Day 7

Wednesday 8^th of June

Pitter patter on the windows at night and a little bit of thunder. We woke to overcast weather and some soft morning rain. We were in no hurry so took our time with the morning rituals and breakfast, we were well looked after by our hostess. We left at 9am with our rain jackets on but there was no need to put on rain pants as really it not that heavy more a light drizzle, and even then it did not drizzle that long.

By early afternoon blue skies came out and we had mainly sunshine again. We continue our cycle south along the Rhine and manage well finding the tracks without the use of a map (when all goes wrong the is the GPS). As Graeme mentioned the scenery along the way has changed and we are now seeing gorgeous villages, green hills, wonderful historic buildings and here and there a castle! For our morning tea stop (coffee and hot chocolade) we like to stop at the local bakery where some also have a little corner where you can have a hot drink as well as buying the lovely fresh pastries! We meandered through a village Andernach and saw historic remains of the town wall. Then pushed the bike onto the small city of Koblenz the place where the Mosel meets the Rhine, also a great place full of history. We found a great Indian restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious curry! We were the only customers at that time and got all the VIP treatment as the owner was most impressed that us Aussies were cycling such a long way (we kept telling him that it was not all the way from Australia but that did not matter to him). From Koblenz we went onto Boppard where we have bedded down for the night at a Pension (a bit ordinary and dumpy but hey, that is how it goes sometimes!).

People you meet along the way: Locals are always very helpful to a lost traveller, sometimes so much so that they tend to get us more lost as they strike up this rapid conversation in German which has us at the end rather confused. Best thing is to thank them, use the direction pointed and then find your own way. The meetings of fellow cyclists along the path, we met a very friendly and helpful Dutch couple on day 3 and they explained how the Rhine Rad path worked and what signs to follow. It was an enjoyable exchange of information. They were keen to learn more about using GPS map reading as they were carrying 1.5kg worth of maps!