I know…. I missed posting this last night. I was going to write it and, well, after chatting with Gretchen, my wife, via internet, I literally fell asleep! My iPhone fell out of my hand and I woke up at midnight to get under the covers and sleep till 730 am. It was good!!! A long ride in hot weather…. and a Bier or two… well, sleep came easy. Here’s yesterday’s recap!

After a good, albeit warm, sleep, we headed from Worms to Hattersheim. Why warm you ask? Well, Dear Reader, it was a hot and sunny day and, like many places in Europe and Germany, air conditioning is not found. The hotel was very nice but a fan, at minimum, would have made it that much better.

The first thing on our agenda was to cross the Rhine to begin our ride on the Right Bank today.

This is the Nibelungenbrücke which was kept when they built this brand new bridge. It’s quite a nice landmark! And looking back on the left bank of the river….

Our hotel from last night sits there, tucked in the trees. Alten Ruderhaus is a nice place with a nice patio/restaurant.

Once crossing the Rhine, we turned left and keeping the Rhine now on our Left, we headed north. It was a nice day of riding with a couple of refueling stops enroute. The trail was pretty much the same as the previous day… flat and serpentine. And we even saw our first snake…. a small guy slithering across the trail.

All looked like smooth sailing the first few miles but, as normal, there was a catch. First, about 4 miles in, was a detour around a what we later figured was a decommissioned Nuclear Plant. Germany is transitioning away from Nuclear Power to Solar and Wind. while we thought we were being directed way out of our way, we actually ended up saving a few miles. But that time savings was soon to be lost when, at 7 miles, I had a rear flat. That ate up about 15 minutes or so.

We continued on after the flat on the trails like previous days…

This was an attractive stretch…. love looking at the fields!

Our next stop was literally our next stop! We rolled past a number of Stork nests where I had to stop to get pictures…

There are loads of Storks to be seen in this region…. in fields eating, soaring overhead or, like this one, in one of their huge nests. This one was tending the chicks.

We then stopped for our first fueling at a bakery where we got coffee and a couple of Schneckens….. I love Nathan Lane’s character Albert Goldman in “The Birdcage” when he says “When the Schnecken beckons”. I’ve probably said that at least once before in this blog but it’s a classic line and I always chuckle at that when I have one on our stops!

As we continued on, the day got hotter, the headwind got stiffer, and our desire to get to the Main River grew stronger. We had to cross the river at Gustavsburg to then follow the Main River to our overnight in Hattersheim.

But before we crossed, we found a nice little restaurant to get some water (always Sprudelwasser), have a Radler (Bier and Lemon soda) and a plate of Pommes Frites.

We finished the second refueling stop and headed across the five to do the last 12 miles in familiar territory… this is the end stretch of our Main River Cycling tour so we know it well. We got to the hotel about 3:30 and settled in with a Radler before cleaning up for the evening meal.

We went a short distance to a nice restaurant by the river where we could sit outdoors and enjoy what was now a cool breeze. And the Schnitzel was good too!!

Tomorrow is our rest day to soothe our sore muscles. We have 770 km left to ride, after having done 625 km so far… 1395 km total (866 miles). The only good thing is that with the exception of 4 hills, the rest of the ride is downhill!!!

Tomorrow (Thursday)…. after our day of rest….on we go to Koblenz. We’ll pass some major items…The Loreley and Castles!!