The Fairy Tale Castles

I was joined for a week for by Ali and Doug. Once again Duesseldorf delivered in the form of Paul - who last visited Britain in 1983 - who was determined to show us how Wunberbar the place was. Mostly we drank the delicious dark local beer which was served in small glasses continuously filled throughout the night and towards the messy end of the night one or two Jägermeisters.

The very first hills of the route apear as you hit Bonn but it is not until Koblenz they hit you. Upon arrival, we were directed to the what must be one of the most surreal hostels on the world. Deep inside a fortress and pearched on a cliff over the gateways to the Mossel and upper Middle Rhine valley it was so vast that it had been near impregnable throughout history.

However increadible it was sitting in such a location watching the sunlight bring the surrounding landscape to life through to the awakening of shimmering lights of Koblenz at our feet, the experience was augmented by the presence of two characters. They were trevel workers who dressed in traditional dress every day carried carpenting tools and changes of clothing in a small cloth satchel. One of them, Jonnas, shared with us their idea of, as a right of passage, they had to travel and work, anywhere in the world, without once returning home for three years.

Koblenz signaled the start of a new Germany with a pace closer to what you might expect in the Mediteranean. Travelled down the streach to Weisbaden along the slim river banks and along the cliffs which had been carved out by the river by many forms of transport. The boats offered a fantastic view of the numberous castles over looking this historic conflict zone. By treaking along the Rhinestag we were taken through villages perched on cliffs with restaurants serving up the finest local game, up long steep paths to the castels them selves and the highest point over looking the Rhine before the Alps where the water until recently was far too trecherous to navigate - Lorely the mythical place of the sirens.

We passed through vinyards on the slopes, which provide the grapes for the Northern most wine growing region in Europe, then decended upon the village of Kobb on the banks of the Rhine where there was a 500 year old wine bar which served the wine from the very vinyards that we had trecked through in clay glasses. The wine we tried was amongst the most delicious I have ever tried - although it was dry, it had the flavour of elderflours and mapel syrop and glowed all the way down the throat.