Monday 14 May. The Mosel - tick. Onto the Rhine and a cross country route and a very steep descent into St Goar and the Loreleyblick campsite, which is right next to the Rhine and directly opposite the famous Loreley rock. Of course, we had to park on the front row so that we could enjoy the full effect (and noise) of the barges and steamers negotiating the bend in the Rhine, and the railway lines on each side of the valley. We wandered into St Goar, then took the ferry across to St Goarhausen, had a spot of coffee and cake, then decided to do a short stroll up the Loreley. Short stroll it wasn't - it's a bloomin' long climb!
 |
| Loreley |
 |
| The Rhine |
We had always wanted to visit Koblenz and, as it was a short train ride into the city, on Tuesday we decided to have a day out. It was a lovely sunny day and we had a nice stroll around the place. Unfortunately, as with many of the towns and cities around here, it was completely flattened during the second world war and so it is not a particularly old and attractive city, but still worth a visit. I particularly liked the statue of the little rascal that spits water at people reading the sign telling you about the fountain. Excellent fun!
 |
The spitting rascal
|
 |
| Deutsche Eck, where the Rhine meets the Mosel
|
 |
| Koblenz |
On Wednesday 16th we moved down to the excellent Stellplatz just outside Bingen. From there we walked into the town, then took the ferry across the Rhine to Rudesheim, which was packed and very touristy. We wandered around for a bit enjoying a beer in a Bavarian beer garden, which brought back some happy memories of time spend in Bavaria, before catching the ferry back and the walk back to the stellplatz.
 |
| The remains of the Hindenburg Bridge, built as a railway bridge in 1915, destroyed in WWII and never rebuilt |
 |
| Rudesheim |
 |
| Rudesheim |
Thursday 17 May - a bargain "round trip" (rundfahrt) which involved cycling into Bingen and catching the incredibly flash ferry (more like a cruise liner) across to the unfortunately named Assmanshausen, seeing the mouse tower on the way. It was very windy on the Rhine and we were lucky to avoid the flying chairs on the upper deck of the ferry. There was not much to see in Assmanshousen so the next bit of the "Rundfahrt" was a trip up the chair lift to walk through the woods to the Niederwalddenkmal, an immense monument constructed to commemorate the founding of the German empire in 1871 after the end of the Franco-Prussian war. From there we took the gondola lift back down into Rudesheim, had bratwurst in the Bavarian
pub, walked on to the Asbach distillery for a tour and tasting, coffee and cake and then the last passenger ferry back across the Rhine to get back to the bus (via a beer garden of course) after an exhausting day.
 |
| Mäuseturm - the mouse tower. A lovely story exists about a bishop who was imprisoned there and eaten alive by mice. Nice! |
 |
| It was a bit blowy |
 |
| Assmanhausen |
 |
| Niederwalddenkmal |
 |
Asbach - lovely!
|
On Friday we headed into Trier and the big, busy Stellplatz just outside the town. We walked into the City and did some shopping before heading back, hoping that the circus next door wouldn't disturb us too much, but luckily it finished quite early. More than can be said for those noisy, poxy, rat-like yapping dogs that motorhomers seem so keen on and appear to be immune from the constant, high-pitched squeaking from the irritating little *******!!
 |
| Trier's Porta Negra - Grand Roman Gateway dating from 180AD |
 |
| Trier |
 |
| Trier |
 |
| St Peter's Cathedral Trier |
Saturday 19th was royal wedding day. We sat outside and tuned in, only to be distracted by a couple of Brits who wanted to strike up a conversation just at the important bit. Following the wedding, we wandered into Trier again in bright
sunshine, had some wine at a wine stall, looked in the cathedral and generally bimbled around, albeit the place was rammed again as it was yet another bleeding holiday!
On Sunday we started the journey back with a short hop over to Camping Bon Accueil in Luxembourg, where we dossed and lazed around for Sunday afternoon and the whole
of Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment