Day 90: Long and Winding Road

Date: Thursday 26^th June
Staying: Camping ???!!!???
Distance Travelled: 196.9 Miles
Song of the day: The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles

I will have to admit to the mistake today. It was a genuine mistake though. We decided that we would stop off in Baden-Baden on the way to Koblenz, and there was a road that headed there from where we were. It turns out, however, that this road is not suitable for long vehicles, or short vehicles that are heavy, or anything other than a 4 wheel drive, or motorbike. Anyway we persevered, more fool us.

As it would have been quicker to drive the long way round, we had wasted most of the time we were gong to spend in Baden-Baden. We pulled up determined to see something of the place, and proceeded to spend 30-45 minutes trying to find a parking space. At this stage we really starting to feel defeated and realised we just weren’t suppose to see Baden-Baden, so we left.

The highlight of the day was to come however. Our end goal today was the Rhine Valley town of Koblenz, which sits at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. We came off the motorway just west of Mainz, and spent the next hour plus driving through some stunning scenery. It was like every outcrop had a castle hanging from it, with field after field of vineyards acting as the subjects. It was a truly stunning place. After a brief stop in Bacharach, a small village nestled beneath a castle, we headed for Koblenz.

We seemed to hit the jackpot in Koblenz. We had seen that there was a campsite in the city, but we didn’t have directions to it. As we had passed a lot of sites on the way, we knew we could find somewhere, but we wanted to be in Koblenz. We made a wrong turn early on, and had given up and were heading back to the motorway, when we saw the sign to the site. Turns out we got off 1 stop too soon. And the site was excellent. It was right on the join of the rivers, over looking the massive memorial to one of the Kaiser Wilhelms. We lucked out.