Eich is a small town (or large village?) about 15km north of Worms, on the Rhein if you include the fairly new golf course at the eastern side of the housing.
There’s nothing really remarkable about Eich: it has some shops and bars, a Penny Markt and a cheap petrol station. If you include the Rhine river-bank as part of Eich it also has a ferry, crossing every half hour over to Gernsheim in Hessen. And that’s about it…
Except for once a year when it is the site of the motorbike (or is it motorbikers) blessing. The catholic priest in Eich holds an outdoor blessing on a Saturday morning just after Easter which attracts about 15000 motorbikers, mostly from the region 100km around Eich.
Other than a photo and short article in the local newspaper this would mostly go unnoticed outside of Eich, except for the “drive-round” – after the blessing the motorbikers are allowed to make a 50km tour around the area, and this passes right through the main road here in Abenheim.
It started around 13:00, just a gentle rumble in the distance which steadily built up to a low roar as the first bikes approached the village. Then the noise built up to a throbbing procession of sound. It was worth a quick peak, as many of the bikers are enthusiasts with custom bikes it is a parade of colours, shapes and sizes as well as the obligatory sounds and smells of motorbike exhausts. Quite fun, as long as it’s only once a year for an hour or so!
Amazingly it takes place without totally closing the roads and causing total traffic chaos, but the sight of a tractor trying to nip across the main road in between swarms of bikes was worth the trip to the main road to see what was happening!