Daphne's Drivel

 The last few days saw us go through a couple of very interesting German cities - Speyer and Karlsruhe, with lots of villages in between and a mix of pathways and small country roads through  agricultural land and woodland, sometimes by the Rhine banks and at other times well away from the river.  And yesterday we rode into Strasbourg, a most lovely city in the Alsace area of France, which we had previous visited in 2019. Speyer's Kaiserdom cathedral was the burial place for eight Holy Roman Emperors Old city gate in Speyer Country path Frank fixing the first puncture of the trip on Friday (he got a second one shortly after this) Schloss Karlsruhe. The statue is of the man who founded the city, Margrave Karl Wilhelm II Not a bad little shack Picnic lunch time ( now in France) Old traditional boats called punts, used for reed collecting, in a little French village  Sometimes a bus shelter is the only suitable picnic spot After we left that retro pension north of Speye...

 I think we should just give up on campgrounds in this part of Germany. We find ourselves in a little pension tonight outside the town of Speyer, again because of a lack of real campgrounds in the area. In spite of researching in advance and reading reviews on Google, and feeling pretty confident that two places nearby were authentic spots, we arrived only to find the usual private facility with permanent private caravans and cabins. So off to good old Lidl again to use their WiFi to book a hotel. Not much to choose from that has availability. So we're in a pension/ guesthouse that has taken us back to another era! And it's not cheap either at 85 euro for a tiny room several km from the town, not including breakfast. Check out the vintage! The entrance hall and reception area The toilet and shower are in a little cubicle, but that sink is in the bedroom with barely any room between it and the bedroom door Our retro room. There isn't  room to swing a cat in here You can'...

 Tuesday May 24th Bacharus to Oppenheim 83km Yesterday was a stellar day in terms of scenery, pathways and the tail wind that helped us fly down the trail between Bacharus and the city of Mainz. Initially we were riding through this pretty gorge with forested slopes on both sides interspersed with steep vineyards on the slopes. We crossed by ferry from the west side over to the touristy town of Rudesheim and continued on down to the attractive city of Mainz which we reached about 6pm. Crossing the Rhine by ferry between Bingen and Rudesheim Riverboats and vineyards between Bacharus and Bingen, a beautiful section of the Rhine One of many castles (schloss in german) along this section When in Rudesheim, one must try the Rudesheim coffee (made with locally produced brandy), and apple strudel for Frank. We stopped for beers before we rode over the big bridge to the city of Mainz Mainz. This city is famous for Johannes Guttenberg, inventor of the printing press. A museum named after hi...

 Over the last two days we've seen more pretty scenery and characterful little German towns. But as always, the people you meet along the way really make the journey interesting. I mentioned before that some of our cycle-touring neighbours weren't too interested in chatting. But Frank struck up a conversation with this one man at our campground the other day in Remagen who could have talked for hours and was happy to do so! And more to the point, we could have listened to him for hours. His name is Paul  Davenport and at 80 years of age he's still going strong and has no intention of stopping. He's an Englishman who has cycled all over the world and has written several books about his experiences. He is currently on a ride from England to Budapest and back, travelling solo, going very light and never uses a cell phone. He used his cell phone once some years ago when his sister texted him and he had to text her back!! Paul, aged 80, an inspirational cyclist The route tha...

 Friday and Saturday May 20th and 21st A mix of some industrial areas and big cities over the last couple of days. Reaching Cologne was  great as we know about it's magnificent cathedral. Bonn today was humming being the weekend and a sunny day. Tonight we're in a small place called Remagen in a pleasant camground by the Rhine. Nearby are the remains of a bridge that was the subject of a movie "The Bridge of Remagen", another tragic WW2 story. We're getting a little spoiled because many campgrounds here have restaurants, so we passed on cooking for the last two nights. Today the landscape is just beginning to change a little from being completely flat to some wooded hills along the river. Tomorrow, after Koblenz, we expect the scenery to get even more dramatic as the Rhine will be flowing through a pretty gorge. Looking forward to that. Here in the campground, adjacent to us are several more cycle tourists, same as last night. However I can't say that any are ...

  Thursday May 19th  Duisburg - Dusseldorf 40km * look for the full screen icon once video starts to get bigger image This severe thunderstorm shortened our ride to just 40km today. Just south of Dusseldorf we pulled over at the sight of a bakery/cafe for a break. And in the middle of parking the bikes, the patio chairs started to take off and debris was swirling around and then the torrential rain started. We timed it well to be inside at that moment. Prior to that we had an easy ride from our hotel close to the river the whole way to Dusseldorf. Dark thunder clouds had started to build up off to the west but we thought we were going to miss the storm. But obviously it caught up with us, very suddenly. The rain eventually eased off and as there were no campgrounds in the vicinity, we opted for a hotel again tonight and found one fairly easily. A few km of today's ride was on this path Approaching Dusseldorf - on a cycle track the whole way through the city, right by the river...

  Wed May 18th   Wesel - Duisburg 71 km Good pathways and decent scenery today as we approached the industrial city of Duisburg. A couple of power plants were visible coming towards the town.  Its importance in steel and iron production made it a target during WW2 and 80% of the city was destroyed. Today its work-force comprises and large Turkish population, and apparently the city has the largest mosque outside the Moslem world. Just to show where Duisburg is Typical path from today We had the best lunch in the shade of this big old beech tree in a tiny village, Orsoy This was the lunch special. We didn't  know what we had ordered until it came! Unlike the Dutch, not everyone in Germany speaks English. Chicken schnitzel, white asparagus, cheese sauce and croquette potatoes, just delicious and we were so hungry. Downtown Duisburg with the Opera house in the distance Ended up in this lovely place for the night, south of Duisburg Our hotel room Temperatures reache...