Cycling trips along the Rhein

Evening all,

A couple of weekends ago I got the (slow) train from Frankfurt to Bonn, and although people have mentioned it to me before, got my first real view of the Rhein valley between Mainz and Bonn as the train line pretty much follows the river all the way.

Anyway, I thought it all looked rather nice, and I want to catch me some Rhein cycling action this summer.

There are two small problems:
1. I don't have a bike
2. I live in Frankfurt and don't have a car

I have done the obligatory google, and it seems that there are stacks of routes along the Rhein but was wondering if anyone can recommend a good place to start/finish - I guess ideally a circle (rather than just turning around and doing the same way back or getting a boat back) would be cool.

I am thinking of starting at Rüdesheim (http://www.ruedesheim.de/en/index.html) is that sensible, although getting there on public transport is bit of a pain in the ass.

It seems that bike hire will not be a problem at any place.

Anyone got any experience of doing this? Recommendations?

I biked through Europe in 1990, partly along the Rhein in our effort to head south to Italy. We stopped at a few camping sites and spent the night there. The Rhein was well marked with good paths and very easy, which prepared us for Switzerland!

My recollection was it was easy to find a place (camping spots) and relatively inexpensive. So, we didn't do a circut, but headed in one direction...

I cycled round much of Germany (and beyond) a few years ago. Depending on the time that you have available, I would highly recommend cycling Mainz-Koblenz, then up the Mosel, nip across to the Saar then work you way back through Rheinland Pfalz to Heidelberg, then take Berg Strasse back to Frankfurt

Thats probably around a week or more of cycling, can recommend each stage of that if you want to break it down to a day or two.