25/10/24
It was a wonderfully sunny morning at Sonnenbach campsite. As we weren’t wild camping we had a lazy(ish) morning and started cycling around 10am(ish). We hadn’t met the campsite owners yet and headed to the office to pay up for our stay.
The lady asked for €19.50. Which took us by surprise as it was €6 each plus €3.50 for our tent. So €15.50. It’s only €4 but we thought we’d finally found a reasonably priced campsite for cyclists. The lady pointed out it was another €1.50 in tourist tax, and €1 for the waste. It does seem so unfair. We arrive late and leave early. Use no electricity or water. Take your very little land. The other campsite goers are literally washing their cars! Ah well, we are fortunate enough to have enough, but we think cyclists should be encouraged a little more.
Today was to be the most beautiful day of the Rhein. It’s called the middle Rhein valley and is a UNESCO world heritage site. There are lots of signs we everywhere for this stretch of the Rhein. The valley narrows and there is an extremely high density of castles here! It’s a very pretty place and we enjoyed staring at all the different turrets and towers we glided by.
In between the towns the steep valleys are lined with grape trees, wine country. When we were at Tim and Ulli’s they let us try a wine that is made from freshly stomped grapes. We thought it would be here but didn’t see any signs.
There is a huge downside to this stretch and probably why it is a heritage site. Both sides are lined with a busy road, which you get to cycle along all day. It’s a little disappointing. It’s also lined with very busy train lines for both freight and passengers, which is a nicer site to see and far less noisy and intimidating. On top of that the river is full of cruise ships. None of this makes for a peaceful experience.
We struggled the find a nice place for breakfast. With our back to the road was the best we could do. Later on we found an Aldi nestled beneath the beautiful architecture. It was obviously useful but a bit of a funny juxtaposition.
After we got to Bingen the “good” bit ended and the river opened out again. We were back to familiar stretches of cycled paths by the banks. The Sun was out and we were headed to a campsite. It was called beer and wine or something. It didn’t sound great but it was the nearest for miles around. We’d considered wild camping but liked the idea of not getting up very early.
We were hot and tired when we arrived. We couldn’t immediately see the reception so we simply went down the track. We aren’t quite sure how to describe it but it was very run down. There was junk everywhere. Old scrap metal and the like. What we realised was the reception was a marquee that yes, served beer and wine. We scooted out. It wasn’t for us and felt a bit sketchy. Problem being, there were no other campsites around.
We started back down the cycle route and were travelling through parcels of land that had been divided up for lots of different people. Kind of like allotments we thought. There were also lines of plum trees, all harvested unfortunately, and the occasional horse stud.
We weren’t sure where to camp as there were streams of people walking and cycling. We finally plucked up the courage to approach some people on a stud farm and get permission to camp. Using our broken German inquired about “eine zelt” but it was very quickly a flat out “Nein”.
We felt rather deflated and now unable to camp too nearby. We carried on through this both unusual, but getting more familiar landscape. After another 5 kilometres Frankie had the great idea of looking over the bank. Up until now it was assumed to be a water course of some kind. It was actually a track.
We decided that a small piece of the grass just off the track would do us pretty well. Getting the bikes over the bank was the hard part. Especially the heavily laden ack surly. We sat on the ground sheet to wait for dark. As usual we had our dinner.
After a beautiful sunset we unfurled the tent and began setting up. Mid way through we heard a car and saw lights on the other side of the field. We think it was for the house stud there. Eventually they must have left but we were left rather nervous. Getting moved on would be tedious. Not long after we saw an off road SUV drive up the parallel track and were sure it would come past us. Instead it turned into the house. If they’d stared harder down the track they’d have seen us.
It was fair to say this wasn’t the most relaxing of camping spots. There were cars driving on the lane on the other side of the bank but the sound is confusing. Loud voices, enough to wake you up, came at midnight or so. We slept eventually.
Surly They Won't Make It 