Bullay to Schweich

As we have to be on a train from Metz to Paris on Friday, we decided to start the day with a short 20 minute train ride to Traben Trarbach. Another day of beautiful scenery and good cycle paths. But it was very hot and we crossed the river to Trittenheim to find some shade for a picnic lunch. As the temperature on my bicycle computer topped out at 42 degrees, we found a good swimming spot and took the plunge in our riding gear. Refreshed we rode on to the tourist information at Schweich and found a pension garni for the evening. It had a beautiful garden, perfect for a couple of hard earned beers.

Niederfell to Bullay

Our first real day of riding the Mosel Radweg. We woke to blue skies and a beautiful view from our room across the river. The paved cycle path is of a high standard and the Mosel valley is absolutely gorgeous. Extremely steep hillsides covered in grape vines tower over the narrow valley.
The first stop of the day was Eltz castle. A ride along a muddy track and a two kilometre trek up to the castle were well worth the effort. The castle and the valley itself are like something out of an Arthurian adventure.
We stopped for lunch and a rest from the heat in Cochem, a lovely town but packed with tourists.
Castles on hills, beautiful towns by the river, lovely riding, buy hot today, Tracey's bike computer displaying 36deg at one point.
Riding in to Bullay we stopped at the first private zimmer we saw. The lady some no English but we managed, and she seemed very pleased to have some Australian guests.Having a beer by the river in the evening a helicopter flew down the valley and proceeded to spray the vineyards above the town on the other side.
Can you spot our washing?

Boppard to Niederfell via Koblenz & BUGA

We continued along the romantic Rhine. We headed out along the bike only only to find the road was closed for the day. Cyclists only. We rode with Dutch couple for a while. They had 7 grandchildren. They had overtaken us on the road when we were still on the bike path, but we soon caught up with them ( they couldn't maintain the pace). The man was riding a carbon fibre Giant road bike (Defy advanced - very nice) with a trailer with all their luggage - a very unusual arrangement for European touring cyclists who are almost all riding heavy bikes with suspension forks (what for?), enormous saddles and very high handlebars. They generally get along with a very low cadence at about 15km/hr.
Castles, fortresses, picturesque villages and towns. Lots of river traffic, also cruise ships ferrys and barges.
We arrived in Koblenz aware that the BUGA was in progress. This is the BUndesGArden festival, the biggest garden show in Europe. Incredibly, we had run into the BUGA two years ago in Schwerin, and as a result had been unable to find any accommodation on that occasion. Stumbling upon it again, we agreed we had better have a look (one of us more enthusiastic than the other). We stowed luggage in a (free) locker, locked the bikes, and spent the next 5 hours wandering the garden show. There was a performance of West Side Story happening in the castle grounds across the river accessed by cable car - all part of BUGA. From the fortress there were great views over Rhein and Mosel and Deutsch Eck.
We picked up our luggage and headed along the Mosel. Immediately quiet and more rural than the Rhein. Just out of Koblenz we passed under a huge autobahn bridge.
Amazing vineyards creeping up impossible slopes.
After a fairly short ride we arrived at Hotel  Kastanienhof. The reviews had commented on the excellent food so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was the nicest meal we had had in Germany. Spare ribs and chicken breast with Italian vegetables and rosemary potatoes, strawberry parfait for desert.

Rudesheim to Boppard

Cold miserable overcast day. Lots of castles and stuff. We arrived at our hotel early in the afternoon, did some blogging, then Tracey slept, Pat wandered and blogged some more. For dinner we walked around the corner to a little place called the Dalyan Grill Restaurant which seemed to have an interesting menu (ie not just the usual schnitzel etc) and was full of customers. Table sharing was the system, and we were seated with an older German couple who spoke good English. When they left they were replaced by a younger couple who spoke English about as well as we speak German.<br>
The food was excellent and not expensive. Pat had a lamb casserole with rice, Tracey had a very tasty potato casserole. The food had a Greek and Italian influence, and the hostess added up the bill in Italian.</p>

Osthofen to Rudesheim

We left Osthofen, heading north for about 20km to rejoin the main cycle route at Oppenheim. After a stop at a little cafe we headed up the hill to have a look at the&nbsp; church, which turned out to be very impressive, with a number of sundials on the outside walls and high stained glass windows reminiscent of Saint Chappelle in Paris.
Before long we were entering Mainz, quite a large city. As we were riding along an unidentified insect hit Pat in the mouth and gave him a painful sting on the lip. In Mainz there was a carnival on, filling the city centre and extending along the river front. After a stop at a cafe and a few small purchases we continued on our way, now into fairly solid headwinds.
At Bingen we took the car ferry across to Rudesheim, where there happened to be the annual gathering of Harley Davidson riders from Germany and beyond. The place was packed with motor bikers. It was quite an experience riding down the main street. We had realised that the youth hostel we had booked into was a bit out of town and up a hill, so we stopped to buy some food for dinner. While we were shopping it started raining heavily. What came next was an increasingly steep climb ( max 18 %) in heavy rain and heavy traffic. Tracey got off and walked when she became worried about wobbling into the path of the passing traffic.
We had only booked into the hostel earlier in the day, and with the Harley event we can't understand how we got in.
There were plenty of motor bikers at the hostel, some spoke good English and were very friendly. Also in residence was the LAPT, a group of German US police impersonators including a dog squad and a bomb squad vehicle.
As always when you climb you are rewarded with a view, and the view from the hostel was just breathtaking. After our picnic dinner in our room Pat went for a walk to a nearby monument a bit further up the hill.