Safely through the gorge

We set sail in drizzly grey conditions after a wet night – I hadn’t realized it rained so much in Germany. Lots of traffic on the river as we spotted our first castle:

Then they came thick and fast (the castles, that is) but unfortunately the conditions were not ideal for photography, though Diana did her best! The problems were both bad light, and also the boat rocking and rolling in the wakes of the passing barges and cruise ships.

This one originally collected tolls from passing traffic:

The current gathered pace as we approached the Loreley, which is a kind of narrow S-bend in the river, where the water swirls and eddies in a ferocious and distinctly scary manner. Fortunately we only met one boat coming towards us, and did not have to deal with being overtaken or blue-boarded. Here’s the famous rock (looking back upstream):

After the adrenalin rush of the gorge, things eased off a bit, with plenty more castles as we approached Koblenz, and our turn-off onto the river Lahn, a Rhine tributary.

Here is the calm, bucolic Lahn:

We are now comfortably moored on the side of the river at Bad Ems – a spa town, and we are right opposite the enormous bath house.  After 400 kilometres of fair excitement on the Rhine, we plan to take it rather easier now and make our way gently up to Limberg.