On to Koblenz, then heading up the Mosel

After our epic ride to from Mainz to Bacharach, we had a relatively easy day to Koblenz.  We spent a little time in the morning walking around Bacharach.  It's a lovely small tourist town with many buildings dating to the sixteenth century.  Some old ruins and castles above town but we didn't want to take the time to hike up to them.  

Views from our hotel room

[Non-cyclists may want to skip this paragraph.]  Once we started riding in the morning I was having some trouble with shifting: the rear derailleur often felt like it was between gears.  I couldn't think of any reason it would have gone out of adjustment over night, but I was having  trouble coming up with an alternative explanation.  In the small town of Boppard we stopped and I found a bike shop just a couple of blocks off the cycling route.  The owner came outside with a small repair stand, I took off the panniers, and he started going up and down through the gears.  He explained to me that the components on the bike are an incorrect mix of road and mountain bike parts, so I shouldn't expect it to work.  (I know that's not the issue.)   He fiddled with the barrel adjuster a bit, checked the alignment of the rear derailleur, and then had another idea.  All the rain riding the day before had introduced some dirt into the cable (which is exposed beneath the bottom tube for a couple of feet in the center where the cable disconnect (for bike disassembly) is.  He put some oil into the cable housing ends, worked the cable back and forth a bit, and although not perfect that helped things immensely.  Now, a day later, it's better but not perfect.  I'm going to work on it a little more before our next riding day.

Since it was now after 1 pm, Ellen snagged a couple of bananas at a shop, and back onto the trail we  went.  This is a lovely stretch of the Rhine.  Much of the riding was on a bike path paralleling the road, so it wasn't as quiet and peaceful as some places, but still beautiful.  

Castle on a little island in the river

There were a large number of cycle tourists along the path, and as we got closer to Koblenz it moved away from the roads and we had very pleasant riding on an unpaved path through woods.  Before Koblenz we stopped for an excellent kuchen with rhubarb at a little biergarten alongside the path.

Koblenz is laid out like a peninsula, with the Rhine on one side and the Mosel on the other two.  As we rode into the city along the Rhine we found ourselves in a very crowded park area along the river.  Weaving a loaded tandem through packed pedestrian traffic is a challenge for me, frightening for Ellen. 

Navigating to the hotel on some busy city streets was a challenge (we do not like riding in city traffic), but we made it.  53 km for the day.

We had a to shower and change very quickly.  One of the key pieces of gear missing from our lost backpacks was the Bikeline map book for the Mosel, in English.  Ellen had ordered a copy to a bookstore in Koblenz; we had about an hour to pick it up before they closed (stores are not open on Sunday).  We hustled over, picked up the book, and then hit other stores in the area to replace some other important items: sunscreen and other toiletries, a small headlamp, charging cables for the phone, Kindle, and one for my Lumix camera (I did not expect to find the last).  By the time we finished it was well after 7 and we were tired and famished.  We found a great German restaurant on the way back to the hotel and ate too much.

Next day we set off from Koblenz up the Mosel River.  Getting out of the city and across the Mosel was relatively straightforward (thanks: Google Nav).  The river crossing was on a very narrow bike path built onto a railroad bridge; there was not enough width for two bikes with panniers to pass so we had to stop a few times on the way across.  Once across the Mosel we had mostly straightforward riding through several small towns, bike paths through the vineyards, and eventually on a wide path paralleling the river.  

Roses at the edge of the vineyard

We'd planned for this to be short day as we want to explore some sights in this region, and rain was in the forecast. The first town we checked out, Hatzenport, was a little too sleepy, so we continued on another 12 km to Treis.  About 40 km for the day.  There was a little spitting rain, but not enough to put on jackets.  We found a very nice little place in the center (Pension Am Markt).  There is a small town fair going on down by the river: carnival rides for the kids, beer for the adults, and all pretty low key.  After stopping for glasses of local Riesling we walked up into the hills above the town.  Although the center has some oldish buildings most of the town is relatively new with lovely modern homes and very landscaped yards.

And a bright note: I had an email today from Lufthansa that they found our missing backpacks, flew them to Frankfurt, and will be delivering them to our hotel there.