The next morning we slowly, gently, delicately got up and packed up over an hour or so. We both still felt pretty bad, we had no drinking water. The next town, Bingen, was only three km away. We could see it downriver from where we had camped. So we made probably the most difficult journey of the trip so far: both feeling terrible, dehydrated and exhausted we hauled out bikes back to the cycle path and rode gently into Bingen.
After we got some water on board we stared to feel a bit better, but still not great. We went to a park for a nap, hoping that when we woke up we would feel up to some riding. Didn’t really work out that way and after some indecision we made up our mids to just write the rest of the day off and find a hostel.

 

 
  
We got into the hostel and four and slept until eight the next morning except for an hour or two at nine for a shower. 

We had read about this part of the EuroVelo 15, the route that follows the length of the Rhine. Apparently the stretch from Bonn to Bingen was one of the most scenic of the whole route. It really was impressive. The river wound through a hilly countryside, and at almost each wide meander a castle, ruined or restored sat atop the highest peak.  
  
It was, once again, pleasant and easy riding and we covered a lot of ground without even realising it sometimes. 

At points the cycle route would veer away from the river. These brief changes in scenery were nice, a good way to break up the Rhine route, lest we become bored with the constant beautiful views the riverside path afforded.

  
As they day wore on we found ourselves passing though more and more small towns and villages, all seemingly stuck in time two hundred or so years ago – probably restored to seem as such, but still we appreciated the variety.

  
As it got later we started keeping an eye out for places to set up for the night. There seemed to not be many potential spots to camp, all the land was either cultivated, someone’s house or a steep hill. As we pushed on into the evening though, we spotted small islands and peninsulas near the shore, silt deposits from the river that had built up. We finally found one that we were able to roll our bikes out too and set up for the night.

 

   
It would have been a great day of riding, an almost flawless day. Unfortunately, we hadn’t properly filtered the water we cooked with that night. At least, that’s what we think happened. Shortly after dark, laying under the tarp we both started to stomach cramps and were violently sick. It continued all night. It was awful, I’d say we got about five hours of sleep between us. Oh well, chalk it up to experience or something.

In the morning we packed up and said goodbye to Rolf, our fantastic host. Rolf was a big fan of Turkey and had given us some great tips for when we got there on places to go and things to do. As we were leaving his neighbourhood we were shouted at by a short, rotund bearded man in full cycling lycra.This man spoke with a real thick New York accent and had been riding around Europe since May on his Brompton. His name was Roma. 
 

 
  
After some last minute pick ups in the city we rode down to the Rhine and turned onto the EuroVelo 15 route that followed the river. This would be our course for the next five days all the way into Strasbourg. It was flat, we had a tailwind, it was sunny and the route was simple to follow, you can’t really get better conditions.

 

 
When we got into Bonn, a city nearby Cologne we got lunch at a supermarket and then spent a bit of time looking for a bike shop. We found it after much searching but it was later than we wanted by the time we were back on the road.

 

 
  
  
However since the conditions were so good we decided to keep riding, and cycled on a bit later than we normally would. It wasn’t until nine o’clock that we finally stopped to make camp, in a great spot right on the shores of the Rhine. 

 

   

Well rested and well fed we said goodbye and thanks to Hedi and Siegfried and rode off to our next city stop: Cologne. With a rest day tomorrow and a shower at our host in Cologne we didn’t mind the downpour that started soon after we left. We had organised someone to stay with in Cologne a bit more in advance than we did for Ghent, so we knew we had somewhere to stay coming in.
Climbing a lot the previous days now paid off as we spent most of the morning descending through the clouds. The rain continued. We were originally going to follow the roads into Cologne but soon found a map and sign at a node in the German cycle network. 

  
If we thought the Belgian network had been good, the German network was fantastic. Every sign had an arrow to the corresponding nod, but also a place name of the nearest settlement you could reach on the network in that direction. We mapped out a route to Cologne and set off.
The track varied from time to time. It would be smooth, sealed Tarmac one moment and then mud, dirt or gravel the next. Not a huge issue if not for the rain which meant that on any of these tracks our bikes would churn up the loose material and our panniers and bikes (mine more than Finns, I don’t have mudguards) would get filthy.
Again, not a huge issue normally, especially if you’re camping but we were staying with a Couchsurfing host that night and didn’t really want to pull dirty baggage into their home…

  
 

 
It wasn’t a big deal as it turned out. We got into to Cologne and got in contact with our host Rolf. Rolf was a super relaxed guy and had been cycling touring before, so he understood when we turned up covered in mud. Rolf had to run off to training we we had a shower and got talking to his lovely flat mate Janna who, we were supposed to bfind out, had been over to Ireland four times! 

  
We went out for some food and when we got back Rolf took us out his favourite hangout, a place he called “The Wall”. I don’t know if I should spoil the mystery, but if you get to Cologne ask someone to bring you to The Wall one evening, you won’t be disappointed (not guaranteed actually, it’s just a low wall that runs along one of the streets in the student neighbourhood where everybody from that neighbourhood comes to hang out).