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
Tag: Rhine
Rheinsteig: SanktGoarshausen to Wiesbaden
Camping South of Lorch, we did the rest from this long-distant path. The most ‘romantic’ one – following the gorge the Rhine has dug in the high terrain that now form Eiffel, Hunsruck, Westerwald and Taunus. An area of castles, slopes that are both wooded or planted with vineyards – though the steepest have been abandoned because viniculture did become too expensive to make a living.
An area, too, that has known it’s hard times bwteen the wars – especially the area between Kaub and Lorch, know as “Freistaat Flashenhals” – a narrow no-one’s land between the American and French zones in the inter-bellum Germany. Completely isolated form the rest of Germany, where smuggling became a necessity to survive. Until the French marched in, against all treaties, and had to move out after dispute on this occupation; no wonder that the people in this area are not fond of French – expect when tourists.
There are two different landscapes in this whole walk
The first tracks – leadingNorth to South, run almost above the Rhine, at times more, but within a hundred meters sideways; you always have a view on the river, if the woods and vineyards open for a while; Narrow, your view either blocked by the opposite bank, rising up and give way to high grounds, and narrow gullies leading small streams into the river; villages on the open top, and small towns squeezed between the river and the slopes. And fortress-like castles to control the area.
The second part, mainly running West to East, run on lower altitudes, and a greater distance from the river. It’s a very open landscape, with large areas of grape and other fruit; On the verges of the Rheingauer mountains, the river glances in the distance, a kilometer or more way, and hundres of meters wide. Where in the gorge islands are scarce, side streams meander along long-stretched islands. This is teh area of large agglomerations – Bingen, Wiesbaden and Mainz, with Frankfurt’s office buildings clearly in sight.
Of course, there is much to see. And as usual, the tracks are available in Garmin, general and CVS formats; the page offers a link to a download page.