A tasty breakfast and the promise of a warm day ahead.

This is the view as we woke, looking out from our balcony overlooking the Rhine River. The sun was riding behind the palace.

We fiddle farted our way out from Koblenz via the river path, inland laneways, a bridge, a caravan park, before finally settling into the route to Cologne.

The first part of the ride was not as scenic as the Moselle had been, primarily as we needed to skirt around many industrial sites.

Eventually cute villages returned.

We liked this statue outside a hotel.

Looking up the Rhine as the day heated up.

Chilling here and there. This seat was surprisingly very comfortable.

There are numerous river barges transporting cars, walkers, cyclists across the river.

We saw lots of castles on the far side.

Some nice distant rural vistas.

Statues of horses on a boat.

Fortifications and churches.

We spotted these castles high in the hill.

A closer view.

The large German city of Bonn was on our route today. You’d hardly have known as there was not a prominent riverside feature and we passed through as if the very outskirts of a small village.

We turned off to head to a supermarket to grab some lunch supplies, predominantly cold fluid as the temperatures were now in the high 20’s and we were sweating.

I made a new friend. Pooch was there when we arrived, and still there when we left which did concern us.

We failed to note the inappropriate writing in the wall at the time of taking the photo. Should have been in German too!

Riding through this forest for many km gave us cooling relief.

The locals were feeling the heat too. I have wondered just how clean the water is this far up the river.

The sand seemed quite nice. Not sure if it is ‘natural’ or a local council initiative.

Closing in on Cologne. You can just see the spires from the famous cathedral. Our hotel is very close to the Dom.

The last few km flowed well in a busy city of 1.1 million people. Good bike lane and road crossings.

The hardest part was the last km through hoardes of tourists taking up all available space.

There were a series of zig zags up a hill towards the Dom and I nearly gave up in frustration. Tight left hand and right hand bends and the tourists stood there just watching….not moving, just watching.

Got to our hotel, high fived, checked in, secured the bicycles safely.

Arriving in our room, there was a parcel with my name on it. Opened it up …a jersey from a local club, Tony’s favourite snacks. All famous German items.

Wow, later found a message from Marcus a local Zwifter who thought we had arrived last night and turned up at 8 am today to ride with us. Aaagh, wires crossed and we felt super bad.

He sent me a photo of his nice Trek bike outside the hotel. Marcus is a faster rider than us!

We then headed over to the cathedral, just 100 m away, and visible from our bedroom.

The photo does not do justice to the sheer size of this cathedral.

An aerial photograph showing the sheer size.

The site on which the cathedral now stands was once part of the Roman city.

The first church was built around the 6th century.

The cathedral is the most visited monument in Germany, and is free to enter.

Unfortunately for us, timing was an issue as when we arrived they were preparing for Mass, thereby limiting access to the church.

The church is 157 metres tall, and is the tallest twin towered church in the world.

Construction of the current church began in 1248 and continued until around 1560. Work did not recommence until the mid 1800s. The church was completed to the the original plans in 1880.

A few photos from our position near the cathedral rear.

After another Italian dinner, we were hunting for icecream as it was still 26c.

We went past the old Rathaus. At the rear there are extensive renovations under way and only this older section visible.

The tower was completed in 1414.

I need one of these signs. We saw this at the entrance to a local pub.

Back outside our hotel, there is this interesting fountain. Heinzelmannchenb is an ornate 19th century fountain commemorating a local legend about house gnomes!

Looking more closely at our hotel, you can pick our room! The Yaxley flag is flying.

We’ve stayed in lots of different overnight rooms during all of our cycle tours. I cannot recall any with this kind of ‘art’. There is also a Fruh shop at reception.

A bit more research revealed this is the local brew, with a long history here in Cologne. The original brewery can be seen two doors down in the photo two above.

So here we are. Day 8 and another 105 km, bringing our total to 797 km.

Hopefully we can get some sleep. It is super noisy outside still with activities and restaurants around the cathedral.

A solid day, lots of sights and water consumed. People often think that because we are Australian we are used to the heat. Aussie yes, but Tasmanians which is the coolest state….in so many ways.

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