{"id":2309,"date":"2013-07-20T21:46:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-20T20:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2026-05-24T08:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:14:19","slug":"river-to-river-to-river-to-river-to-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2013\/07\/20\/river-to-river-to-river-to-river-to-river\/","title":{"rendered":"River To River To River To River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only one week left travelling around Europe in Eileen; now we\u2019ll be counting the days and not the weeks.\u00a0 We packed up fairly early and left Eberbach to drive beside the Neckar River towards Heidelberg.\u00a0 At Ziegelhausen we turned north across country to Schriesheim.\u00a0 It would probably have been quicker to go closer to Heidelberg to join the motorway, but there are vehicle environmental restrictions in some cities of Germany and Heidelberg is one of them.\u00a0 From what we could work out, all vehicles have to be given a certificate and there are four grades of them, these determine where you can drive in those cities.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have time to make an appointment with a garage to get the necessary certificate and windscreen sticker and unfortunately, from the website, we cannot work out which areas and roads are restricted.\u00a0 So, not wanting to get a large fine, we\u2019ll just keep well away from those cities in Eileen, especially as she\u2019s now thirteen years old and might not even get a certificate.<\/p>\n

When we finally joined the motorways; the A5, A3, A67, A6 and lastly the A61, we zoomed around Mannheim, up past Bad Kreuznach and on to Bingen.\u00a0 We were now on the banks of the Rhein River and the road ran alongside the edge of the river, past lots of castles and ruins, then just opposite the Loreley Rock, we checked in to Campingplatz Loreleyblick.\u00a0 We whipped up some lunch, put the awning out, did two loads of washing and sat peeking between the sheets and towels strung all around us, at the view of the river.\u00a0 Being another extremely hot day, the washing was dry very quickly so before too long, we were able to watch all the activity along the Rhein.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Burg
Burg Gutenfels on Pfalz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rodney went for a bike ride to try and find a supermarket, but it turned out to be 7kms in the opposite direction from which he had travelled.\u00a0 Fortunately, he managed to get a few necessities and we enjoyed a delicious meal outside under the shade of the awning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A
A festival for me….. !<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We soon realised that this is going to be the noisiest campsite so far; it\u2019s all very romantic sitting in the Rhein Gorge right beside the river, with the village of St Goarshausen and Burg Katz (Cat Castle) across the river to our left, but gosh it\u2019s noisy around here.\u00a0 We\u2019ve stayed in others which have been a little too close to a road or railway line, but this one is exceptional and Rodney is loving it.\u00a0 We\u2019re parked between the river and the main road and beside the road are two tracks of railway lines.\u00a0 On the opposite bank of the river is another busy road and another two railway lines.\u00a0 Along the stretch of the Rhein that we can see, there is hardly a minute without a variety of water-born vessels travelling in both directions up and down the river.\u00a0 There are barges, luxury cruisers, pleasure boats, speed boats, coal carriers, tankers, etc., etc., etc. Then to top it all off, the occasional fighter-jet flies over with all engines revving.\u00a0 There are plenty of cars, trucks and tourist coaches travelling along both roads, though we\u2019re not really noticing them too much.\u00a0 But the railway is incredible.\u00a0 There seems to be hardly a minute when there isn\u2019t a train zooming along one of the four tracks.\u00a0 At one point yesterday I could see trains on all four tracks at the same time, in front and behind me.\u00a0 The cargo trains go on for ever; the record so far was 39 wagons.\u00a0 Oh and they run all night.\u00a0 Rodney says he slept okay, I resorted to my ear plugs and apart from one noisy train that sounded like it had its brakes on, and a helicopter buzzing low, I slept pretty well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"St
St Goarshausen and Burg Katz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eileen cooled down nicely during the night, but by the time we got up, we could feel the heat starting to build to another hot day outside.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t get any internet connection, so we walked over to the reception and paid to use theirs for half an hour, which as it turned out, only lasted fifteen minutes.\u00a0 On the way back, we stopped for a chat with an Australian couple (glad we speak their language) and found out they were originally farmers from Victoria and they\u2019ve been coming over to Europe and spending time in their camper van every year for six months for the last fifteen years!\u00a0 This was to be their last trip and they\u2019re on their way back to England to sell the van.<\/p>\n

At lunch time we walked along the river to St Goar and ate a couple of stir fries from an Asian caf\u00e9 on the river\u2019s edge.\u00a0 We caught the ferry, which literally danced across to the opposite bank of the river; the current is so fast that the ferry seems to cross it sideways and spins around in a circle as it approaches the slipway at St Goarshausen.\u00a0 We then caught a bus which takes you up to the top of the cliff, 125 metres above the bend in the Rhein which was made famous by the Loreley legend.\u00a0 There is only one bus each hour, so we wandered around the cliff top enjoying the wonderful view up and down the Rhein, we could also see Eileen sitting in the campsite on the far side.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Our
Our campsite on the Rhein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We caught the next bus back down and hopped straight on the next ferry over to St Goar.\u00a0 Rodney popped in to a salon for a haircut, while I shuffled through the one-street village and back to meet him.\u00a0 There are a lot of road-works going on in both of these villages, all because there were some really bad floods back in May.\u00a0 Apparently the campsite we are staying in was completely underwater, which is hard to imagine now, but it must have been awful for the locals.<\/p>\n

We followed the river edge back to the campsite and settled in for a quiet evening before we pack up and move again on Friday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"St
St Goar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a second good night\u2019s sleep, courtesy of the earplugs, we left St Goar and drove beside the Rhein all the way up to Koblenz.\u00a0 We stopped briefly in Boppard for a stroll and a quick purchase of something for dinner, then we continued north.\u00a0 We had hoped to drive up to Schloss Stolenfells, near Rhens, but the road looked unsuitable for Eileen, so we continued on to Koblenz and looked for the road leading back south to follow the Mosel River.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Boppard\"
Boppard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unlike the Rhein, there are a lot of bridges crossing from one side of the Mosel to the other and we weren\u2019t sure which side to travel, but as we exited Koblenz, we found ourselves on the south \/ east bank, so the decision was made for us.\u00a0 The valley itself is also very different with less steep sides, it\u2019s wider and not as deep, plus there are a bountiful amount of grapevines.\u00a0 Some of the towns and villages have castles, or ruins and some look more modern, all of them have churches in a huge variety of styles.\u00a0 We diverted briefly away from the river to look at Burg Thurant (12th<\/sup> C), but we knew we had a fairly long drive ahead, so continued to move on just enjoying the views as we went.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Burg
Burg Thurant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to trying to decide which bank to drive down, we found ourselves crossing backwards and forwards from side to side and the river has more bends and curls in it than my hair.\u00a0 Our picnic lunch was eaten on the outskirts of Cochem, which seemed to be the most touristy town along the river, and then we passed some villages with great names; Neet, Alf, Wolf, Graach and Dhron.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Reichskastel
Reichskastel and Peters Kapel at Cochem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We had decided to stop at a campsite in Schweich, but we really didn\u2019t need to have done any research because we passed so many campsites and overnight parking areas along the Mosel; it was mind boggling how many there were.\u00a0 We must have passed literally thousands of campervans and caravans and started to wonder if anyone was left in the Netherlands! At 4pm we pulled in to Camping Zum F\u00e4hrturm in Schweich and as we only wanted one night we were directed to an area near the main road which turned out to be 370 paces to the shower block.\u00a0 Yes, I counted them after two Bacardi and cokes; it felt like half a kilometre.\u00a0 I cooked up some pasta for dinner, then we went over to the bar on the edge of the river and ended up chatting to a couple from Derbyshire.\u00a0 They said they had stayed there before and came back again because they liked the bar; it certainly couldn\u2019t have been for the shower set up.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of those campsites that is really annoying and we definitely won\u2019t be returning.\u00a0 After checking in, you have to wait for someone to come over and plug you in to the electricity; we had to wait nearly an hour to be connected.\u00a0 You are provided with an electronic tag to open the entry barrier and this also operates the showers; uh oh!\u00a0 You only have one tag, so one of you has to go over and then pass the tag to the other person, no showering possible at the same time.\u00a0 And, you only get one shower per 24 hours, so having had a much-needed shower on Friday evening, we then couldn\u2019t have one on Saturday morning, ah thank goodness for Eileen\u2019s tiny bathroom and we used their electricity to heat the water\u2026!\u00a0 When the tag wouldn\u2019t open the barrier for us as we attempted to leave, we were glad to know we weren\u2019t staying there another night.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Mosel Valley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

So fairly early on Saturday morning we found a parking spot on the north-west bank of the Mosel and walked across the Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge in to Trier.\u00a0 The guide book informed us that this is Germany\u2019s oldest city and there are a number of Roman remains; we found the amphitheatre and the Porta Nigra and really enjoyed the feel of the city.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Dom in Trier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The interior of the Cathedral is quite spectacular and they claim to have the last robe that Jesus wore prior to the crucifixion, but unfortunately we didn\u2019t get to see it.\u00a0 We ate sushi for lunch and then wandered slowly back to Eileen, both glad that we had managed to spend some time in Trier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The Basilica and the Palace of the Electors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Trier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

As we left Trier, there was a 3km queue of traffic trying to enter the city; gosh we were glad we weren\u2019t going in that direction!\u00a0 We tootled along the motorway and at 2:22pm we crossed the River Sauer and entered yet another country.\u00a0 Luxembourg didn\u2019t instantly look any different; I\u2019m not sure what I expected of Luxembourg and still don\u2019t.\u00a0 We checked in to Camping Bon Accuil in Alzingen, just on the outskirts of Luxembourg City and spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up on computer stuff; there\u2019s free internet here, yippee!\u00a0 When the temperatures dropped a bit, we strolled along the road into Alzingen and back and had pizza and drinks at the campsite caf\u00e9, then returned to Eileen to try and cool her off a bit before bed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"There
There were elephants all over the city of Trier !!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only one week left travelling around Europe in Eileen; now we\u2019ll be counting the days and not the weeks.\u00a0 We packed up fairly early and left Eberbach to drive beside the Neckar River towards Heidelberg.\u00a0 At Ziegelhausen we turned north across country to Schriesheim.\u00a0 It would probably have been quicker to go closer to Heidelberg […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8374,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309\/revisions\/8374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}