Sunday, 8-5 to Remagen

Before starting up (north) further on the Rhine this morning, we backtracked a couple of miles to the town of St. Sebastian, which has a small old parish church of the same name. St. Sebastian is always pictured as a failed martyr, having been pierced non fatally by many arrows. Later he did succeed in attaining martyrdom, but the paintings and statues (including one in this church) are always of the arrows. Anyway, we went to Mass there. Before church we walked around the churchyard and saw a memorial to the town's war dead from the two world wars, including one man killed on D-day. It occurred to me that if someone you love is killed in a war, what side doesn't matter; it is an equal heartbreak.  The church service was a delight. The priest was very upbeat, sang the hymns with gusto, and greeted each attendee individually at the kiss of peace. The route today was again almost all right on the riverside. A clear sky and temperature max around 80. There was a stiff north wind, but that was a fair exchange for the mild temperature. We reached the town of Remagan, which was a famous site near the end of WW2. The Germans tried but failed to destroy the bridge as they retreated from advancing allied forces in March of 1945. It was the only bridge remaining across the Rhine, and allied (U.S. in this case) troops were able to cross the Rhine there for the first time, which shortened the war. Hitler personally ordered four officers shot who had failed to destroy the bridge. A week later the Germans targeted the bridge with one of their own V-2 rockets and the bridge finally collapsed. The picture shows the remnant of the west side of the bridge and the abutments on the other side of the river. There is a museum on the west side, where we were. A few more km and we reached our hotel. Unexpectedly it sits a few hundred feet up a hillside, but once there we had a great view (see pic. ) The other picture shows a spot on the trail with unrideable switchbacks ever 50'. The variations in the route are all you can imagine, and more.