The Rhine valley and Rudesheim

A good night’s sleep and we were ready for a day on and around the Rhine. We had been looking forward to a river cruise, but the weather predictions were uninspiring and looked to be coming true as we woke to low cloud, the mist making it impossible almost to see as far as the trains moving steadily along the railway lines.

Despite the ubiquitous road works, one of which declared we should expect to wait 15 minutes we made good time, reaching Kamp Bornhofen, the boarding point for our short river cruise, in time to be offered a bonus- an extra ‘leg’ to Boppard and back. By now the sky was a beautiful blue either absolutely clear or dotted with fluffy white clouds and  we were able to sit on deck in glorious sunshine.

Coffee in hand and camera to the ready, we sat and enjoyed the scenery and the sun as the Shiff Elegance glided along the Rhine taking us down to St. Goarshausen. We sailed past all kinds of vessels from the longest barges transporting coal and other bulk goods, to canoes and kayaks, with ‘passengers’ just out for a day’s entertainment.

Locals are discouraged from moving from one side of the river to the other to shop as they are going into a different area with different legislation and probably different taxes.

At km 560 our attention was drawn to the white house and the building behind it. this is the local pub. But it is attached to a church and you can only get to the church by going through the pub! Many laughs from passengers, especially when the commentary said that even the local priest had been known to pull pints.

The ship sailed down to the Lorelei before turning back to disembark its passengers at St. Goar or St. Goarhausen.

The Lorelei is a large rock, 132 meters high which sits on the side of the Rhine. there are numerous legends including one where a beautiful maiden threw herself into the river because of a faithless lover and was transformed into a siren who lured fishermen to their destruction.

All too soon it was time to disembark and join our faithful driver again for the short drive to Rudesheim along the river valley. This was an interesting drive through quaint villages and past many vineyards.

Once we were in Rudesheim the plan was clear: lunch and then the cable car to the memorial monument at the top to the hill,

Lunch was easy: we found crepes filled with strawberries and nutella and covered in chocolate sauce!

A short walk up a nearby alleyway we found the cable car, paid our 10 euros and climbed aboard. I felt totally comfortable – which is not always the case in this kind of transport! The sky was blue, there was very little wind and there were some gorgeous views.

It seemed we’d been there hardly any time when we began to think we should make our way back in order to ensure we wouldn’t be late.

The bonus was a brief visit to the church of St. Jacob.

It looked pretty unpretentious but inside we found more exquisite stained glass

And so our day on the Rhine had come to an end and we were driving back to the hotel and our final night in Koblenz. We knew the next day would mean hours on the coach so that we reach our hotel near Oberammergau in time for dinner and ready for the Play on Tuesday.