Boating and Biking on the Rhine

We slept in a little bit today. We’ve been going kind of hard each day and one of us mentioned that we need to start taking it just a little bit easier. Anyway, after a much-needed lie-in, we walked down into the center of the village and got some information about renting bicycles and taking a river cruise. After a little bit of deliberation we decided that the best bet would be to rent bicycles here, take a River cruise north from here to a town called Saint Goar, and ride the bicycles back.

It was only about a 10 mile journey up and 10 mile bike ride back. There are a couple of towns between here and the town that we sailed to. We saw a few castles along the way as well.  When we got to Saint Goar, we looked around a little bit and had lunch. Then we meandered down the bicycle road back towards Bacharach and stopped at the towns in between.

When we got back to Bacharach we had a little bit of time to take a rest: a German siesta. Afterward, we took a bicycle ride through Bacharach and then returned our bicycles. We wanted to have dinner in the same restaurant that we had a little snack in last night. It seems to be a very popular restaurant for the locals, which of course we think is a good sign. It is very busy, especially tonight which is Thursday, which is the night that a large group of local senior citizens come down to have dinner each week. We were able to get a table to have the fantastic wine, but they ran out of food!  We ended up across the street for dinner. It was delicious and we met and talked to a couple of locals. 

After dinner … dusk isn’t until 10 at this latitude … we hiked up from the main street along a path that leads to the town’s castle. This one happens to be a hotel now, but the hiking trail follows the ruins of the medieval city wall. The climb also afforded us some spectacular views of the Rhine. 

Special note for Cliff and other motorcycle enthusiasts: There is a road along each side of the Rhine River. This is a very picturesque route for many types of transportation. And, this week(end) there is some kind of motorcycle festival going on upriver a ways. German motorcycle riders are out in force. They have all types of bikes, including Harley Davidsons. We wish we could join them.  🏍