After leaving the Deventer City Camping all the farewell activities were completed and my journey had really started. The goal was to reach the Bodensee by the weekend to meet my long time friend Marcel there. On the way I took the time to visit some sites.
My first stop was at Brühl, where I spend the night in the car at a quiet parking lot just out of town. The next morning I visited Augustusburg Palace which, together with Falkenlust Palace and its parks, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was rainy, thus excellent weather for a guided tour trough the palace.
The palace was build for the Archbishop of Cologne which spent a large share of his budget on this baroque palace and parties. So long for a modest lifestyle for the religious elite.
Afterwards the weather cleared up and I took a good stroll trough the park surrounding the palace. Then I continued my trip to the Rhine valley south of Koblenz where I was the guest of Couchsurfing hosts Sophie and Pete in their lovely little house along the Rhine river. We shared a meal and conversation during the pleasant evening.
The next day I spend driving and hiking trough the Rhine Valley. You can easily spend a couple of days along this part of the Rhine as there are many castles to visits and trails to hike, unfortunately I only took a day.
At the end of the day I found myself a nice spot next to the Rhine river and had my first proper wild camp.
