Starting to cycle down the Rhine

The bikes survived the flight and after about an hour they were ready for a bit of sight seeing in Dusseldorf. The evening ended in an Italian restaurant where, with no exaggeration, we ate the best pasta we have ever had!

The next morning it was time to load the bikes for the first time. As you can see, there are several bags that need to be taken on and off the bikes each evening and carried back and forth. After having done this for a few days we now have a good routine and can load up fairly quickly.

The picture below shows us at the start of our cycle tour up the Rhine. ("Up" since we're going in the opposite direction of the flow of the river).

Our experience so far is that the cycling is easy even with fully laden bikes. Almost anyone will be able to manage cycling the Rhine and if it's done without taking camping equipment then it would be even easier. So far we can highly recommend it. There are many picturesque villages to stop and look at like Zons, Bacharach and Rüdesheim. This is the high season but there seems to be plenty of rooms available in the various Gästehause and Pensions. (They all seem to cost about 65 euros (kr 500) for a double room and breakfast)

We have cycled less than we had thought since we have been stopping to cycle around the villages and relaxing sat outside the cafes testing the many varieties of cakes and ice creams. Therefore we have put the bikes on the train twice. Once to get from Cologne to Koblenz and one from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt.

The weather during the first week has been very mixed. At times it has been lovely with blue skies and about 28C and at others with really heavy rain. So far we have only used our new tent once. We bought it last year since our previous 2 man tent seemed to get smaller each time we used it. This one is a 3 man tent with a bigger area for storing the bags between the inner and outer tent. As we were putting the tent up in a camp site at Spay it started to rain very lightly. We just got the last peg in the ground when the thunder and lightning started with a huge downpour. So our tent was properly christened and at least stood the test by not letting any water in. This is how the first night in a new tent should be!

This was a lovely alley of trees on the way in to Cologne. Most of the time the tracks are only for bikes and walkers so it is generally car free.






The picture of Iren is in Rüdesheim that we got to by tacking a ferry over to the other side of the Rhine from Bingen. The video is a short clip taken on the way to Bingen.

This is the Siegfrieds Mechanisches Musikkabinett in Rüdesheim. One of the many typical buildings in Rüdesheim that looks like this.

Enjoying dinner on Nina's terrace.

We are currently in Kronberg on the outskirts of Frankfurt visiting Nina, a friend of Iren's from when they lived in Notodden. Kronberg is a lovely place and there are lots of things to see in the nearby area. We have enjoyed Nina's hospitality, spacious flat and good cooking even though she claims to be allergic to kitchens. It has been great to meet up again and find out how she is doing. Thank you so much, Nina!