GERMANY - A Breath of Fresh Air

This trip has been quite urban so I thought that it was about time I did a bit of hiking so have travelled into the Rhine Valley just south of Bonn.

The Rheinsteig is a long distance footpath following the right bank of the River Rhine all the way from Mainz to Bonn. It involves a lot of climbing up from riverside villages to high view points then coming down and going up again. Fortunately there are also foot and cycle paths at river level on both banks so you can mix and match,

I therefore followed the Rheinsteig from Linz am Rhein to Unkel then walked along the river bank to Rhoendorf before climbing up the Drachenfel before the descent into Koenigswinter.

Here are some photos

Linz am Rhein is a typical Rhineland town with traditional buildings

Did you know that these signs are placed at 2 kilometre intervals along the river so you can track the distance

The black pillars are what remains of the famous railway bridge at Remagen

There are car ferries across the river

And vines on the slopes - the grapes appear quite small this year

Looking south from Drachenfel

Looking north towards Bonn from Drachenfel