Day 12 Germany. 30/09/2010 Remagen–Bad Breisig–Andernach– Urmitz – Wollersheim-Koblenz– Lahnstein. 40.2miles/65.17km.4hr38min ride time. Av 8.7mph.

We left Remagen on a grey but still dry day and continued our journey south. Considering we had both slept well, we both appeared to be suffering from heavy legs. The rain that then started didn't help!

Cycling in the rain becomes just that, cycling. It is very hard to be interested in your surroundings when you are continually getting wetter. Especially when the sky is so grey you cant see it letting up. Which it didn't!

We trudged our way along through Andernach, Urmitz and then encountered the dreaded road works which involved a long unmarked detour. As we found the bridge that would cross the river Mosel into Koblenz, Debbie's knee gave up and it was with some amount of pain that she limped her way into the city.

We patched her up as best we could and gave up on the idea of looking at Koblenz. Rather helpfully they have dug up the whole waterside area so navigation was tricky. Nevertheless we managed to eventually get on the bridge that crossed the Rhein and headed towards Lahnstein. What we did not expect on a marked cycle route was a cobbled slope that ended in a set of steep stone steps, pointed directly at the Rhein. Our phrase book does not cover 'Help, my bicycle is in the Rhein!'. One bike at a time, with both of us holding on tight we managed to bump them down the steps. Everyday is an adventure!

Riding into Lahnstein we found a sign for camping that helpfully pointed in two directions! Following one of the directions we ended up some way out of town but did eventually find a camp-site ran by a very friendly German guy, who thought we were mad to stay in a tent on such a horrible day. The rain eventually eased and a few beers in the bar helped wash the rain caused blues away.

Blue skies or at least better weather is promised tomorrow, so fingers crossed it will be nice for Debbie's birthday. Plus she was given a small bottle of wine by the camp-site owner to celebrate!

Day 11 Germany. 29/09/2010 Koln – Wesseling – Bonn – Bad Godesburg – Oberwinter – Remagen. 43.30miles/67.9kms. 4hr37mins ride time. Averaging 9.3mph

After a belly buster breakfast we made what seemed like 10 trips up and down the hostel elevator to get all our gear to the bikes. With the promise of blue skies we set off from Cologne bound for Remagen and an open camp-site!

Navigating out of Cologne was relatively easy as we were just following the Rhein south.

Around Wesseling things got a little trickier when we had another case of the disappearing cycle route sign. Somehow we ended up in an industrial train depot which was clearly wrong. After a few wrong turns we ended up back on the correct route and headed for the nation's ex capital of Bonn.

It's amazing how easy it is to lose a large river when you head into a city...which is exactly what we did when we headed into Bonn! We had only gone into the city to find some bread for lunch and possibly some milk. With the help of a few passers by we managed to find the correct route back to the Rhein, had a brief stop for lunch and then headed on to Remagen.

For some reason the Germans have decided to dig everything up at once. Cycle paths were closed, as were the roads we wanted to take as a diversion. Finding the correct route has become more of a challenge than we would have liked. Nevertheless we eventually made it to Remagen and found the camp-site. Lovely weather today, hope it holds!

Day 10 Germany. 28/09/2010 Koln/Cologne Approx 3.5/4mph on foot.

Breakfast is included! Having eaten our fill, we went to have a look at the sights of Cologne. To be truthful we could have left a little later as not much seems to get going very early in Germany. We walked past mainly closed shops on our way to the Dom (Cathedral). Unfortunately the weather has remained the same so although stunning and huge the cathedral remained shrouded in grey dreary light. Not great for photographs!

We had a walk down to the Rhein and looked at the many pretty medieval buildings that line the water front. Being the main tourist area these are almost all now hotels, bars and restaurants. After looking at several other old churches we had the highlight of the day which was buying some more fuel for the stove and a pair of waterproof socks for Debbie. Such is the life of a cycle tourer, comfort and food first, sightseeing later!

Having bought some fantastic bread and cakes from one of the many bakeries we called it a morning and went back to the hotel to sort our stuff for tomorrow.

We headed out again early evening after a rest, bound for the restaurants and beer houses of the waterfront. We enjoyed a few beers and some traditional German faire and then called it a night. Hopefully not so far tomorrow and the internet informs us that the camp-site is open! Weather still looking grey though but should be warmer.

Day 9 Germany. 27/09/2010 GroBenbaum–Kalkum–Kaiserswerth–Dusseldorf–Dormagen– Rheinkassel-Merkeruch–Koln 49.17miles/80.16km. 5hr38mins. Av 8.9mph

Woke up to a dry but grey day, packed in double quick time and got back on the road. Managed to navigate with some ease our way back onto the cycle route and headed to rejoin the Rhein. This involved a railway man opening a level crossing for us by telephoning ahead to check the line was clear. The path then went straight into a forest where we encountered what seemed like a whole school on an outing. Needless to say none of them felt that inclined to move and let us past. Nice to see German school kids are just like ours!

After negotiating the kids it was relatively straight forward to find the right path and continue to Dusseldorf. Despite it being another big city, the cycle route to the centre was very easy to follow. If only it hadn't now been persistently raining for a few hours the centre would have been very attractive. We made a stop at the tourist information office to see about some more maps and were directed to a large bookshop across town.

English books! Terrific news as I forgot to pack one! Plus we found a couple of map books that should get us to Basel.

Braving the continual rain we cycled out of Dusseldorf via an industrial estate and the container docks. Not exactly the correct route but we made it!

Unfortunately after a trouble free start to the day, the rest became a bit of a trial. The continual rain meant Debbie was freezing, I developed some kind of knee problem which made stopping and putting weight on it painful and when we found our proposed camp-site it was closed!

We had no choice but to make a dash for Koln and hope we could find a hostel/hotel where we could store the bikes. Obviously the cycle route signs disappeared and it was only by some luck that we found the right route into the city, via Ford cars land!

Desperation had clearly set in when we tried a Park Inn hotel, but they were full, or at least they didn't want us there! Still, they gave me a map and the rough location of a hostel nearby, so we set off once again across the city.

Fortunately the location was correct and the Hostel (Hotel is a better name) after a few mishaps with being charged for a single room when there was clearly two of us is warm, comfortable and has a garage for the bikes.

Staying put tomorrow to sightsee Koln and give my leg and a very tired Debbie a rest!

Milestone reached, my cycle computer went through the 500km mark. Only have to do this 39 times more and we might be in South Africa!

Day 8 Germany. 26/09/2010 Kalkar – Xanten – Rheinberg – Alt-Homberg – Duisberg – GroBenbaum. 49.95miles/80.54km, 5hr18min cycling time, averaging 9.4m

Decided to make up for some time today. Sticking to the cycle path along the B57 an old Roman road we forgo the more meandering Rhein route. We even got away quite early in the morning!

Having made good time for the first 20km's we stopped for a very brief walk round the picturesque Roman town of Xanten. Being Sunday most things were closed, but it seemed like a reasonable place to spend a few days given the time.

Setting off again, we made good progress to Rheinberg. The whole area is becoming much more industrial now, with huge factories spewing smoke into the air.

It was on our way to Alt-Homberg that things became a little trickier, no matter how hard we tried we couldn't find the right road. The cycle route signs disappeared and at least one was pointing in entirely the wrong direction. With the prospect of trying to navigate through the sprawling Duisberg next, tensions were running a little high!

Finally with the aid of a few helpful locals we eventually made it and managed to find the centre of Duisberg without too much trouble, which of course was closed!

The Germans don't mess about when it comes to Sundays, still I guess it used to be that way in England, maybe it still should be?

More amazingly still with only a little help, we managed to navigate our way to the area that our proposed camp site was in. The only problem was, where is it and is it open.

If the Germans didn't insist on labelling roads 'no through road' when it clearly is, we would have found it sooner! As it was, more stress was had!

Anyway we made it, it was open and they sold beer. Cheers for now!