Along the Vennbahn, from St Vith to Monschau

We've had over a week of perfect weather: clear skies and temps in the high 70s.  Today the other shoe dropped.  The forecast was for cooler and rain, and it did not disappoint.  We awoke to light rain, and it continued on and off all day. 

We delayed our start by about 20 mins to wait for one rain band to pass, and then headed off for a few blocks through the city to get back on the bike route.  It's easy to see why the Vennbahn is popular.  It rolls along through pretty and peaceful countryside and farmland, and other than crossing smallish roads it's well separated from any vehicle traffic.

A couple of times when the rain picked up a bit we stopped in one of the many shelters along the path to wait for it to pass.  You can see one of the shelters in the background here, right by a road crossing.

As we're approaching the North Sea, there are fairly consistent headwinds.  Lots of wind generators (which you may barely see below).

At this time of year many wildflowers are in bloom.

Near the village of Sourbrodt there is a small exhibit of old railroad equipment, a reminder of what used to be here.  There's only a small piece of track and nothing is functional.

After arriving at our hotel in Monschau (42 km today) and cleaning ourselves we spent a fair bit of time cleaning and lubing the bike.

Monschau is a charming old town and popular tourist stop.  We had a great dinner, some local beer, and decided to stay over another night so we can spend tomorrow exploring.