Pedalling for a Purpose

Day done! I started this morning by catching the train from Koblenz back to Rudesheim - a one-hour trip. When you stare out a window, on a train, for an hour, you start to wonder if your GPS is accurate ... it seems a lot longer than 70 km! I checked my GPS and Google Maps at least a dozen times on the trip ... yes, 70 km... I should get back to Koblenz today! I arrived back at Rudesheim at 9.00am and was on the ferry heading across the river to Bingen by 9.10. I'd be riding the left bank of the Rhine today it seems.  After leaving Bingen, the path weaves through a shaded forest setting alongside the Rhine. In fact, the Rhine will be visible most of the day for perhaps the first time in the entire ride so far. I pass old churches, again seemingly very well maintained. Looking across the Rhine, small towns dot the river bank every few kilometres. Above the towns, on the slopes of the hills, acres of vineyards are like a patchwork taking on varying hues of greens and browns.   ...

Today was going to be a short 48 km ride from Mainz to Bacharach (a German town, not the American composer) so plenty of time to go off the main route and explore the many towns at this stage. I stayed in Mainz-Kastel at a camping ground and had my camping fix ... with no rain! I slept well until 5.00am when Frankfurt airport started operations and, with my tent right under the flight path, I had a noisy start to the day. I set off to Mainz itself and rode around the old part of town, past the Mainz Cathedral St. Stephan's Church, and Gutenberg Museum. The buildings are so ornate and so well preserved and cared for ... a credit to those involved. Kirschgarten, a small town square with decorative houses around it, was really interesting as well. I've been asked if have I visited many tourist attractions ... not really. It hadn't been the aim of my trip ... it's about the experience of cycling the Rhine, meeting people, stopping in the villages and towns. Actually going i...

A day of two halves. I woke up this morning feeling lethargic and not ready to ride. I quickly realised I was quite dehydrated. I'd had a big day touring the town yesterday and hadn't drunk enough water, so I doubled down and slept with the air conditioner on. Another sure way to dehydrate.  As I started the ride with a target of getting 49 km away to Worms, I felt it would be a tough day ... and when you think it will be, then it will be. I rode out of the city having had a day of rest but didn't feel rested. The ride out of Speyer was quick, and in no time I was on shared country roads again. It was really foggy so I made sure my lights were on and flickering brightly! The fields of dead corn gave off an eerie golden glow in the morning sun and the foggy background.       I pass a few campingplatz which all seem to have a majority of their sites occupied by either permanent residents or permanent holiday homes. I've heard that's where most of the income comes from...

The weather forecast for today was rain starting at 2am and going through most of the day, so I decided to take a hotel room and have a rest day, my second in 13 days of riding. The European Bureau of Meteorology seems as good as our Australian one ... it did rain ... from about 8.30am to 9.30am ... the rest of today turned out to be quite nice!  Regardless, I've taken a day of rest and recreation in Speyer. First up I did a bit of bike maintenance ... being the unskilled mechanic that I am, I stood looking at my bike for a few minutes, pushed on the tyres (which seemed good) and went for breakfast.     Today is Bluey's day. Bluey is my mascot ... actually, he is Blue Dragon Children's Foundation's mascot and has travelled with me on each one of my fundraising trips for the charity - Vietnam, India, and Myanmar. You may have seen Bluey in a couple of my bike photos, strapped onto my front right pannier - a guide by my side! Today he came touring with me. We started off ...

Another early start with a visit to a bakery for breakfast ... "ein Buttercroissant und ein Schokocroissant danke" (one butter croissant and one chocolate croissant thanks) ... healthy I know! I quickly rode that off with a self-guided bicycle tour around Schloss Karlsruhe, a palace built in 1715, and its gardens.  Absolutely beautiful.   The morning ride is once again through a forest on the smoothest bitumen bike path I'd ever seen. The aggregate used is so small - maybe from the stockpile I had to carry my bike over yesterday! I stopped to take a photograph and as I started off again I was overtaken by a young girl cycling. She set a great pace, so I sat in her slipstream and was actually dragged along ... it felt quite effortless ... for me.  I did feel a modicum of guilt ... but she's young, she'll learn! With this newfound knowledge of physics, I will look at peloton riders in the Tour de France differently ... slackers! I eventually overtook the young girl ...

A big 90 km day! The riding was very easy ... flat! I headed off at 7.30am again and cycled through the quiet back streets of Strasbourg before heading through a few kilometres of beautiful forest trails. Again, very few people around ... a couple of walkers, and a handful of cyclists. The problem with the early starts is that I still haven't used my Aeropress coffee maker that I bought especially for this trip ... to make heart starters first up in the morning! However, the serenity, freshness of the air, and the colours in the early light more than make up. Throughout this first stretch you can see lots of small creeks running everywhere, as well as paths branching off from the main track ... probably for MTB bikers or hikers ... or wild bears. After some time in the forest, the ride now opened up to farmland with some distant farm buildings. You can see some green shoots coming through on freshly ploughed paddocks, so hopefully the small amount of rain has put some moisture back...

There had been constant but light rain all night, and it stops right on 6.30am to allow me to pack up and load the bike. Very considerate! The tent is wet outside and in (outside from the rain and inside from the condensation). Fortunately all of my other gear is dry.  I would have left around 7.30 am, however just as I was about to put my stand up, the owner of the campingplatz brought out a freshly brewed expresso for me. Very generous! My route did one final lap of the town centre then off onto a decomposed granite and well compacted path running alongside another canal ... this time the Ancien Canal du Rhone au Rhin. So the same as yesterday but 'ancien' today. Yesterday's canal journey did become monotonous after the first 30 km of so, however, I found today's much more enjoyable. I think that today's ride had far more vegetation growing into and alongside the canal making it seem far more natural than the concrete culvert of yesterday. Also, the trees were dec...