We left Schluchsee on Wednesday morning a little before 09:00 in preparation for a 230 mile trip North to the Rhine. The traffic was busy, there were lots of roadworks and we didn’t arrive until sometime after 4pm. We are staying for a few weeks at Camping Loreleystadt in St Goarhausen, between, Rudesheim and Koblenz.

The site is quiet and we have a large pitch overlooking the Rhine.

There is stunning scenery here but the Rhine river and valley is very much a “working” river. Enormous barges are sailing past constantly and a railway line hugs each side of the river edge, as well as roads and cycle paths.

On Friday we headed down the east bank of the Rhine as far as the town of Lorch, where there is a ferry across to the west bank. We arrived first at a causeway on the river, where we were greeted by a 3.3m tall bronze female statue which watches the ships travelling up and down the waterway. She shares her name with the 132m high rock – Loreley. The site of this rock and the curve in the Rhine has destroyed an untold number of ships, including in 2011, the capsizing of a barge carrying 2,400 tons of Sulphuric acid.

Crossing the river at Lorch (the ferry was 3.3 Euros each which included passenger and bicycle) we then headed north to St Goar.

We passed Pfalzgrafenstein Castle which is a toll castle on Falkenau island, otherwise known as Pfalz Island near Kaub. The castle functioned as a toll-collecting station that was not to be ignored. It worked in concert with Gutenfels Castle and the fortified town of Kaub on the right side of the river.

On reaching St Goar, we enjoyed some refreshments and watched the first half of the Euros football match between Spain and Germany, which Spain won 2-1 aet. We then crossed back to our side of the river and ate at one of the local retaurants.

Some more pictures from our ride.