Day # 28 Bingen to Mainz.

A couple we met on the river bank...

              At 7.30am this morning, a full hour after the alarm clock exploded us into action, it was still 90% dark in this mid sized Rhine town. Yes, it was pouring with rain and certainly the weather gods challenged us to bundle up and confront them to do battle. Actually, as the day wore on the heavy early precipitation abated, to fall as a steady drenching drizzle.We knew that we had our work cut out for us to make Mainz after yesterday's long walk. For these walkers, 25 km days are OK, over 30 and the leg muscles protest loudly. As per always, the toughest part of the day is the last 5 kms, exactly when the hotel room search chore has to be addressed. Not so easy today, as an international universities convention is in town with the predictable pressure on rooms and prices.
           After 12 noon today, the high cliffs of the 'Romantic Rhine' section began to recede behind us as the country side opened up to become apple orchard country. Our riverside path followed the top of a grassy 20 ft high dike for miles, occasionally degenerating into a muddy trail. In fact, I can now truthfully claim that this Amsterdam to Switzerland odyssey now includes a section across a muddy farmer's field, due to a closed trail section subject to bulldozers & heavy reconstruction.
        Away from most of the villages, lying several kilometres to the west of our footpath, the day was peculiarly devoid of contact with the locals. Perhaps the heavy, day long rain, had something to do with it.
        Personal note: The walk from Amsterdam, to its source in the Boden See/Lake Constance, has now cumulatively exceeded more than 500 kms., just about half way. According to the 'constitution' of this walk, it can be officially declared a long distance walk, even if the wheels were to fall off the venture tomorrow.
        Tomorrow, come rain or shine, a relatively modest 20 kms to Oppenheim and the region where the Mosel and Rhine meet.

35.3 kms. walked today per Google maps:
 513.9 cumulative kms. walked.
Type of overnight lodging: Avena hotel
Cost of lodging: 58E.