Bikepacking 2025 - Mainz to Koblenz

 

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We left the campsite and braved the equivalent of the Dartford Crossing once again, to get back to the other side of the Rhine. Once over, it took us a while to find our way back onto our planned route, there being a pesky railway line in the way. But we found our way back onto our route and cycled on. 

It had been really windy yesterday evening and there was debris from trees everywhere. Nothing big, just twigs and leaves all over the place.  We kept an eye on this, not wanting punctures but there was so much of this stuff, it was unavoidable. Somehow we didn't get a single puncture!

We were soon in Mainz which turned out to be quite a big city. And very much the city it was, too. Lots of traffic. Unattractive. Few reasons that we could see to actually want to be there. 

I like to reference The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in this blog, largely because it's a work of genius but also because it's in many ways, so very relatable. Take for example, the Infinite Improbability Drive. When it is first used in the book, a fully grown sperm whale and a bowl of petunias instantly materialise in space and, due to the particular instance of space they materialise in, start to fall.... or rather, plummet towards the surface of a planet. This would constitute a fairly improbable event.

While cycling through Mainz, a similarly improbable event occurred, one which was at least as likely as either the spontaneous appearance of a bowl of petunias or of a sperm whale, but not both at the same time of course because that's just trippy, never mind improbable!

Anyway, M1 was in the lead, riding along a cycle lane by a busy road. To his right, whizzing by, were a series of mature, deciduous trees. All of a sudden, something dropped out of one of the trees and hit M1 on the knuckles of his left hand! M1 got a glimpse of something perhaps beige in colour but no more than a glimpse. It felt quite heavy, striking M1'S knuckles with some force. What the???!!!!!

M1, shocked at being struck by the projectile from above, screeched to a halt about 10 metres from the tree and jumped off The Mule. He told M2 he'd just been hit by something and then noticed a sticky liquid on his knuckles. And then, a larger amount of the same sticky substance which M1 could now see was orange, all down one leg.

What on earth was it?

M2 cracked the code. It was egg, she suggested.

Egg.

Had someone thrown an egg at M1? This was our theory for a while. After all, he probably deserves a good egging for something or other ;-)

But as we cycled away, M1 reasoned that from the pretty much vertical trajectory, it could not have been thrown by a person without us having seen them. How mysterious.

And then M1 realised. The windy conditions the previous evening had probably left some poor bird's nest balanced precariously in the tree and as M1 cycled under it, at that precise moment, improbable as it seems, an egg wobbled out of the nest, plummeted towards the ground like a newly materialised sperm whale and, SPLAT, got M1.

M1 is eggstremely glad it was an egg and not a sperm whale that landed on him!

Eggy mess cleaned up, we cycled out of Mainz and after a while were cycling in less urban surroundings.

Then in what felt like a sudden change, we were cycling along a valley by the Rhine, steep hills on the other side and castle after castle! We'd arrived at that section of the Rhine where river cruises take place and from where most photos you're ever likely to see are taken. We'd entered The Middle Rhine Valley.

And we saw so many cruise boats. 

The valley brought scenery at last. Most of Germany so far has been rather bland or worse. But it also brought another gruelling headwind which was being funneled down the valley and into our faces. Occasionally we were sheltered and the cycling was easy. But most of the time the headwind was there, making the down river gentle descent feel like a 4% uphill climb, hour after hour.

Eventually though, we arrived in the city of Koblenz. We'll be here the next two nights.

Today is the last day of our fourth week. And tomorrow is a rest day :-)

Photos 

Crossing the big bridge again, us and the lorries

Rhine industry from the Big Bridge

Is that a castle?!

Definitely a castle 

Where's M2? Dual meaning question!

Castle!

Castle?

Castle?!

Wrong way! Unless you fancy a swim!

Castle?

Castle with sewage works in foreground 

Bikepacking 2025 - Speyer to Mainz

 

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We knew today was going to be hot, and with more than 110 km to cycle, we left the campsite as early as possible today. The only problem was that this campsite takes a 20 Euro deposit off you for their fancy electronic key that unlocks the toilets, shower block and the numerous gates. That meant waiting until Campsite Guy appeared at reception, which officially was not going to be before 7 a.m. Fortunately, he showed up a bit earlier, so key returned and deposit recovered, we were on our way before 7:00 and whilst the day was still relatively cool. Relatively. It was already feeling worryingly warm.

As usual, we stopped for pastries and coffees as soon as we could. The temperature was already getting to M1, who consequently bought a cold bottle of Coke as well, drinking some of it at the table and slipping the bottle with the remainder into a pocket in his cycling journey and finishing it en route.

We started to see signs for a place called Worms.  We thought it hilarious that there was apparently a German town whose name in English signifies bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and usually no eyes. Hilarious. Can you imagine? 

M1 wondered if this phenomenon existed in reverse and looked up the German word for "worms". It's Würmer. Could there be a town in the UK called Würmer which coincidentally, in German means "bilaterale Tiere, die typischerweise einen langen, zylindrischen, röhrenförmigen Körper, keine Gliedmaßen und normalerweise keine Augen haben"?

No. There isn't. The umlout kind of rules this possibility out.

Disappointed with the lack of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy style symmetry that had been hoped for, we cycled on through the growing heat and eventually entered the fabled town of Worms.

And we nearly didn't leave. 

Worms is an industrial town. There are lorries everywhere and we were closer to them than we wanted to be. Soon though, we left the main road and joined a cycle path alongside a lesser road. Sweet. 

Except that after about 500 metres, we hit the German equivalent of that French classic, the Route Barrée sign. In Germany, this takes the form of the route being blocked, with no sign of any sort and absolutely no warning or heaven forbid,  a detour sign. This is on international cycling route EV15, by the way.

These were major roadworks. Major. We couldn't see much because of large earth heaps placed by the machines, so it was hard to evaluate options.

We cycled back to where we'd joined the path and found a way to the opposite side of the road. Heading in the required direction and having looked at the map, we'd assumed we'd be able to detour around the works that way. But it was not to be. That side was closed as well.

More frantic map inspection, with brilliant sunshine reflecting off M1's phone making the task frustrating.

We found a way. But everywhere in Worms is an industrial estate with lorries parked, turning, arriving or leaving. Not great places to be on bikes. And there are fences not shown on the map so that routes through do not in fact exist. We tried several, each more frustrating and horrifying than the others.

Eventually we cycled back along the main road that had brought us into the lovely Worms and pursued a more radical detour. This one would work but terrify us to our very cores. So many lorries. Narrow roads. An absence of cycle paths. Even using pavements this was pretty horrendous.

We'd expected Germany to be cycling friendly. Perhaps everywhere except Worms it is.

But we made it and were hugely relieved to be leaving Worms behind!

We now crossed what most would call farmland but which today felt more like a desert. No, not a dessert. They're good. We like them. Maybe too much. No, a desert. Arid. No shade. The occasional camel. We didn't see any camels but it would have made sense.

An oasis appeared in the desert. Alongside the Rhine no less. Yes, we actually cycled by the Rhine a few times today! The oasis was a restaurant. We had large, cold drinks and they refilled our near empty water bottles.

After more desert cycling which included vineyards, weirdly, we found another oasis, this time a supermarket which sold both drinks and Snickers ice cream bars. We stayed hydrated. We attended to our ice cream levels. Our legs continued to function. Not far to go now.

We reached the point where we needed to detour to our campsite. The detour required us to cross the Rhine on an enormous bridge alongside a major highway. It was like the Dartford Crossing east of London. M1 had never seen so many lorries in a five minute period in his life. Luckily we were physically separated from the traffic in a narrow cycle path but it was still somewhat dreadful.

Having crossed the Rhine, we cycled towards an out of town retail park that had the feel of an industrial estate, presumably designed that way deliberately. Industrial Estate Chic. But, there was a supermarket. Provisions, including two large bottles of chilled orange juice were bought. We shared the first bottle of cold juice right there outside the supermarket.

The campsite was designed by someone who prefers the Campsite Aesthetic to all this industrial nonsense, happily. We've camped in a nice space which is for tents only. There are other cyclists and a friendly vibe. We're under a tree which is doing a great job providing shade. All's well. 

Germany will have another chance to convince us it's a great cycling country tomorrow.

Update: the atmosphere changed in the evening. Campsite Guy's house is right next to the area for tents. It has a back garden with a pool. He has (at least) three teenage children. They spent hours shouting and playing music really loudly on an impressive, Glastonbury grade sound system. It was hard to have a conversation. It was hard to think. Another cyclist went over and politely asked them to be a bit quieter. He got abuse. M1 recognised a few of the words used! The other camper told us they'd called him names and basically told him to get lost. Lovely. The music went off for a while and then came back on. Then Campsite Guy, a rather large man, came over and had a go (in German) at the cyclist. It was aggressive and confrontational. The cyclist told us afterwards he'd been told that if he didn't like it, he should move somewhere else. What a charming family. The place has a large number of permanent caravans and a few new looking houses that have been built. Campsite Git is clearly raking it in and doesn't give a monkey's about a few cyclist campers. Avoid this campsite!

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Bikepacking 2025 - Seltz (F) to Speyer (D)

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Today was very pleasant. It was hot but not the "trapped in a pizza oven" of yesterday and the dreaded headwind was absent. 

We cycled along the mighty Rhine for some of today. It was nice to see the river again.

We stopped at a boulangerie for breakfast only to realise it was in fact a bakerei and everyone was speaking German because.... We'd crossed the border into Germany without knowing (for the second time this trip!). It's all very casual, you know.

Breakfast consumed, we cycled on, following EV15 through forest, by rivers and through small towns. Without the headwind and almost entirely flat, it was easy cycling.

We saw many White Storks, mostly grazing in fields but sometimes airborne or on one occasion, proudly looking out from its nest atop a tall chimney.

In Speyer, we shopped and then headed to our campsite. It seems to be a livery yard with numerous horses stabled. It's by a lake which children and adults alike are jumping into. Just the ticket on a day like today.

Photos