Cologne to Königswinter, and then on to Bad Hönningen

Yesterday we rode from Cologne to the small town of Königswinter.  We'd picked our destination largely based on distance: we are winding down our days for the tour and trying to balance out our remaining kilometers.  As well as keep an eye on the weather: a couple of hot days and thunderstorms in the forecast.

Getting out of Cologne was straightforward: one bridge across the river and we were quickly on the bike route.  Most of the way was easy pedaling through a mix of farmland and small villages.  Even passing by Bonn was very straightforward.  We saw some industrial sites but only in the distance.  46 km for the day.

Königswinter turned out to be a cool older town.  Once we got cleaned up we headed off to see the Drachenfels, ruins of an old castle dating from the thirteenth century outside of town.  Beethoven apparently spent a lot of time walking around these hills.  There's a fun little cog rail car to take visitors up the hill, and from the top there are great views up and down the Rhine, as well as into the surrounding country.  Unfortunately it was very hazy when we went up so the views were limited.  We could just barely make out the cathedral in Cologne.

Walking back down the hill to town we passed the Drachenburg castle, which started out as a private residence in the late 1800s but is now a museum.

Another new beer, at an excellent fish restaurant.

Today we continued up the Rhine a short distance to Bad Hönningen.  Mostly great riding on paths along or near the river.  This section of the Rhine Valley is chock full of castles and large old homes overlooking the river.

At Erpel we took a small ferry across to Remagen, site of an historic battle in 1945 as the Allies were advancing through Germany.  Before heading down to the ferry we spent a little time walking around Erpel, which has many buildings dating back to medieval times.  

In the central square we met a couple, about our age, who stopped us to ask about Ellen's glasses-mounted rear view mirror (though common in the US, these are unknown in Germany and people often stop us to ask about it).  When we told them we were from Oregon, she said she'd been there in 1980; it turns out she traveled to the US to join the Rajneeshpuram commune in Wasco County.  Small world.

Bike and pedestrian ferry across to Remagen

Remains of the bridge at Remagen (not rebuilt after the war)

Shortly after Remagen we had a long detour away from the Rhine because this year's flooding had taken out the bike path bridge over the Ahr River.  We continued south to the tourist-packed town of Bad Breisig, then took another ferry across to Bad Hönningen where we'd reserved a room at a small pension.  30 km for the day.