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, 💙