5 July 2012: Yesterday we headed for the romantic Rhine road that runs between Mainz and Koblenz, our first stop was at the town of Bacharach with its classic timber framed houses. A typical view in the town:

Paul at our lunch stop by the side of the Rhine:

The day’s sights continued from there with castles in the sky, castles in the trees and castles in the road, along with barges boats and trains, from Koblenz we then headed along the bank of the Mosel River and made a camping stop at Burgen on the river bank for the night. A barge passing our camping spot on the Mosel:

We drove on the next day, still following the Mosel and stopping occasionally to check out the pretty towns. Some views of Cochen on the Mosel:

We travelled on to Luxembourg where we stopped at Steinfort for the night ready for our journey to the ferry port and home, possibly tomorrow.

3 July 2012: Yesterday we headed north as there was no point in hanging about waiting for the weather to change as it was forecast to rain for 5 days. We camped overnight near Strasbourg and then drove through the heart of the Black Forest villages, sampling the famous cake in the prettiest village of Schiltach and visiting the brewery at Alpirsbacher where the beer is brewed with Black Forest spring water. We have experienced rain for the past 3 days after nearly 3 months of almost cloudless skies! The village of Schiltach:

Paul transporting cake in Schiltach:

Linda displaying the cake in Schiltach:

Paul with a keg of beer from the brewery in Alpirsbacher:

View Locarno to Interlaken in a larger map 2 July 2012: Locarno didn’t hold our interest and we drove on to Interlaken where we planned to take some trips on trains to see the Eiger and Jungfrau at closer quarters and also to visit Zermatt. We went through the Gottard Tunnel again and turned off west and up to the Sustenpass, (2224m elevation). Poor Braveheart thought she had seen her last mountain pass but she soldiered on in her normal fashion. A glimpse of mountains on our ascent:

We stopped on the way up at one of a string of biker café’s along the route.

This is a favourite road for bikers with its hairpin bends and spectacular vistas. Once at the top, visibility changed dramatically and we slowed to between 10 and 15mph which was about the same numbers for visibility in meters, all of the long way down the other side. Our campsite was right on the edge of the fast flowing river that joins the 2 lakes, Thun and Brienze and also the port for one of the paddle steamers:

We were 7 minutes walk away from the train station and the ferry port. We walked around the town in the rain along with other visitors then returned to the camp to watch the UEFA football final between Italy and Spain. The best team won! (Spain) After several dramatic thunder storms in the night, we woke to cool and very wet weather and the mountains were completely hidden so sadly there was no point in taking the expensive train trips into the mountains. This is the second time we have come to Interlaken to take these trips so it looks like third time lucky!