Bacharach am Rhein

Sunday 26 May

Today looked to be the worst day yet weatherwise – expected top temp of 11 degrees and constant rain.  We decided to spend the whole day indoors – on a cruise ship on the Rhein.  We caught a train upstream to Bingen, then caught the MS Godesburg downstream to Oberlahnstein – a journey of three and a half hours.  The ship was lovely.

We motored past Bacharach...

...and we saw numerous Burgs, or castles.  First Burg Rheinstein...

...then Marksburg, which is the best preserved of all the Mittelrhein castles.

We went past the Loreley, the rock that lured sailors to their deaths.  It’s the most treacherous part of the Rhine, and the rock rises 150 metres on a sharp river bend.

We had lunch on board.  It was really good.  Really, really good.  And we enjoyed just looking out the windows.

The further we went, the worse the weather looked.

Oberlahnstein was the furthest town we could go to and still catch a boat home.  We found a cafe that served hot chocolate and cake.  German cakes are amazing – a work of art.  We should have taken a photo, but we forgot.  Nevertheless, we managed to finish off two huge pieces of cake – one apple, the other strawberry.  Back to the dock to catch the MS Stolzenfels back to Bacharach.

She’s a lovely boat, too.

There were terraced vineyards along the river, but not as many nor as dramatic as along the Mosel.

More castles on the way home.  Burg Rheinfels is a ruin and only a fraction of its former size, yet still very impressive atop its rocky perch.

The Mäuseturm (Mouse Tower) was built on a small island in the middle of the river to collect taxes from passing river traffic.

We also enjoyed watching the passing river traffic.  Cruise ships...

...container barges...

...car ferries...

...and normal barges.  This photo is of Wilhelmina III and IV (the barge equivalent of a B-double – two joined together) and in total she’s 171.9 metres long, 11.45 metres wide, and she weighs 5061 tonnes.  Phew!  She is carrying coal.

We had Subway for tea (yes – there was a Subway on board!) followed by hot chocolate.  We arrived in Bacharach at 6.30pm, having spent seven hours on board ship.  As I said to the crew: Wir haben einen schönen Tag.  We had a lovely day!