Leaving Koblenz

Toni says: We still had not decided where we were going today. A local had told us that there was a chance of some thunder, so we were waiting to see the skies before deciding whether we were going for the slower scenic routes. (Bit of a misconception actually as even the motorways are fairly pretty roads!) Getting out onto the balcony from the hotel room the blue was again present so we counted ourselves lucky once more! We debated following the Rhine all the way south to Lake Constance on the German/Swiss/Austrian borders. And although that wasn't in our original plan, we decided to 'wing it' a bit and take the Rhine roads as far as the city of Mainz. We stopped for some lunch, boiling ourselves again in our bike gear sat outside a little cafe. We chatted then and decided to get out of the city and head for a forested area and a little town called Bad Kong - sorry, Bad Konig! Approximately 15 minutes later we were on the city ring road in the middle of the worst thunderstorm I have ever seen - let alone been out on a bike in!!! There was incredible lightening (apparently!) but for the most part, we couldn't see it as there was too much water running off our helmets. How Jon stopped the bike from aquaplaning down the road I shall never know! We were still heading for the little town and still in the pouring rain. I have a feeling it will take the rest of the night for the gear to dry out! Thank god it's still warm at least!

Jon says:

Sat: The chunnel is the functional alternative to the ferry, the latter inciting a sense of adventure that underground sea-train cannot (although LCD screens with fish and other sea life would be much better than windows into an otherwise blacked out tunnel). Bike doing very well though.

Sun: Motorways over to Monschau. Toni said the bike deserved a Belgian-flag sticker, but we were only there for 2 hours so it doesn't count. We have also found that the rear suspension has a small problem, mainly in that it doesn't work properly. Every time we corner fast, and/or go over a big bump, the centre stand seems to hit the ground and make a terrible scraping noise. (We've checked - the part we suspected is slowly being ground down to a shiny flat surface - hopefully there's enough metal to last another week or two).

Mon: The drive to the Nurburg ring, along the 258 from Monschau, rivals and probably betters the A82 through Scotland. I didn't want to do the ring itself, partly because of the suspension problems, but mainly because I've no experience driving fast on a circuit. Stopping to watch the bikes and cars confirmed my decision.

Tue: Driving the 258 to Koblenz was amazing. The variety of roads including hair-pins, sweeping meadows, fast bends and lush scenery made the first 7-800km worthwhile.

Wed: The Rhine cruise inspired us to change route and follow the river roads on Thursday.

Thur: beautiful roads along the Rhine. At various points we had: on our right trains, on the road other bikes, on the paths walkers and cyclists, and on the river barges full of coal and cruisers full of tourists. On the road to Bad Konig we had very heavy rain laying itself down over very dry roads - the surface water was deep and the bike's brakes lost all sense of purpose. A little courage and lots of perseverance got us though a rather close lightning storm - I ducked down leaving Toni as the main lightning conductor, better to have the pillion full of volts than the driver. We were obviously a bit bogged down with water and mist when we e missed the hotels around the main street and instead found the highest hotel in the town - bugger - built up a good appetite walking up and down a couple of times though.

(No photos today - too wet!)