The Rheinsteig passes the Eastern banks of the Rhine, between Bonn and Wiesbaden, altogether about 270 kilometers. We’ve done the part between Braubach – South of Koblenz – and Wiesbaden in previous years (Fall 2007 we did Braubach to Sankt-Goarshausen and in September 2008 we covered Sankt-Goarshausen to Wiesbaden). So this year we started the Northern part, from Bonn to Braubach. We only had five days to walk – we made it to Rheinbohl, North of Neuwied. These walks passes most of the Siebengebirge, that is mostly covered with woods. More to the south, the flat lands on top are open, and the slopes to the Rhine may have been covered with vineyards – if not abandoned.
We camped on a site in Bad Hoennigen – the only one we could locate in a reasonable distance of the path – but since all walks would start and end in a city having a railway station, we could do with a drive to the destination station, travelled by train to the start of the daily walk, and walked back to the car. It meant a ascent from, and descent to the station, that you had to do the other way the next day – at times short and steep, at times shallow but over a long way. Except for one, all walk were under 20 kilometers, but each looked well over due to the profile: going up and down almost all the way. In all, we did about 80 kilometers in those five days.
These are my impressions and tracks