A couple of days ago we made our way to Cologne where we stayed for two nights right on the Rhine about 15 minutes cycle from the centre of the city.

We did a walking tour and took in the beer scene as well as a tour to the Lindt chocolate museum.

Today we headed further (or is that Fürher?) south to Cochem in the Moselle valley. Only just arrived and it seems to be a bit of a tourist trap for the local Germans but is quaint. We've found ourselves a great little car park looking over the river to the castle which we'll explore more tomorrow.

Beer replaced with wine in Cochem.

Early(ish) morning walk over the Mosel and a walk up to the castle.

Really enjoyed the tour of the Castle with a proper German Fraulein. This is taken from the balcony and it is possible to see our van parked across the river. The castle was destroyed in 1689 but the ruin was sold to a Berlin businessman (Ravené for about 500 Euro in today's money on the proviso it was rebuilt to the original blueprint. The majority of grapes here are Riesling.

After the castle we enjoyed a ride on a ski lift cable car and also tasting the Riesling in the little local wine bar Alte Gutsschänke. We enjoyed a second night in our same camping spot ready.

We stopped at the suspension bridge in Geierlay. It was opened in 2015 and is 100m up and 360m long!

On Thursday we stayed in a small town called Elmstein not far from where we planned to be the following day. Sleepy little town nestled in a valley in the forest. This is from our early morning stroll before setting off again.

Our home for the next three nights - on the Kruppenbacher vineyard. We are lucky enough to have Michael and Jo who used to live here showing up around for a couple of days.

Wine tasting at the very prestigious Müller-Catoir family rooms (pictured). We also visited the Isler winery in Maikammer and some belonging to the wine entrepreneurs who had an interesting personal life (but not one to judge of course).

We had flammkuchen (German pizza) for dinner with plenty of wine Schorle's (wine and soda - heavy on the wine / light of the soda) and Riesling.

A lovely 4 hour (or so) walk to the Hambach castle that we could see from where we were staying - was nice to be in the shade as rather a hot day. Also, Hambach is where my old boss Christian Mueller comes from!

A welcome stop half way into our walk for Radler, klopse (meatballs), sauerkraut, sausage and hand kase (cheese).

Jo and I walking the streets of Neustadt on our way to dinner. Schnitzel! Damian biked in from Diedesfeld - bike paths are great!

The next day there was a festival where the entire Weinstrasse (85 kms) is closed to cars. Much bicycles, music, wine and food. Another very hot day so we didn't sample the wines until the end of the day! 

Heidelberg! Lucky again to have a host - Cigdem who has recently moved to Heidelberg to show us around. We had a quick walk down the main street and then followed the Philosophers way up the hill and through the forest. Had a lovely dinner and drinks over looking the river Neckar.  We parked up for the night down by the river but was a bit noisier than we're used to!

We popped into France to visit Strasbourg. We did a boat tour (too hot for walking tour) and it was so pretty. The flowers on all the bridges were lovely and all the buildings around the river were all very interesting. Strasbourg has been passed back and forth between France and Germany since forever ago. It now houses the European parliament which is quite an impressive looking building.

We left Strasbourg headed for Lake Titisee - an amazing drive through the hills and forest. We elected to stay at Lake Schluchsee instead - not quite so crowded!

We've spent two nights in Schluchsee up in the black forest. Slightly cooler up here although still in the high 20s.

Today we cycled 18km around the lake and got back to the van just in time for a torrential thunderstorm. A good opportunity to get out there with an umbrella and a mop to clean the van of five week's worth of travel dust

On Friday we caught up with Sally's old workmate, Christian and partner Natasha in Aesch in Swizerland. Christian took us for a tour of beautiful Lucerne and then back to their place for some time on the nearby lake with a SUP and kayak. It's both our first time SUPing and we managed to not fall off which was surprising. Nice calm lake though which helped.

We didn't know it before arriving but it was Christian's birthday. They treated us to a traditional Swiss raclette meal where you basically melt cheese over various meats, pickles and potatoes. Mmmmmm.

Yesterday after leaving Christian and Natasha's place we went to Mt Pilatus on a cogwheel train to the top. It climbs 1635m and takes over half an hour. Opened as a steam train in 1889 and electrified in 1937.