Five Rivers

Legend

Main
Main-Danube canal
Rhine
Danube
Moselle

Cochem, Germany ‐ Sep 18, 2025
Day 1: Moselle: Cochem to Koblenz ‐ Sep 2, 2025

53.5 km

↗️ 170.8 m First day of our “Five Rivers” cycle trip with Anna and friends Ruth & Masoud. Moselle, Rhine, Main, Main-Danube canal/Altmuhle, Danube. Masoud discovered that he had forgotten the key for Ruth’s e-bike battery. 🫢. This would cause difficulty charging as the battery would need charging whilst attached to the bike instead of being brought into a hotel room. Fortunately I had a suitable “star” shaped Allen key which removed part of the lock and we could now remove the [...]
battery. 😮‍💨. Today we started from Koblenz and we took the train up the Moselle valley to Cochem, then cycled back down the river to Koblenz. The train had 10 bikes where we were and a similar number at the other end. All cycle tourers with panniers. Lunch at a cute half-timbered town in an Italian restaurant which only served Italian wine 😱 - on the Moselle which is a premier wine growing area 😳. Perfect cycling weather. Wind blowing with us. Never seen so many other cyclists. Frequent groups going in the opposite direction meant extreme care on the narrow two-way cycle route. 95% on e-bikes, sit up and beg. All look to be retirees enjoying a day cycling in everyday clothes. Koblenz heaving with e-bikes with panniers. I discovered a hole in the side wall of my tyre and the inner tube was bulging out. Ooops 😳. The largest bike shop I’ve visited offered a choice for my unusual 27.5” tyre size. Phew. We had a bottle of wine where the Moselle joins the Rhine. Who knew that German bottles of wine are 1 litre 🫠. Too late to cycle to our hotel, so we had more wine, then dinner in the Old Town. And then cycled to our hotel. Masoud offered us home made apricots in Campari. Which turns out to be a great combination 😋. New tyre fitted more easily than I had feared.

+14
Day 2: Rhine: Koblenz to Bacharach ‐ Sep 3, 2025

55.9 km

↗️ 121.6 m Day 2 of our five rivers cycle ride. This part of the Rhine is a World Heritage site area. Bendy river, castles, churches and cute half-timbered medieval towns and villages. Legends eg Lorelei. Artists: this is also the “William Turner Route” as he visited here and painted many watercolours of river and castles etc. Tarmac off-road cycle path the whole way. Lots of e-bike tourists along the way. We started off with a faff over finding (cheap) long-stay parking. We opted for t [...]
he free park n’ride. Massive. Space for a van with a Blue Badge (Masoud) but not otherwise. So back to the hotel car park. Not cheap but not as expensive as municipal car parks. The receptionist refused to let us pay. Instead pulled out some magical traffic cones with a flashing light on top and marched into the road, marshalling traffic and cleared a free on-street space for me 😍😍😍. Amazing lady. More faff as Ruth’s suspension seat post had unscrewed and the spring had thrust the seat post down into the seat tube. Well greased, it defied attempts to wiggle it up and out. Much palaver and it was eventually retrieved and attached firmly to the seat. So off we went, but today cycling into a strong head wind 😮‍💨. Overcast and grey so photos look a bit, well - grey. Lovely lunch stop by the river. Poked into various cute villages. Dodged crowds disembarking from massive river cruise liners. Arrived at a particularly beautiful half-timbered medieval town with castle, ruined gothic church and multiple hotels and restaurants. Local Reisling led onto dinner in a lovely courtyard winery and restaurant 🥰.

+23
Day 3: Rhine: Bacharach to Mainz ‐ Sep 4, 2025

50.1 km

↗️ 105.9 m Day 3 of our five rivers tour (Moselle, Rhine, Main, Main-Danube canal/Altmuhl, Danube. Our hotel was a self-check-in with keys in a box outside. However breakfast was fully staffed and particularly good. (eg easy to snaffle a generous packed lunch 🫢). We marvelled again at the pretty architecture of Bacharach before setting off on the concrete brick paver cycle path. Mildly cobbled street feel to it. I had discovered that the downloaded GPX track had been corrupted and after a [...]
few km suddenly leapt in a straight line to a point much further away on the other side of the Rhine. The path is fortunately well sign posted but requires you to have eyes all round all the time to spot the small signs. Anyway I downloaded another version. But discovered that the village on the other side that the corrupted route flew us over was in fact a major destination for river cruise liners. There was a small car ferry over so we deviated to discover what made this town sooooo popular. It’s a complete stage set for the perfect Rhine-land medieval town. When the tour groups pass down the streets, its backs to the wall. We discovered a stall selling “new wine”. Basically half-fermented grape juice. Tastes like grape juice until you stand up to leave 🫠. €10 for a litre 🍾. Feeling mildly claustrophobic due to too many people we pedalled off to a picnic spot and enjoyed our “packed lunch” topped up with a Persian aubergine delicacy and fresh walnuts. Against expectation it started to spot with rain 🌧️. Waterproof jackets on. Ferry back to the original side, spotting turned to rain. So took shelter in a beer garden with refreshments 🍻. This cleverly sorted the rain and a bit of sun came out. Final push into Mainz on some great off road urban cycle routes to our hotel by the Rhine.

+13
Day 4: Main: Mainz to Frankfurt ‐ Sep 5, 2025

50.1 km

↗️ 120.9 m Day 4 of our five rivers cycle trip. We leave the Rhine and go up the Main for the next few days. We’ve only got 40km today so we did a cultural tour of the old town of Mainz before we set off and then a cultural tour of the old town in Frankfurt on arrival. Breakfast was on the 6th floor with impressive views over the Rhine. We headed off to a World Heritage site in Mainz: an ancient Jewish cemetery. Mainz had been a cradle of Jewish culture in Europe. The cemetery is now under [...]
surveillance and closed to visitors…. Next up was the ruined remains of St Christopher’s church. 80% of the old town had been destroyed in bombing in WW2. The ruins have been maintained as a memorial to those killed in the air raids. The parliament of the former Rhineland state has been beautifully restored as have many “ancient” buildings. Gutenberg (printed the bible) is celebrated with his own museum. More churches and town wall towers. Then off through parkland and picnic spots on the way to Frankfurt. Early stop for sparkling wine and food we had just purchased at a market in the old renaissance market place. Arriving by bike into Frankfurt was a pleasure riding along the scenic waterfront past its skyscrapers and then we crossed into the old town. A bottle of local Frankfurter Kabinett wine was well received. This old town had also been almost entirely destroyed by bombing. You wouldn’t know it today. Stunning architecture in the square where we relaxed. Short trip to the cathedral. The lobby has an aerial photo of the burnt out shell of the cathedral in a sea of rubble. No buildings intact in the city centre. But what an impressive restoration. Someone was practicing the organ. This is a modern design with collections of pipes in two different locations which created an immersive and visceral sound. Short trip across the river to a quaint quarter with cobbled streets, restaurants and our hotel.

+24
Day 5: Main: Frankfurt to Klingenburg ‐ Sep 6, 2025

82.3 km

↗️ 118.9 m Day 5 of our five rivers tour. Setting off from Frankfurt along the Main cycle route - the German cycling organisation has rated this as five star because it is 90% paved, off road and almost all has the width of a country road. And it’s soooo busy with cyclists. I’ve never been cut up by a white haired granny by (e-)bike before - buzzing past me with a wooosh. Friday night in Frankfurt is party night, certainly until 4am in the trendy part of town where our hotel was. Fantast [...]
ic cooked breakfast by the couple who own this hotel. We set off early as we had a longer day (for us). Ruth had left her waterproof drying in a hotel room, so when we came upon a car-boot sale by the cycle track (as much a cycle-trailer sale) she was able to replace this essential bit of kit. Although we are having the most perfect cycling weather at the moment. Lunch at what is described as one of Germany’s oldest towns. Another picture perfect half-timbered old town with farmer’s market in the main square. Idyllic place for lunch. Anyway, onwards past an amazing Renaissance palace (we didn’t stop) and on to a small town with a castle above it. Dinner tonight broke a habit of schnitzels as we ate at an Indian. Another pretty town dominated by a floodlit castle.

+15
Day 6: Main: Klingenberg to Marktheidenfeld ‐ Sep 7, 2025

72.9 km

↗️ 247.2 m Day 6 of our five rivers cycle ride. Today we cycle from one small town to another - stopping for lunch at another picture perfect half-timbered medieval village. There is a “half-timbered village” cycle route, a vineyard cycle route, and a “Roman Empire frontier” cycle route. They’re all the same cycle route at the moment. And we’re doing it. The cycle route is off road, beautifully surfaced with tarmac, as wide as a road and has e-bike charging points, and cyclists s [...]
ervice stations (toilets, baby changing facilities, water, charging, repairs). Graded 5 star by the German cycling association. It’s very well used - mostly by people on e-bikes. Stream of traffic in both directions. Weather is perfect. Basically super easy cycling and a great lunch stop at Wertheim complete with half-timbered market place and castle. On our arrival at our hotel in Marktheidenfeld, there was an excited reception for us. The family owned hotel is run by a Family Lipp! An extended family group had gathered for a long Sunday family lunch and warmly welcomed us on arrival 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹. Lots of introductions. Apparently, I look like a Lipp! We enjoyed the local white wine and a welcome fruit tart/cake. Dinner next door at an Italian. Our rooms overlook the river.

+5
Day 7: Main: Marktheidenfeld to Würzburg ‐ Sep 8, 2025

77.7 km

↗️ 195.5 m Day 7 of our five rivers cycle ride. Last evening we sat outside by the river in the sun and enjoyed an Italian meal. Whilst we were reflecting on our hosts being the Lipp Family, it turned out that the Italian restaurant next door was owned and run by Iranians. So Masoud chatted and got to know some of the staff. In the morning Anna bought some wool for crocheting with Masoud. We made an early start and finished 50km in time for lunch at another historic picture perfect half-timb [...]
ered market place. This one was distinguished by a long trumpet solo at 2pm. Unsure who was playing this, we discovered that it was likely a mechanical instrument behind a statue at the peak of the gabling of the town hall. The statue moved its hand up to hold a model trumpet to its lip. Fiendish. Ruth - who didn’t have her contact lenses in - applauded the musician for his rendition, not realising its was a clever mechanical device. After lunch we made good progress to Würzburg. It started to spot with rain. Nothing heavy. But rain jackets on and off during the afternoon. We entered by a spectacular bridge similar to Charles Bridge in Prague. Würzburg has a massive Baroque palace just off the main square. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. The entire old town and beautiful palace was destroyed in a 17 minute bombing raid and firestorm in the Second World War. British bombers. 5,000 dead. The intention was to destroy something beautiful to break the morale of the inhabitants. They’ve been rebuilding the palace and old town ever since. 😬. Dinner at a brewery beer hall.

+5
Day 8: Main: Würzburg to Wipfeld ‐ Sep 9, 2025

81.9 km

↗️ 242.9 m Day 8 of our five rivers cycle ride. We ate out last night at a beer hall and chose a regional specialty. In this case, roasted pork shoulder complete with “pork scratchings”. Tasty enough. The next day we viewed the rose garden by the World Heritage site Baroque palace. Then cycled through the circular park that circumnavigates the old town. Off along the river path again. Fewer other cyclists. More vineyards. Lunch at (another) pretty marketplace. This time in a Konditerei ( [...]
cake shop). Today’s special was a plum cake - the diameter of which was about 60cm (like a massive pizza) so the slices were “generous”. I ordered two wurst and was surprised to be served sausage meat in two jars 😳. As we finished lunch, it began to rain properly. So into wet weather gear. We immediately managed to miss the cycle route along the road and bumped along an unexpectedly non-tarmac river track. Now very muddy and full of puddles. After a while, Masoud realised that one of his panniers was missing so turned back to look for it in the pouring rain and mud. We sheltered under a bridge which weirdly had a “Portaloo” in perfect condition, possibly for SUP users. Once re-convened, we splashed off in the rain through plentiful vineyards and villages full of wineries. The rain stopped after a couple of hours and we arrived at a small ferry that crossed the river. A few km later we arrived at our guest house B&B. I had made the booking on the phone with the old lady who owns it. She speaks no English and I, negligible German. I wasn’t even sure I had made a booking. Not a lot of choice in this tiny village. Makes Stoke Holy Cross look big. Anyway, all was good. Early supper down the road at a GastStube where we spotted King Charles eating supper at the next table. Obviously keeping a low profile. 😜

+8
Day 9: Main: Wipfeld to Bamberg ‐ Sep 10, 2025

77.4 km

↗️ 238.6 m Day 9 of our river rivers cycle ride. This is our last day on the River Main before we branch off along the Main-Danube canal which crosses the “European Watershed”. From this point, water drains into the Black Sea as opposed to the North Sea (at Rotterdam). Our host at our B&B - Frau Hildegard - laid on a great breakfast. She encouraged us to make a packed lunch - providing lunch bags too. We set off in cool grey weather so we wore our fleeces. The Main breaks up into differe [...]
nt channels and lakes with the main channel for shipping somewhat canalised with locks. The villages are somewhat less half-timbered, but as we approach Bamberg - famous for its large number of beers - villages had breweries rather than wineries. We had our picnic outside then enjoyed cakes at a konditerei. Sadly after this, it started to spot with rain and this only got worse as the afternoon progressed. Staying in a posh Ibis hotel in Bamberg. This town is a World Heritage site for its old town. “One of Germany’s most beautiful cities”. Seemingly we only managed to bomb “4.4%” of the city during the war 😬. So we went to inspect the 96%. And it is very pretty. We went to a beer hall which is famous for its smoky flavoured beer. It comes from drying the malt over a smoky fire. And we ate more regional specialties- in today’s case, a large onion stuffed with minced pork and bacon with a Smokey beer gravy. Very tasty. It’s also very sociable in these beer halls.

+11
Day 10: Main-Danube canal: Bamberg to Nuremberg ‐ Sep 11, 2025

67.4 km

↗️ 201.1 m Day 10 of our five rivers cycle ride (Moselle, Rhine, Main, Main-Danube canal, Danube) Today we set off along the new Main-Danube canal - completed 1992. This is something of a motorway among canals, straight and wide and not particularly scenic. It was built to take modern sea-going vessels from the North Sea to the Black Sea. It rained briefly during the morning and we stopped to put on/take off our waterproofs a couple of times. After lunch in a very ordinary modern shopping pr [...]
ecinct (no *historic* market place today) our route switched us to the original River Pegnitz which followed a delightful route past storks and an elongated city park into the old town in Nuremberg. We sampled the local white on arrival and the red over dinner. More local specialties including Nuremberg sausages. Another beautiful city by night. The floodlighting brings out the best in the architecture.

+11
Day 11: Ludwig Main-Danube canal: Nuremberg to Berching ‐ Sep 12, 2025

74.1 km

↗️ 252.1 m Day 11 of our five rivers cycle ride. Today our route takes us along the old 1839 “Ludwig” canal named after the Bavarian king. This is a canal as we know it in England. In other stretches it has been replaced by the wide straight modern canal for sea-going ships. But we started off by walking around Nuremberg’s fairy tale Imperial Castle (lots of heritage from the Holy Roman Empire). Then we viewed the Nazi Parade Ground stadium complex where the Nuremberg rallies were held [...]
. Then off along the most delightful canal towpath. Gravel track, so a little harder going and slower. Lunch in a convenient Trattoria. But still 50km after lunch which felt like quite a long way. Photos taken at the highest point of the canal as we crossed the European Watershed. We were relieved to arrive at the pretty town of Berching. One of only four in Germany with complete intact town walls. Local white wine and roast pork or ox cheek for supper

+15
Day 12: Main-Danube canal: Berching to Kelheim ‐ Sep 13, 2025

57.1 km

↗️ 227.9 m Day 12 of our five rivers cycle ride. Today our route follows the Altmühl valley and river, but actually switches between remnants of the old 1840 Ludwig canal, the Altmühl river and the new Main-Danube canal. And instead of the perfect purpose built tarmac cycle route along the River Main, today we use a route stitched together from canal towpaths, forest trails, footpaths, gravel tracks and quiet country roads. Just like a UK “cycle route”. The destination is Kelheim which [...]
is where we meet the Danube 🎈. Anna and Alistair have already cycled along the Danube and this ride was intended to stitch together a route from the North Sea to the Black Sea. Beautiful early autumn sunny feel. A few ups and downs along the way although “basically downhill all the way” though this description leads to some eye-rolling 🙄. The route passed through fields of quinoa and then entered a limestone gorge with monasteries and castles peering down at us - fabulous scenic route. As it was a shorter day, we fitted in both a morning coffee-n’cake stop and a full lunch with beer along the way. Finally prosecco in the market square in Kelheim. It has an impressive monument on a hill above the town - the “Liberty Hall”. Looks good floodlit at night.

+10
Day 13: Danube: Kelheim to Weltenburg Abbey ‐ Sep 14, 2025

15.3 km

↗️ 292.6 m Day 13 of our five rivers ride. Today we are on the Danube 🥰. We had a spare day in hand. So we thought we might have a rest day and take a boat through a gorge to the Weltenburg Abbey. Unfortunately, the river levels are too low for the ferry in the gorge at the moment. However, it’s only 7km and the abbey does a very good Sunday lunch and they do claim to be the oldest brewery in the World……So we did our first Big Climb to get up and over the gorge and through a forest [...]
track down to a clever river-powered ferry that pulls the ferry across the river whilst tethered to an overhead wire. At the top of the gorge is a national monument to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon. It rained heavily at that point so we had a coffee until the rain stopped and the sun came out 👍🏻. Anyway, on arrival at the abbey, we wandered around the abbey church and some more gorge viewpoints. Then settled down to a substantial Sunday lunch with a selection of beers. 🫠🫠🫠. And then we cycled home on the other side of the Danube involving an even bigger Big Climb 🥵. After such a heavy lunch ……..😮‍💨. (Ruth and Masoud pottered uphill on their e-bikes 🤪) Then steeply downhill on gravelly forest tracks 😬 to a bar in the main square in Kelheim. Light supper tonight!

+10
Day 14: Danube: Kelheim to Regensburg ‐ Sep 15, 2025

37.8 km

↗️ 80.1 m Day 14 - and last cycling day 😢 of our five rivers cycling tour. A short day in sunny weather, slightly downhill and with a following wind. What’s not to like! Coffee and cake mid-morning and a late lunch arrival into the Old town of Regensburg. This is another World Heritage site. We wandered around the old town and castle, then sampled the local white wine in one beer garden and the local beer in another over dinner. Quick ice cream from a gelateria until a flash of lightnin [...]
g and torrential rain had us scurrying to our hotel round the corner. No photos in front of tall flood-lit buildings tonight 😏. Train back to Koblenz tomorrow then drive back to UK 🥹

+21
Regensburg ‐ Sep 19, 2025