174. Europe Bicycle Trip--Angel Dieter Joins Me For The Afternoon

After leaving Mainz, I was back out in the countryside.

I passed a long road full of community garden plots and I stopped to photograph this one that had lots of flowers. I continued on and eventually came to construction for several highways crisscrossing each other. After I walked Silver up an embankment to avoid the construction and started down a road that I thought was the right way, I met Dieter Delen who was out for his daily bicycle ride. He does not speak very much English but when I told him that I wanted to go in the direction of Bacharach, he indicated that I was going the wrong way. The circular area of construction had mixed me up. He offered to lead me the correct way and that is how I found myself going full circle past the community gardens again and then he took me in the correct direction where i had made a wrong turn before by reading a sign incorrectly. . He offered to keep riding with me for a while.

My angel for today, Dieter, wanted to ride most of the afternoon with me.

We were up above the Rhine for this section.

The bridge of the bicycle path goes over an area with a pump. The path is on a dike.

That town could be Schierstein across the river from Budenheim.

Dieter is a smoker and we stopped here for a break. I was glad to stop because it was after lunch and I needed to eat some food and go to the bush bathroom. Looking over the river at Geisenheim.

Selfie

Before we left this nice spot, a big tour barge went by on the Rhine.

I think that Dieter was enjoying having some company for his ride today.

The Hindenburg Bridge was a railway bridge over the Rhine between Rudesheim in the German state of Hesse and Bingen-Kempten state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was named in 1918 after Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, later German President. The bridge was put in service in 1915, destroyed in the Second World War and never rebuilt.

Hotel Kloster Johannisberg in quiet surroundings of vineyards between Geisenheim and Rudesheim

Going under the former railway bridge. We bicycled into Bingen to a gas station and bought a cold drink and came back to the bridge for a break.

This is Assmannshausen across the Rhine River. The hillsides are dotted with vineyards.

A tour boat passing by |Assmannshausen..A close up of this photo shows the words Assmannnshausen Hollenberg on the hillside on the left top of photo. This is Germany's Rheingau wine region known for its production of red spatburgunder (pinot noir)  wine from the steep quartzite-rich soil The finest vineyard is Hollenberg..

Burg Rheinstein is a castle near the town of Trechtingshausen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The castle was constructed in about 1316/1317. It was important for its strategic location. By 1344 , the castle was in decline. By the time of the Palatine War of Succession, the castle was very dilapidated. During the romantic  period, in the 19th century, Prince Frederick of Prussia n(1794-1863) , bought the castle and had it rebuilt. From 1975, the castle has been owned by the Hecher family.

Clemenskapelle in Trechtingshausen

Dieter and I stopped at a bench near Marienort Campingplatz. We had had a great day together. He was going to bicycle back to Bingen and take the ferry across the river to Rudesheim and then bicycle back to his home in Kassel. He sure does a lot of distance every day. We hugged each other goodbye. At this same stop, I met a couple from the Netherlands who were camped farther north where I was headed. We had a nice chat and I said I would look them up in the evening. 

Burg Reichenstein was the original name of Burg Rheinstein. It is situated on a rocky ridge and rises 270 feet above the Rhine in the Loreley Valley. The castle was renamed when it was rebuilt. It was renamed Burg Rheinstein because of its imposing rocky loocation above the Rhine River.

Goodbye and thank you to my new friend, Dieter.  He has brought me to castle country.

Closeup.  Too bad that there are hydro wires in the way.

I continued cycling on enjoying the view of the barges and tour boats going along the river and the hills with vineyards going up on each side of the mighty river.