Chapter 2 - Campingplatz am Rhein

Monday 7th - Sunday 13th June

So, with Saarbruecken firmly left behind us it was time to move onto Ruedesheim-am-Rhein. Now, I know at the beginning I said this was a French road trip, we would be spending another week in Germany. There were two main reasons for this; the first is that I’m a worrier, what I mean by that is that I was concerned that there would be some administrative hurdle still to be crossed at the end of my time in Saarbruecken. (This is the main reason we chose to spend another week in Germany). The second reason was more specifically related to the location of our second German week; Dad had, as a child, missed out on a school trip to the Rhine valley, and as such wanted to see it for himself. As he was in Germany anyway with the caravan, the opportunity seemed too good to miss.

Now you know why and where, it’s time to move on with the story!

You’ll remember, or you may not (but you can find it below if your memory needs jogging, or perhaps ambling (that was, admittedly, a bad play on words, but it stays!)), that we left Saarbruecken for Ruedesheim on Sunday. The journey itself was quite straight forward – most of it was motorway, and the German motorways are generally good quality (and free!). It was set to take us about 4 hours, which was a reasonable estimate. The only thing we hadn’t bargained on was, rather surprisingly the reason we were going there. The Rhine. The river is so wide in this area that there are literally no bridges from Wiesbaden to Koblenz. Instead, the only way to cross the river is by ferry. There are plenty of these; most major towns along the banks of the Rhine have them, but you ought to be aware that they are also quite expensive. For two people with a car and caravan between Bingen and Ruedesheim am Rhein it cost around 10€. We did, as the week progressed, look at the other ferries, but, to be honest, there wasn’t a lot of difference between them.

There was only one thing that went slightly wrong on the journey. That was the fact that we’d arrived 24 hours early. Now, as anyone who knows me will know, I like to be early and organised, but even for me that was a record. Let me also point out at this juncture that it was not me who had been responsible for the booking of the Caravan Club sites. That was the sole responsibility of my travelling companion, Dad. Nevertheless, the site still had room for us, despite our early appearance, and we paid the site’s rates for that one night instead of the Caravan Club’s discounted rates. A small price to pay for the amount of times I can enjoy mentioning this cringe-worthy cock-up!

Again, time for a brief review of the site, so in the spirit of the football results, if you don’t want to know about it…look away now! The site is one of the Caravan Club’s Advance Booking Sites, reference number G08, and is located literally on the bank of the Rhine. Any closer and it would be a marina, not a caravan site. The site is not broken down into distinct pitches, providing an open and spacious environment. It is possible, and we were lucky enough, to pitch your caravan overlooking the Rhine. The site has 10A electricity included in the price, and has a bar/shop located on site. The site has separate ladies and gents’ WCs (although, be aware; you will need to take your own loo roll with you, when you wish to check out the facilities for yourself!) Showers are also available, priced at 1€ for five minutes, which should be long enough for most! There are 2 washing machines and 1 tumble dryer also available for use. The site is locked at night, although entry on foot is still possible, providing a little more piece of mind for those who are security conscious, and simultaneous access for those who partake in Germany’s national diet of beer! The site is a family run concern, which gives it an all the more welcoming and friendly feel to it. The staff there seemed genuinely only too happy to help.

As before, I’ll describe what we did during the week in a day-by-day way, in order that I don’t lose track of myself, and hopefully not you too! (not U2 though, I doubt they’ve got the time or inclination to read my musings!)

Once we’d arrived and got everything set up, which went surprisingly well with just two of us, we decided it would be worth wandering into the town, which was definitely within walking distance, taking about 20 minutes from the site to the town centre along the banks of the Rhine. As we walked down to the town, we saw several different river cruise boats, stopping off for the day, or the afternoon in Ruedesheim. Now while I was walking down the river I pondered the idea of taking a river cruise for a week or so down the Rhine and wondering if it was worth it or not. The most obvious advantage is that someone else drives (or whatever the appropriate verb for a river cruiser is) for you and the majority of the cruising is done during the night, so that you can spend the day in a different town. The downsides, as I see them, are that you don’t really get to choose where you spend the days, which as there’s quite a lot to see along the river, means that you’ll probably miss something you wanted to see. Another disadvantage, which is interlinked with that is the lack of freedom you have. But you’re on the open water I here you say, yes, but at the same time, you don’t decide when you go somewhere, how long you get there, and sometimes even which attractions/museums/sights you want to see in the particular places. So, for the above reasons, I’ve decided that doing it in a car with a caravan/canvas base is probably the cheapest and best way of doing it!

On the Monday, which should have been our actual arrival day, we decided, despite everything I’ve just said above, to take a day trip down the Rhine. I ought to point out that there was a logical reason we did this on our first full day in the area. Allow me to explain; the map provides you with simply a list of names along the banks of the rivers with little in the way of explanations as to what there was to see. We decided then that a river trip would allow us to take in all the sights from a distance allowing us to make a list of places we wanted to stop and look at. The river trip was going to take a whole day, with a couple of stops on the way. The first stop was a place called St. Goar, where there is a castle (one of many along the banks of the Rhine) looking down over the river. We took the noddy train up to the castle; the main reason for that being was the gradient up there…it was walkable, I suppose, in the same way Kilimanjaro is. After spending some time in St Goar itself, which boasts plenty of nice narrow streets and a picturesque old town, we then caught the next ferry to a town called Boppard. Boppard is the town just before the bend in the Rhine (similar to the one in the Saar, but being as the Rhine is a smidge bigger than the Saar, its bend is reflective of the size difference). Whilst we didn’t go up to the Rheinschleife this time (we did on a later date though!), we did walk around the town itself, taking in the sights. Boppard is quite nice, it boasts three churches, and a nice town centre. There is a café, which is quite nice too! Following a couple of hours there, we boarded the boat ready for the 4 hour journey back to Ruedesheim.

So Tuesday then, our second day, although it should actually have been our first in Ruedesheim! We decided that the best way to complement our boat trip would be to take the car along one side of the river to look at the various places in more detail that we’d seen from the boat. We decided that, for financial reasons, we’d look at the places on our side of the river to start with. The first stop on the journey was a suburb of Ruedesheim called Assmanshausen. Assmanshausen (stop sniggering) is famous for the red wine produced there. There is also a chairlift up to the top of the hill overlooking the river between Ruedesheim and Assmanshausen. The actual area itself is quite quiet, i.e. dead, although we were there relatively early in the morning. After a short stroll around the quiet, err dead, streets of Assmanshausen, we headed off to the next place along the river, a place called Lorch. Lorch, again, isn’t much to shout about, but there is a former toll gate in the middle of the river designed to look like a boat there, which is worth a look. Following Lorch comes Lorchhausen, which as anyone who understands any German will recognise that Lorchhausen is just the houses of the town of Lorch. For this reason we felt little need to get out of the car here! The journey continued in a similar vein through Kaub, until we got to the Lorely Rock. The Lorely Rock is a place full of legend within German culture, with songs, poems, and stories having been written about it. The legend goes that some pretty woman jumped off the rocks, basically. Apparently. Following the Lorely Rocks, at the top of which there is a café/restaurant and nearby a few hotels, and a good view out across the Rhine, came Sankt Goarshausen, which was the houses of St. Goar. Above St. Goarshausen there are two castles, which were reputed to be the Feuding Brothers, but these days they are both restaurants, who (considerately) are closed on different days. Following the expedition along the Rhine, we began the two hour drive back to Ruedesheim along the side of the Rhine all the way.

Wednesday saw us taking the train to Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. Wiesbaden is the capital of the Federal State of Hessen, and somewhere I’d not visited on my year abroad, I decided it would be nice to pop in and have a nose, and I wanted to show Dad Frankfurt-am-Main, where I’d been a couple of times before. We got there using the train. We’d bought a Hessen-Ticket, which offers the same advantages as the Saarland-Pfalz one does for Saarland & Rheinland-Pfalz for Hessen. (unlimited travel on public transport for up to five people). On arrival in Wiesbaden I was immediately at a loss; there was a distinct lack of Tourist Information Office at or near the station. So, I asked a local at the nearby bus station, which was the best way to get to the city centre. They looked at me as if I’d just said I’d arrived from Mars and wanted to eat (not meet, that’s too standard) their leader. They mumbled something about any buses going that way, and verdammten tourists not knowing where to go! We did eventually find the city centre, which was substantially dug up and scaffolded. Once we’d finally got hold of a city map, we headed off to the Cathedral, had a look at the market, and another church, and then returned to the train station for our train to Frankfurt-am-Main. Frankfurt, as I shall call it (primarily to save my fingers effort), is the financial capital of Germany. It also holds the joint record for having the most skyscrapers in Europe (a record it shares with London). It does, however, boast a pleasant riverside foot/cycle path and a nice Old Town area, with a Cathedral and a couple of churches. After easily spending a few hours in Frankfurt, just walking round, taking it all in, we decided we ought to return to Ruedesheim on Deutsche Bahn’s faithful railway network. So we did!

Following Tuesday’s successful road-trip up our side of the Rhine, we decided we ought to bite the ferry-fare bullet and go up the other side. We started in Bingen, where the ferry runs to, which is quite a nice town, although nothing overly special. It does, however, have a church overlooking the river above some vineyards slightly outside of the town, which we found, I’m pleased to say, due to my wonderful and almost faultless sense of direction. (something which, during my year abroad, gained me the nickname Mapman!). From Bingen, we headed a little while further along the river to a place called Oberwesel. Oberwesel is very pretty indeed. It still has the majority of its old ramparts intact (although some have been restored). The old town itself is definitely worth a look, and we easily passed a couple of hours just walking around leisurely, enjoying the town and the views across the river, and naturally, partaking in a drink or two too! From Oberwesel, we headed off to Boppard to have a look at the Rheinschleife (bend in the Rhine), which I mentioned earlier. There is a panoramic restaurant overlooking the Rhine, which provides a real birds-eye-view over the river, which is definitely worth a look (and why not enjoy a couple of beers/coffees too?).

On Friday we decided to walk into Ruedesheim, partake in a little wine tasting (well, there wouldn’t be much point in coming to Germany’s most famous wine region without trying some, would there?), then walk around the town a bit, before looking at the museum of mechanical musical things (I tried to find something that began with ‘m’ to complete the alliteration, but I failed…sorry Miss Dowdle). We enjoyed the wine tasting and bought a few bottles to share with the others when they come over to join us! The museum of musical things was very interesting, especially as we’d slotted ourselves in amongst a group of American tourists who were being guided in English. This saved me the effort of translation! The afternoon was spent casually ambling round Ruedesheim before collecting our wine in the late afternoon on the way back to the site.

Saturday. We decided to take the train to Cologne (Koeln) and walk around there. The train journey itself was along the banks of the Rhine all the way (on both banks, as the railway line switches after Koblenz. In Cologne, I climbed the spire of the cathedral, which is cheap, but does require a lot of energy, stamina, determination and will-power. The views from the top though were nice, and just about justified the previous 3o minutes workout I’d experienced. Following the workout we (Dad, me and the two parrots, Kenny & Sydney) went on a noddy train around the old town, to see what there was there, really. After that, we wandered around a bit, had a pizza in the rain, and then walked back towards the train station, albeit at a very leisurely pace, along the banks of the Rhine, before beginning our scenic train ride back to Ruedesheim.

On Sunday I’d decided to show my Dad one of the more scenic places I’d been in Germany. Heidelberg. Heidelberg is located on the Neckar river, to the east of the big, and not overly pretty city, of Mannheim. It has a very pretty old town on both sides of the river, and a castle overlooking the town and river too. The castle is accessed either by foot, or by a funicular railway, which is quite an expensive way of getting there. By foot takes about 10 minutes up a steep incline. What is important though, is that you get yourself up to the castle, because on a clear day the views are fantastic, you can see the Mannheim skyline with ease, and the view over the older parts of the city are worth pictures too. There are always artists up there painting pictures to sell in the tourist stalls around the church down below in the old t0wn.

So, this really was the end of my time in Germany. It had finally come to an end. On the plus side, my French adventure was about to begin. I’d be going further south than before, on a 8 week caravan trip with two parrots. It was set to be exciting…and it was. More about that though, soon (ish)…honest.