Well, we did it, but it required a 15 min tour of Rheinfels and a lot of hustle, including a jog down a pretty steep hill. Ha.
The hike to Burg Eltz was really peaceful, we made it to the castle by 10:30/11. I guess Kevin and I walk pretty fast, because it only took us an hour. We really only passed maybe a dozen people along the way, and the castle itself wasn't too crowded when we got there. The castle was home to several families and was nestled in the center of a large valley.
Couldn't ask for a more picturesque view. We did the English tour, which took us through an armory, some bedrooms, dining room and kitchen, all furnished with mostly 14th-18th century furniture. We weren't allowed to take pictures, or else I would have snapped a few of the halberds hanging on the wall --3 weapons in one--pike, axe, and sword? Nasty weapon. After the tour we grabbed a quick bite amidst a horde of mid-day tourists and then climbed the hill for another view of the castle before hiking back to Moselkern. We missed a train by 20 mins and had to wait 40 for the next. 
We made it to St. Goar at 4:30, giving us less than an hour to hike up a steep hill, tour the castle, and hike back down. We made it to the castle at 4:40, found the entrance at 4:45, ran through and snapped pictures for 15 minutes and then practically ran back down the hill, arriving at the dock within minutes of departure. We were almost the last two on-board before they shoved off! Finally, we got to relax and enjoy the scenic float past small Rhein castle towns. By the time we made it back to Bacharach, we were wiped out. Managed to drag ourselves over to a restaurant in the oldest building in town and then an ice cream shop before calling it a night around 9pm. 
Forgot to mention that an old lady approached us at the train station in the morning, but I couldn't understand her so I shook my head and said sorry and walked up the platform. She went up the other side and we walked by her and she was yelling at us ""Nein! Nein!!" and a bunch of other things we couldn't understand. Then we saw her bike that she had just carried up the steps and realized what she had asked us to do. Boy did we feel bad. Kevin went down to help the other woman with hers and he said that after he helped, they also realized that we didn't understand them at first. Oops.
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Our dinner cohorts from the night before said it couldn't be done. An early start to catch trains northwest towards Moselkern for a 90min hike to Burg Eltz. 90 min hike back to Moselkern for the 1hr return trip to St. Goar, tour Rheinfels Castle, catch the last ferry at 5:20pm back to Bacharach.
Well, we did it, but it required a 15 min tour of Rheinfels and a lot of hustle, including a jog down a pretty steep hill. Ha.
The hike to Burg Eltz was really peaceful, we made it to the castle by 10:30/11. I guess Kevin and I walk pretty fast, because it only took us an hour. We really only passed maybe a dozen people along the way, and the castle itself wasn't too crowded when we got there. The castle was home to several families and was nestled in the center of a large valley. INSERT PICTURE. Couldn't ask for a more picturesque view. We did the English tour, which took us through an armory, some bedrooms, dining room and kitchen, all furnished with mostly 14th-18th century furniture. We weren't allowed to take pictures, or else I would have snapped a few of the halberds hanging on the wall --3 weapons in one--pike, axe, and a hook. Nasty weapon. After the tour we grabbed a quick bite amidst a horde of mid-day tourists and then climbed the hill for another view of the castle before hiking back to Moselkern. We missed a train by 20 mins and had to wait 40 for the next. We made it to St. Goar at 4:30, giving us less than an hour to hike up a steep hill, tour the castle, and hike back down. We made it to the castle at 4:40, found the entrance at 4:45, ran through and snapped pictures for 15 minutes and then practically ran back down the hill, arriving at the dock within minutes of departure. We were almost the last two on-board before they shoved off! Finally, we got to relax and enjoy the scenic float past small Rhein castle towns. By the time we made it back to Bacharach, we were wiped out. Managed to drag ourselves over to a restaurant in the oldest building in town and then an ice cream shop before calling it a night around 9pm.
Pictures will follow..
The bike story reminds me of my experience on our last trip through Europe. We didn't know any of the lanuages. Forturnately, may places had pictures that we could point to and make signs with our hands referring to the number of that we wanted. There were also a large number of people who spoke English but enough who didn't made it difficult to fully enjoy the trip. I was also trying to make sense out of the signage which would give me headaches.
We found Switzerland the best for English speaking and signage. France was the worse, and Germany was in between. Of course we were in Germany during Octoberfest and they were sick and tired of tourists.
Thanks for pointing out my re-iteration Lance. I have since fixed it.
Uncle Jud, we have done quite a bit of pointing...thankfully many people have at least some grasp on English so it hasn't been too challenging to get by...except for the older ladies that needed their bikes taken up the steps....
Foot soldier vs man on horseback. Which would you rather be? Nobody wanted to be the foot soldier, until they invented the halberd! Stabbed and pushed off, or hooked and pulled off the horse. Then down comes the axe!
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