our old neighbor Bud Deland. So, we decided to stop and get a picture of a guy fishing to get Bud excited. 

Riding on a bike trail along a busy road, we saw a porty potty and it was timely because we needed to go. When Joan was in there, I thought I would get a picture showing how close it was to a busy road. 

We rode our bike through the busy city of Koblenz. There definitely were some scary parts, very busy intersections and exchange ramps. While in Koblenz, we crossed the Mosel River which dumps into the Rhine. The Mosel River comes from France which maybe a route for us to ride in the future. 

We were getting close to our Airbnb for the day, and we saw these ripe plum trees. We decided to stop and get some pictures and plums. However, Joan stayed out of the pictures to avoid evidence she was picking some. 

There was a beautiful church we stopped and tour, that I wanted to share with you. It had a side altar dedicated to Mary and I thought I would share that picture. 

To end my view of the day, I want to share that today is Clay's funeral. I received an email from Choice One saying that they were giving up their green for the day to honor Clay by wearing Aileron blue. I also decided to wear blue again today. Here are some pictures of both Loveland and Sidney office showing off their blue for tribute to Clay a Great Man. Rest in peace Clay and let the perpetual light be upon you. 

Joan's Extras

Today's ride is a prime example of why we come here to ride. The bike trails have such amazing views, and even when we have to ride through a city, most motorists are very considerate of bicycles because cycling is just so much a part of their culture. Lots of small villages today that we rode through or saw on the other side of the river, each with probably a fascinating history. It's obvious that a great number of people enjoy this area as well because of the many cruise ships and the busy bike trails. The towns that have no docks for the ships are definitely quieter though.

Sounded today like Tony fixed the tandem too! He had it outside on the sidewalk last night working on it. He adjusted and greased lots so something worked which means we will get a little farther on this journey, 💙

 Day 15 Oberwesel, Germany - Lots of Beautiful Rhineland

Joan's View

This morning involved lots of turns getting out of Mainz. We then rode along the outskirts of the city which seems to be an area where people liked to live naturally - small plots of land/gardens and small huts to live in. Our first stop was along the trail, Euro Velo 15 (international route following the Rhine River), which we happened to be on again. The routes that Tony programmed into Garmin & his phone take us on and off route Euro Velo 15, but we never know where or when it will show up. 

Yes, Tony is refueling.

Once back riding in the country, there were tons of plum trees on either side of the trail. We could see grapevines though still lining the sides of the mountains especially on the other side of the Rhine. We stopped for a picture and to see if we could sneak a plum. Seems like they were mostly picked because the few remaining on the tress were very tart. You can see the fallen ones on the ground.

Fields of grapes

We were on the lookout for a bakery in the small villages that we rode through, but struck out, so we stopped instead at a riverside park in Bacharach to eat from the food that we carry in our paniers. There was a festival last weekend on the other side of the gardens near the park. We could have gone to Vegas had we gotten here earlier. 

Tony also worked on the squeak some more. He has yet to figure out what is causing that noise, but he keeps coming up with new ideas while we ride.

We had to walk the bike through the park, and as were leaving an American couple came turning the corner talking in our English. I said, "Hey Americans" and they stopped to chat. They are from Scottsdale, Arizona and come to this area 4 months every year to escape the heat of Scottsdale. They store their bikes in a storage facility in Mainz so that they can skip having to fly the bikes and camping gear over each time. The big difference is that they camp (Joan is not camping on these long treks 😁). They came from riding along the Moselle River in France and said that it was one of their favorite rides.

Traveling on, we saw this really cool old castle near the Rhine with the kind of turrets that you think of when you think of King Arthur. 

A little farther was this small castle-like building in the middle of the Rhine. Boats could travel on either side of the small castle. Could be quite an interesting place to be when the water is high and raging.

Coming into Oberwesel, we had a choice of Aldi or Lidl, so we chose Lidl because it was our first time to experience the competitor. They even have little carts for kids with flags attached. Kids get to put a coin in it to get the cart out just like the adults. 

Check out the little flags on the carts.

We found our Airbnb for the night. The clues to get the key for this place took only about 3 steps. The key was in a bag behind a brown door one street over. This place is super cute! 

One to eat and one for breakfast.

Oberwesel is such a quaint small town. Upon reading what is nearby, I realized there is a bakery down the street, and we quickly headed for some apple strudel for me, raisin bread and cappuccino for Tony. 

We also checked out the Church of our Lady which is just down the street as well. 

The area behind the altar.

Love, love, love Oberwesel!

Tony's Extras

Joan was on cloud 9 when she got her Apple Strudel. She did let me taste it, and it was very good. The weather was just awesome today, low 60's with very little wind which means Joan has two coats plus long pants on, and I have shorts with a short sleeve shirt. Same clothes as what I wear when it is 98 degrees. So nice to ride without sweating too much. We are getting to see nice little towns and small cities. One cool thing is we found some wild hops. They smell so good.

We are starting to see a lot of activity on the Rhine. Many barges and river cruise ships, around 9 cruise ships today. I did get a picture of one that I think Holly was on, just guessing.

Looking forward to a nice ride tomorrow. This Airbnb was nice enough to give us a bottle of champagne and chocolates. 

Day 14 Mainz Germany Grape, Grapes and more Grapes, then Wine

Tony's View

We started out and wouldn't you know it, a couple of roads were closed. These were tough to get around. The one in the picture below was under a bridge in heavy truck traffic. We got off the bicycle on the other side and I sprinted with the bicycle under the bridge in traffic. I think the truck drivers thought it was funny, so they were patient. Joan was able to jog and walk tucking in between the barriers. Oh well, we made it.

Had to make some more adjustments to the fairing to keep Joan's knees from hitting. It was something that needed to be fixed immediately so that Joan could drag me (according to my brother-in-law, Tom). Notice the barge in the background. The Rhine is getting wider with many barges and a few Viking cruise liners. 

We did find one Viking dock and I emailed Holly Fannon from Choice One who was just on a Rhine River Cruise on Viking. She was pretty sure this was one of her docks for her trip. She reads the blog, so I thought I it would be a good idea to verify it instead of making it up. 🤣

We found this cool ice cream vending machine. How cool is it that two different sizes (like pint and quart, only in metrics) of ice cream in many exciting flavors?

Then we got to go into our first Aldi's, and it was a happy day for Joan. I love their breads and pretzels. So good and super fresh.

I would say that we were riding through more than 20 miles of grape vines on both sides of road and bike path. The first picture shows grape vines on the side, but on a very busy road with trucks flying by. Good thing for wide shoulders.

Then grape vines in the hilly bike paths through the vineyards

We got off the bicycle and took a picture of the grapes. Many are getting close to be picked. We saw purple, white and red in this picture. Miles and miles of grapes.

Went through a village and saw a beautiful church. However, it was on a big hill so you can enjoy it from a distance from the outside. 😁

We got into Mainz, our destination, about 2.5 miles from the Airbnb. There was a place to buy wine. We decided to stop, but no one was there. When we were getting ready to leave, the owner asked us what we needed. He took us inside and he gave us some suggestions. We asked if they had tastings. He said sure, went into the warehouse and got some bottles. He opened a Reisling, and it was awesome. We said we would take it. This way he didn't have to open any more for us to taste. Joan asked how much, and he said 3.5 Euros. That is cheap, so we asked for another one. He was going to open it for us to taste and we just said that we would take it too. He was so nice, so we got a picture with him. His last name, Emig, is on every bottle, pretty cool.

After that we needed to place the bottles on the bicycle. One went in Joan's bag, and I strapped the other valuable merchandise to the back bag. 

We headed to the Airbnb, and it is another jackpot. We got everything in, and it started to rain. Great timing again to stay dry. We opened the other wine and, yes, it is delicious.

Joan's Extras

Riding through all the grape fields there were quite a few swarms of gnats. I had to keep my mouth closed otherwise I got some in my mouth. I could hear when Tony spat out a few of them.

Dagmar and her husband Peter are our hosts. We were out in the street trying to find the place when they greeted us and waved us over. That was the easiest check in yet. 

Dagmar showed me her beautiful garden. The picture with Dagmar is what she called a Holzapfel plant which I'm pretty sure is a crabapple. 

This flower she called a passionflower. I told her my friend, Mary, will love this one. Her garden looks very full, like Mary's, only smaller. 

Dagmar said that we could help ourselves to her garden so we each tasted a tomato. They were delicious.

For dinner we ate at the Gasthaus Goldene Ente which means guest house golden duck. I thought duck might be on the menu, but none there even though the food was great including the creme brulee.