Tuesday 4 September 2012

RIDING AND MUSING..........

We left Koblenz after our rest day, but it ended up not being so great for Dave, as his back was again playing up!  We rode for a while then eventually at one town i checked with the Tourist Information and they actually phoned ahead and booked him in at the next town 7k's away.  Great!! Only problem was we had 20 mins to make the appointment!!
(Thought I'd throw in this great castle pic to keep you interested!!!

As we started to make haste out of that town, we heard an unmistakable accent - our first Aussie since Ireland!!!   He was heading in the opposite direction and all we could do was that Dave called back 'ON YA DIGGA!"  and we just had to keep riding.  It was so hard to do!!
Anyway we made the appointment (in time) and ended up staying the night in the town so Dave could have another manipulation next morning.  I'm still not convinced how much it was needed, but he said the young German girl knew her stuff!!!!

Back to our travels and although we spend a bit of time near the river, we often detour through wonderful little towns on the way...this is typical of some of the streets we venture through...

I guess they have similar problems in every country with Dogs, or rather their droppings and every country has their own unique signage...

As we ride along the Rhine valley where the terrain gets quite steep we are amazed at the almost vertical farming that is going on!  How they ever manage to get vehicles up those slopes defies gravity!!
And of course the ever present castles.  We lost count of how many we saw, and i'm sure there are heaps more.......Gentry had a fine life back in the day!!!

There were also some unusual designs in the more recent, and lesser grand constructions, but nevertheless very unique.

 This next one took my fancy as it was so unusual.  Dave did not take this picture (he does most of the photography) - you will see that I managed to cut off the top of this - The worlds\'s largest hand carved operational Cuckoo Clock- hanging outside a shop which sells - wait for it - Cuckoo Clocks!!! - nothing else.
Even the train tunnel's here have their own special flair!
When we were planning this trip, specifically the legs along rivers and canals, I envisaged days of leisurely riding on paved paths beside the water - in reality this is not so and the deviations away from the water are actually quite prevalent, but that is not an issue when you come across this -
And they really love their flower boxes over here!  I just wonder what all these places look like in the dead of winter when it's just too cold for anything?  Maybe that's why they take all the colour they can get while its warm.
And yet again some more incredible vertical farming!!!  It's a wonder we get anywhere with all the stops we make, it's really a great way to really absorb all that is around you!!!
And would you believe what I found on the banks of the Rhine????  i like to call them Rhine style Beach huts!!!   They are actually a cross between a beach hut and a garden allotment!  there are heaps of them!  It seems like they cannot have an actual dwelling on the lot but they have almost everything else - on about 800 sq metres, a shed, garden, furniture, ornaments, and some even have hedges and fences - amazing....
this one was a bit different - not the typical German theme -
Dave also managed to find some really good rest stops for lunch most days.. this one had an excellent view but I thought I'd give you a shot from the other side....
Dave has developed quite a liking for the German Beer - suprise suprise!!  and he said to me one afternoon that he would have to remember that one so I suggested he take a photo reminder - - wonder if we can get this in Aus??
And we finally met up with some Aussies along the way in a free camp ground!  It was next to a canoe club or something similar and there were only public amenities - cold water only!!!   I just want to point out that I was the ONLY one brave enough to take a cold shower in the morning!!!!!  But we hope to catch up with these guys in the future!!!
For some reason Dave seems to attract different people!!  We like to try and set up camp before 5pm each day to give ourselves a bit of daylight to relax in.
At one camp we did that and sat down in our new chairs ( more on them later)  and not long after, a little girl - about 5 just stood about 5 feet away and stared at him!  A few minutes later she left.
then she returned shortly after with another little girl about the same age.  they just stood there, saying nothing and staring at Dave.
Next they brought along what we guessed was an older brother.  And pretty soon after a woman who seemed to be looking for the kids came and spoke to them, - she laughed and then turned to us and said " they think you look like christmas!"   And she chased them off to their own place.
Not long after all the kids came back and the girls asked the boy something - he would have been about 12 and his answer was "No that is Christmas Voman!"  So I even go a mention!!!
The kids dad Rene came over later with some offerings in the form of some sort of potent little bottles and some German Beer.  We had some great conversations considering he had no English and we had no German, but a goodtime was had by all.  Good on you Rene!!!

Some days our bicycle paths seem to go on forever.....
And the signs we encounter are very suspect if you look at them with an english  language point of view - which of course is all we can do as unlike most Europeans who can speak more than one language - we are definately UNI lingual.  But these signs??????
Not something I think one needs to advertise!!!!
and.......schaftlicher?????   WTF??

I leave you with this very interesting shot of a necessary function - even when you are on holidays!!!!!
 Well sometimes you just gotta get the washing done!!!!
Till next time
Adios - or rather wiedersehen!!!

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