2020 - Day 14: The Rhine Gorge

The summation of today is what goes up must come down (again).

Today’s aim was essentially about getting from Speyer to Koblenz which could be achieved by autobahn in 1h45, however we planned to drive the Rhine Gorge crisscrossing the Rhine as we went taking the predicted journey time up to 3h45. A little late leaving due to chaotic children we were then further delayed by Forrest having a nosebleed that typically started just as we re-joined the autobahn into a queue of traffic (we had avoided the worst of it with a helpful google map diversion). A quick pull off into a rest area and a half hour sit down to let the bleeding stop and clean up the car seat and clothes and we were then back on route from Speyer and Bingen where the Rhine Gorge area begins.

I have to admit I hadn’t really researched in detail our plans for today so used the autobahn section of the drive to combine my Lonely Planet road trip book with a bit of googling to decide where we were going to stop and when we were going to make use of the river crossings. You see on the Rhine Gorge between Bingen and Koblenz there are no bridges so all crossings are made by car ferrys.

So with our route decided we headed to the Bingen–Rüdesheim Ferry and our first stop, the Seilbahn Rüdesheim. The route up the hill was originally installed as a rack-and-pinion railway to allow people to visit the Niederwald monument but after the railway was badly damaged during the war it was replaced in 1954 by the cable car. You can fit two adults and two kids in a single car, but we decided to separate and after the aguments over who was going with who and who was going first were settled, we made our way up the hill. We didn’t have time to explore at the top or visit the monument today but certainly had time to have our picnic lunch and enjoy the views before heading back down to continue the drive.

Enjoying the ride up the Seilbahn Rüdesheim.

Relaxing on the trip up the Seilbahn Rüdesheim.

The vineyards from the Seilbahn Rüdesheim.

The vineyards from the Seilbahn Rüdesheim.

Not a bad view for a picnic.

A selfie heading back down to Rüdesheim.

Enjoying the ride down the Seilbahn Rüdesheim.

Staying on the east bank our next crossing was Kaub-Engelsburg. But before we got there we faced further delays as we got held up in several miles of single lane traffic light roadworks. Kaub is known for Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, situated on a rock in the middle of the Rhine, however rather than a castle this was actually built as a toll gate used to generate revenue from merchants on the river.

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in the middle of the Rhine.

Boarding the ferry at Kaub to cross to Engelsburg.

Now one reason for the crisscrossing was we thought the ferries would be interesting for the kids and it would also allow both kids (and adults) time to be on the scenic side of the drive. However, with one asleep before Kaub and the other joining her shortly after that crossing it was time to turn off Andy and the Oddsocks and enjoy a rare chance for some adult music as we continued on to the St. Goar-St. Goarshausen ferry and a very small back track to Loreley. Loreley itself is a town I would have liked to explore more, especially to find the famous Loreley statue (which we looked out for but didn’t spot) but we had a destination in mind and time was ticking away. If you have been following our blog you will have seen we previously really enjoyed the Grafenau Rodelbahn on this holiday and one of my googles had turned up a similar summer toboggan run in the heights of Loreley, Sommerrodelbahn Loreley-Bob. It was slightly different in that all the track is mounted on the ground and instead of having rails it is more like a bobsleigh in a track. It also has a small playground with a marble run which I thought the kids would love.

We arrived just after 4pm so had an hour before closing time. Using a deal I had read about to encourage visitors from the other side of the river we purchased 6x adult tickets and 6x children’s tickets and on production of our ferry receipt, received 6x extra tickets (for either adult or child) to compensate for the cost of the ferry crossing. Now those who are good at maths may have spotted that this meant we also then had to buy an extra 2x children’s tickets to allow us all to have 5x runs each. The set up of the bobs is a bit more basic than the Grafenau setting with no need for seatbelts (assuming as you don’t leave the ground) but it was all run very professionally and the guys spoke very good English to explain what we had to do. After the first run we checked our photos and found out that they also had a speed gun set up to tell you your speed just before the photo was taken. Forrest was disappointed that myself and Paloma had beaten him and Daddy with a speed of 34km/h but now the competition was on. Whilst on subsequent runs I never managed to get above 34.8km/h, with Matt’s extra weight advantage he achieved a near course record of 40.8km/h on his final run which Forrest, his passenger, was ecstatic about. The time was now 5pm and there was no time to visit the play park or marble run but thankfully no one minded as the rodelbahn had been such great fun.

Tongues out for the camera on the Loreley-Bob!

Breaking 40 km/h on the Loreley-Bob!

We now stayed on the east side for the remaining part of the journey to Koblenz passing Boppard on the other side of the river where we will be returning by train tomorrow.

One of the many picturesque castles on the drive.

We are staying in the B&B Hotel here and Forrest has been excited about getting a bunk bed again but this excitement overspilled on arrival to the both of the children and the good run of behaviour went out the window resulting in an impromptu visit to McDonalds as we just wanted to get them fed and in bed. You could tell though that we don’t do this often with the kids as Forrest very loudly complained that there was no knife and fork. Why, I don’t know, as he never uses them when he has them!!

Blogged by Amber.