When people talk about 'Cycling the Rhein', this is the section they talk about from Mainz down to Cologne. Just beyond Mainz, the river narrows as it passes through a range of hills, and because of this the current speeds up. I think the story goes, that some bright spark thought, 'Hey, the boats all go slowly here because of the currents, and I need some money, so I'll stop them and tax them for passing through my land". So he built a little castle, and put these bridges out in the river to slow everyone down, and proceeded to collect his tax. All of his neighbours, rather than tell said so and so, to stop being a prat, and let the boats go past for free, thought this was a jolly good idea, and
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