Got going early to try to avoid cycling in the hottest part of the day. Phil had some of last night’s Schnitzel in a roll as a ‘Schnitzelsemmel’, I stuck to the more traditional cheese roll. Our first stop was at the ‘Deutsches Eck’, the confluence of Mosel and Rhine, where we were surprised to be the only people.
The first 20km or so the temperature was perfect, but it did go up to 32°C today.
So we are following the Rhine bike route, and between Bonn and Koblenz it is also the route of German unity.
I had cycled from Holland to Frankfurt along here in the autumn of 2021, the destructions of the Ahr flood were still very much visible. As the cyclists’ bridges had been destroyed I had to take a detour. I am very pleased to report that this is no longer necessary.
Ahr
This time we also took the opportunity to look inside the museum in the former Remagen bridge, I had not realised how instrumental it was in/to the end of World War II. Also, it was one of three bridges built over the Rhine roughly at the same time, one of the others being at Bingen (also destroyed and not re-built).
The best break we had was provided by Henry , who ran a lemonade stand opposite Unkel. Excellent home made mint and ginger lemonade! Many cyclists stopped, it was very sociable.
Phil had pre- booked a hotel with air-conditioning and pool, very refreshing! They also made sure, the bikes felt good.
Went for dinner along the Rhine, nice breeze and therefore not too hot.
