Lahn Cycle Path: From Limburg to Koblenz

Friday, 5th June 2020

This morning we had a luxurious and extensive breakfast at the pizzeria from last night. At the next table sat a strange combination of unsympathetic people who talked so loudly that everyone involuntarily became a witness to their conversation. The breakfast itself had everything, even melons!

Then we fetched our bikes from the cellar and first made our way to the post office to throw in the postcard for grandma and grandpa. After that, we searched for the start of today's stage. That was not so easy because fire hoses blocked the path. Apparently, water was being pumped from the Lahn. Past an old mill wheel and the back of the Limburg Cathedral (which stood directly on a rock), we finally headed towards Lahnstein.

Relatively soon, in Diez, it went uphill for the first time and we more or less cycled through the town before cycling along the edge of the forest on the other side of the Lahn and enjoyed the view of the Lahn valley. Again and again we saw beautiful castles, palaces, churches, and monasteries on all slopes. They were quite numerous and high by now. Everything was wooded and - as mom noticed - just like at home, practically all spruce trees were dry.

In Geilnau, the path split. The main path would have been very steep, but the signposted alternative was also steep. That's why Mom and I wanted to take an explicitly forbidden variant. Then the older couple from yesterday came towards us. TOWARDS US! That confused us a lot. Nevertheless, we stuck to our plan and rode into the valley. Then we rode on the 'impassable' path. It was a dirt path right next to the wild Lahn. Very beautiful! Once the slope had actually come down, we had to push our bikes over it. But otherwise, everything was easily passable even with normal bicycles.

In Laurenburg, we met the main route again: it continued close to the road and the Lahn until Oberhof, where we had to tackle a very steep climb up to a monastery. From then on, we went up and down with a great view of the Lahn. Especially Mom was exhausted. But everything was very quiet and peaceful and natural.

In Nassau, we had lunch at the marketplace. Right next to a very busy butcher shop, where Mom bought Leberkäs and Fleischpflanzerl semmel (which had a different name there). And because there was also a fruit shop right behind it, I bought fresh strawberries. But as time went on, it got quite chilly and we soon continued our journey.

In Dausenau, we accidentally went into the village and saw the old town center with town hall and crooked tower. Then we continued to Bad Ems. It is really an impressive spa town with white buildings and an oversized pedestrian bridge. The spa building was huge, it even had its own concert hall.

Then it became less rural, we passed numerous campsites, etc. It started raining and we approached the end of the Lahn, which finally flows into the Rhine near Lahnstein. In the rain, we cycled along a very urban part of the Rhine. It wasn't really nice.

We finally reached the Koblenz city center in drizzling rain via a bridge. We pushed our bikes for a bit, but compared to the previous small towns, Koblenz was a bit disappointing. While standing, we treated ourselves to a coffee and crepes. And then we went in search of the tourist information. In a very large, modern building, we finally found it. There we booked our accommodation, which we immediately looked for because it was pouring rain. By the time we reached our room, we were soaking wet. We took a shower and waited for better weather, but it rained incessantly. When the rain finally stopped around 6 o'clock, we visited the German Corner and the Rhine promenade. That was really beautiful and impressive. After that, we had a delicious dinner at the German Corner. Then our day ended soon.

Stage: From Limburg to Koblenz

Distance traveled: 72 km

Weather: cloudy with drizzling rain, high humidity, and partly windy