Heavy rain continued all morning.
I think Catherine has jinxed this for me. As soon as she leaves I nearly get run over, then barely survive a heatwave and now torrential rain. Cheers sis, love you too.
Had to sit and wait for the rain to ease up. The ladies in reception were in no rush for me to leave. Not because of my endless charm and wit I have to add, they were just laid back about the whole thing. They even looked into the weather forecast for me.
Wandered over to the shop to grab some bread and cheese then sat under the tarp with a sandwich and watched the rain. The bike was packed and ready to go. I just needed to pack up the shelter, stick it in the dry sack and I'd be away.
A German chap called Ronnie sparked up a conversation. He was sheltering under a nearby tree with his wife having a crafty tab while their kid was asleep in the campervan. Invited them over to keep dry. We all huddled under the tarp and got talking. He's a biker too. Rides an old foxeye Fireblade. Loves it, it's his pride and joy. Tours a lot with his dad on bikes but now they're just returning from a family holiday in Spain in the camper. Gave me some pointers to good German biking roads. Also said avoid northern Germany up towards Scandinavia. There's a lot of clashes between biker gangs and police so there's zero tolerance to bikers up there.
He told me a story about Austria that launched me into yet another huge rant about the place. He got pulled for speeding in Austria once. The coppers looked over his bike and he has a full Akropovic exhaust. So he also got fined for not having a baffle. Understandable so far, you'd probably get similar treatment from a British copper. Same for his doctored number plate.
They then whipped out an emissions tester! He's got a full system so no cat. Again that's a chargeable offence in Austria so they started totting them up.
Now the bit that really made my blood boil was the fact that his back tyre was down to the wire but that wasn't classed as an offence.
He got an on the spot fine for the daft stuff but the dangerous defect was completely ignored. I really can't work Austria out.
On the spot fines in Europe are literally on the spot. You pay the copper. If you can't pay then they'll very kindly take you to a cashpoint so you can withdraw the cash. Except in Italy. If you can't pay there then they just take your vehicle away and crush it.
His wife kept popping back to brew fresh coffee and it turned into a very pleasant afternoon, despite the weathers best attempts to spoil it. If I didn't have a return crossing to make then I'd have honestly got the tent back out and stayed for another night.
We got the maps and highlighter out and discussed places and roads. Given more time I said I wanted to ride back up the Rhine. They warned me that the Rhine is mosquito territory. But not the Mosel for some reason, even though the two meet. He then disappeared and returned with a couple of insect repellent sprays. They'd picked them up in Hungary and it's what the anglers out there use. Supposed to be amazing stuff and they gave them to me for the last leg of my trip. Ronnie, like me, gets devoured by mosquitos. His mrs, like Catherine and Sam, is usually left well alone. He swears that this stuff works wonders. Gotta be better than the spray I've got which just seems to attract them. It was probably from a joke shop. Very kind of them and I'll definitely make good use of it.
The whole afternoon summed up what I love about camping abroad with the bike. You're never alone. There's always someone nearby to talk to or help you out. With no plans you're free to move where you want, when you want. There's very little discrimination and language barriers disappear. If you stayed in hotels then you would just keep yourself to yourself. Where's the fun in that?
The rain started to ease off so checked the time and it was 4.30pm. We'd been sat talking all afternoon. Got my stuff together and hit the road just after 5. Try doing the same at most other campsites and you'd get stung for another night.
Despite the wet roads, I'd rather put a couple of hours in today than have a completely mad one tomorrow.
The little ferry over the Rhine that we took last year was only a few km down the road. Same procedure as before. Roll on, roll off and free of charge. Rolled off into France.
I like France. I find it quite easy to get by there. Not exactly my second language but I'm less crap at it than all the other ones. I can hold a basic conversation in French.
To the uninitiated though, German is closer to English than French. A lot of words can be worked out if you don't know them. Catherine also raised a valid point. We're brought up to think of the Germans as dull and boring. In actual fact they're a bit bonkers. They wear lederhosen and consume huge quantities of beer and sausage and generally enjoy a good time.
You shouldn't be fazed by foreign languages though. If you walk into a bakery or petrol station or campsite then there's only a limited number of things you'd want to buy. They obviously want to sell you something and if all else fails just point.
Once I'd crossed the Rhine into France I headed north to Wissembourg. I think it was the D34 but my map's not too clear. Lovely little road. Proper rural affair. Passed through a couple of towns that obviously weren't used to seeing tourists. Lots of locals stopping and staring, but all smiling and nodding. There was a section of singletrack through maize fields that was constructed from huge pre-fabricated concrete slabs. There were also fields full of upturned telegraph poles with pointy ends. Wire was strung high between the poles and something was growing upright between the wires in tall straight lines. Maybe I'm just being daft but not seen anything like it before. Took a quick photo anyway. I assume they're vineyards. Answers on a postcard please.
From Wissembourg I took the B48 to Kaiserslautern. The road was starting to dry and it was amazing. Reminded me of the last section of the Route des Grande Alps, south of Thonon. Except it was empty rather than full of Swiss drivers. It wound through trees for mile after mile. Jon and Catherine should be able to picture it.
Speaking of Jon I should say a quick hi and ta. If you ever need weather forecasts or emergency digs or historical research while you're touring abroad then contact him at www.cycle-street.co.uk. When he's not on International Rescue duties for me, he somehow finds time to run a very nice pushbike shop in York.
Called into Kaiserslautern for fuel then carried on north to Bingen on the southern bank of the Rhine. The B48 carries on all the way up to Bingen and I'd recommend it. My satnav didn't and kept trying to throw me off course. It caught me out a few times but I got the gist.
Looking at my map I realised I'm starting to join up a non-stop brilliant route from Luxembourg to Freudenstadt in the Black Forest. It takes in the Eifel mountains, the Mosel and the Rhine, a cool little ferry crossing to a great campsite then the best part of the Black Forest.
Further west it heads back into France on amazing roads. If the weather holds for tomorrow then I'm pretty excited about road testing it and doing some more exploring.
I've got some great options from here too. If the weather's bad then I can take the autoroute home. I've also got the Mosel nearby to the west and Nurbergring nearby to the north. What more could you wish for?
Checked into the first campsite on the Rhine. Time was pressing on due to my late start so I didn't mess about.
It's pretty poor. It also disproves my long held theory that 'if a campsite is full of Dutch then it's gonna be good'. My theory that 'if you need any help when you're camping then the Dutch will always step in' still stands. Especially with a hammer. It was proved again tonight.
The campsite is really basic and not cheap. €15 for a solo biker and €1 for showers is quite frankly outrageous at this kind of place. There's a complete free for all fight for space but an old German boy sorted me out with a nice corner plot.
The woman on reception didn't speak a word of English so I called on Catherines German lessons. I even used Geoffnet in conversation which I was genuinely quite chuffed about.
Although Catherine, it's not pronounced 'geoff-net' you silly sausage.
The woman behind the bar started playing those crazy German tricks on me. Pretending she didn't speak a word of English then responding to my attempts at German in perfect English.
The toilets and showers were poor. There's a busy freight train line right next to the site but I think this runs both sides of the Rhine right up to Koblenz so can't be avoided.
The rumour about mossies is also true. Thankfully so is the guarantee for my new mossie spray. Worked a treat.
Those huge barges that we saw in Koblenz last year run all through the night. At full steam ahead their diesel engines aren't quiet.
The campsite does provide toilet roll but it's padlocked to a pole outside the toilet block! Never seen that before.
I'll avoid this one in future. Marienort camping plaza in Trechtingshausen.
All of the Dutch campers were really friendly though. Had a steady stream of them coming over to chat. Most were just passing through on their way home.
Had a good old chat to a Dutch lad called Tim. Him and his old man are into their bikes. They confirmed the fact that you should give any Belgian bike with a number plate starting with W a wide berth. I'd been told this a few days back at Lake Konstanz but didn't know what to make of it. In Belgium, number plates are assigned to drivers not vehicles. You take your registration with you when you change vehicles. All motorbike registrations used to start with an M. But they ran out of numbers so flipped the M and now all recently issued numbers start with a W. If you see a Belgian W plate then it's a relatively new rider.
All in all that turned into a really pleasant day. Got some great riding in and the weather stayed dry while I was out. Fingers crossed it looks promising for tomorrow too.
128 miles
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