I wasn’t sure what to expect this morning, as to quench my deep thirst near the end of Day  3, I had drunk half a bottle of tap water, I later found out was ‘not for drinking’. I felt fine so that’s probably just the local authority covering themselves.

While I hadn’t really planned a short day (it was based on where I could get reasonable accommodation) I was very pleased to just be doing 65 miles and therefore went out for a wander get a cake and somehow got upsold a coffee. I’m too relaxed.

It was another great day cycling through the Rhine gorge, which I later found out was a 67km UNESCO Upper Middle Rhine World Heritage site from Koblenz to Bingen. Castles and churches continued and were joined by vineyards from Boppard. The ‘Rhine Cycle Route’ book also provided interesting snippets of German history and folklore relating to various monuments on the route. Then there was the challenge of keeping up with the increasing number of cruise boats.

Unfortunately there was an annoying intermittent headwind again taking me down to 12mph at times. It was also hot 28 degrees, but far more preferable than rain. And of course it’s getting harder each day as the gradient increases; today was 1 in 4,166.

Again there were a regular flow of Rhine cycle tourists coming towards me, one of whom I thought I recognised near Koblenz but only after I had joined the dots (Matt, is Nicola T Riding the Rhine with her husband by any chance ?). If I see 50-100 Rhiners per day, then that’s 500-1,000 over the 10 days I’m cycling, so probably more popular than LEJOG ! No wonder Mike Wells decided to write the book.

Stopping more frequently to enjoy a leisurely day (and to buy a puncture repair kit as I only had one inner tube left, although inner tubs can be purchased from vending machines), I arrived at Bingen YH @5pm, after a short climb which resulted in magnificent views over the town, Rhine and vineyards.

And of course there were some interesting sights; I wonder what this local thought about the tourism.