Over 55 Cycling Club's first group ride in EuropeAmsterdam (Netherlands) to Miltenberg-am-Mein (Germany)Eurosail bargeAlluré,15-29 June 2013 (www.eurosailtravel.com)Report by Robin Garbutt

Twenty lucky and excited members of our Club spent 13 days cycling upstream alongside the mighty Rhine/Rhein River, while our "bed, bathroom,and dining room" in the form of converted barge Alluré sailed against the current. Because of unusually late and heavy rains in Europe, wecyclists sometimes passed the struggling Alluré but, in the process, we were often cold and wet during the first few days - thank goodness for verywelcome hot showers on board.

Roelie was our guide, who spruiked snippets of history when stopped at cultural highlights, during easy daily rides of up to 60 kms, including acoffee stop (of course!) which was often in towns 700 years old, and a picnic with our selfie lunch roll made at breakfast time.

After windmills and the productive fields of the Netherlands we passed Germany's heavy industry Ruhr area (we even lunched alfresco at aMcDonalds!). Cosmopolitan Dusseldorf has 20% foreigners and good dark beer and, like most European cities, it has a restored and wellmaintained old town/aldstadt which we usually had time to explore. Two cities founded by the Romans - Cologne/Koln has a magnificent cathedralright on the river, and Bonn was the national capital from 1945 until reunification in 1989. It was at this cycling stage that heavy rain forced us totake shelter in a church vestibule, where our Alan led a merry dance to get us warm again!

Cycling towards Koblenz the scenery became more hilly and dotted with castles, fortresses, vineyards, and picturesque old villages - the city itselfis at the confluence of the Rhein and the Moselle/Mosel Rivers and was a good opportunity for our day of rest to take the cable car and wanderaround the huge Stolzenfels castle, or cycle along the Mosel.

From Koblenz, the World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley becomes even more narrow and dangerous for sailors, and includes the site of thefamous Loreley/Lorelei lookout, which our group either cycled or walked up to for the spectacular view. Back at river level, we saw more Romanand Middle Ages towns squeezed between cliffs, a railway, and the river, until we reached rolling hills of vineyards, orchards, and horticulture.

Rudesheim has attractive half-timbered houses, but the old town retail area is now very touristy. At Mainz we cycled/sailed along the Main River toFrankfurt-am-Main, one of the few European cities with many modern skyscrapers forming its skyline. Our overnight stop at Aschaffenburg, with itsdominant, Renaissance Johannisburg Palace, was preceded by our barge's embarrassing running aground on a sandbank, from which a tugboattook four hours to remove the Alluré (fortunately we tourists had previously arrived at the town by bike, but we did have a late dinner!). En route toour final destination of Miltenberg, naturally we stopped for a tasting or two of local wines, to supplement the wines etc. that we were alreadyconsuming on board with dinner.

This trip was fantastic value for money, inclusive of the 625 km cycling route and the culture, the bunk rooms with ensuite, bike and helmet, allmeals and 4-star dinners and, above all, wonderful companions. To add to that, because we Aussies have to travel so far to get to Europe, manyof our group also toured in other countries, either before or after the barge trip, several having cycled 1,000 kms or more - no wonder Aussies aregreat travellers.

Great organisation by Nola Watkins and John Yeates - thank you so much from everyone.

Bike and Barge Trip 2013

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All photos copyright Robin Garbutt, 2013

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