A Ferry nice day

Stayed up too late last night. I was writing the blog and almost finished when I hit something wrong and I lost it all! Had to do it all over again and I don't think it was up to the same quality. Bummer. 

Well, I'm getting an earlier start tonight. 

Breakfast was scheduled for 8am, I set my alarm for 7, but didn't get to sleep until 1am. I won't do that again. Lack of sleep didn't affect the ride but I think it is affecting me now. 

Great weather today! We'll, except for a headwind that fought with me off and on. When you are riding on the dikes or close to the river, there isn't much protection. 

This is one of my favorite signs. There are paved or gravel roads beside or on the dikes of the Rhine. Be careful to stay on the road! 

I don't like these signs as much. At first I thought it meant there w was a speed bump ahead. What it really means is 'Bunpy road ahead.' That's often the result of mature trees stretching their roots out under the pavement. 

This is really my favorite sign to see. It means I'm sill on Eurovelo 15, the official route of the Rhine. Sometimes I think I've strayed off track (and sometimes I have) but when I see this I know I'm good. 

That sign was nowhere to be seen on the last kilometers of the ride today and will be missing some of tomorrow too. More on that laster. 

Combined road and railway bridge near Seltz, France.  

Tourist boat on the river. They have the luxury, but I see a lot they don't. 

Actually had a good lunch today. There were a bunch of other old guy bicyclists there, but they were almost all on ebikes. Good for them to still find a way to enjoy the trails. 

I stopped and watched several articulated boats plying their way up and down the Rhine. They can apparently be separated and act as 2 boats. In this case the rear boat was named TIM and the front one was TIM 2. 

So what are they carrying? I can't speak for all of them, but there is a lot of aggregate industry along the way. Making little rocks out of big ones. See below. 

Here's a boat being loaded. I commuting know where they are taking all this rock,but people are moving mountains. 

Of the dike and by fields. 

And also through the woods. 

Everything changed at the Neuberg Ferry. The author of the guide book decided it was better to depart Eurovelo 15 and cross into Germany. When the latest edition of the book was written there was a lot of work being done on the French dikes to avoid disastrous flooding like what halogen in 1995 and many long detours around the work. Could be that work I'd completed now, but i already had a 'room' reserved in Karlsruhe on the German side and there were no detailed directions for the French side...

So it was another ferry day, though much shorter than the previous one. 

Pay the man 2,50€ and drift away. 

Now on a German dike decided to take a selfie. 

Here's some of the views coming into Karlsruhe. 

Tree arch

And a sign pointing to the psychiatric hospital. I don't know if that is hospital. 

Tonight I'm at the Space Hotel. The rooms are called capsules and they look very SciFi!  Another new experience for me. I'm going to head there now. Good night! Hope there aren't any aliens in the other capsules!