Rhine River Cycling Day 6: Rhine Gorge

Day 6:  Rhine Gorge

Another great morning. Today, we are riding through the Rhine Gorge,  about 40 miles of the most beautiful section of the Rhine.  The river here has about 30 castles that line its banks, some crumbling, others restored to their original beauty. Most were built in the 12th century by noblemen wishing to increase their wealth by demanding tribute from those using the active waterway.  This area has the highest concentration of castles and castle ruins in the world. Many of the castles lie on steep slopes covered with beautiful vineyards, with picturesque small villages at their bases.

Are ride began in Rudesheim with a short spin to a ferry to take us to the opposite bank of the Rhine.

Awaiting the ferry

We continued along the river smooth bike paths,  so smooth that I was able to convince Jeri to take photos while we rode. After a hesitant start, she quickly became quite the paparazzi.  I can't take credit for the majority of the photos from today!

Riding with Rick

The Rhine Gorge, the valley upstream of Koblenz, has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its unique combination of geological, historical, cultural, and industrial reasons.

Before our lunch break, we had the opportunity to detour from the flat bike path on the river to get a bird's eye view of the gorge. We climbed about 900 feet over a couple of miles (a lot of work) to a point above the castles and vineyards

giving us absolutely gorgeous views.

The descent was wild ride down with nice smooth pavement (until the cobblestones at the small town  at the base) allowing for excessive speeds (near 40mph).  Fortunately, no mishaps. 

The ride continued along the river to our lunch spot, a quaint little winery in the town of St. Goars.  Rick, Jeri, and I decided to ride an extra loop with one of the Belgian women (Anik) on the trip, to get a little bit more elevation, another 300 or 400 feet.  She is training for a ride up Mt. Ventou in the Alps later this summer (kind of like the Mt Washington race on steroids).  

After lunch, we had the option of taking the boat to Koblenz or continuing to ride to the ship in Lahnstein (across the river from Koblenz).  A small group of us including Rich, Rick, Scott (our new Alabaman friend), and the two Belgian women, Anik and Ine,  elected to press onward.  It turned out to be a great choice.  The predicted rain held with mostly sunny skies until we finished the ride and we got great views of the castles.

The Backroads crew stopped us at a beer garden across the river from Lansheim and force fed us

beer,

strudel, and ice cream.

We learned that a real German biergarten and to have a large chestnut tree at its center creating shade for the beer swilling patrons.

Fortunately, Koblenz and Lahnstein were only about 6 miles from the beer garden, otherwise we might not have made it.

Our Biergarten from the opposite bank at the ship. Note the chestnut tree.

We beat the boat by about 1 1/2 hours, so sat and relaxed a bit.  Before the boat arrived, the threatening rain began, and Nusa and Steffi shepherded us to a nearby restaurant for, yes, more beer.  The pounds just keep on coming!

After dinner, we bussed to a nearby restored castle for a private tour.

In order to preserve the floors, we were asked to wear oversized clown shoes.  We thought that the real objective of the castle owners was to have visitors clean the floors  ala Pippi Longstocking.  Since the upkeep is so high, they had to save money somehow.

When we returned to the ship, we were treated to a spectacular evening sky above a castle high on the hill above our boat.