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Showing posts from August, 2024

One day away from the Danube: Day 6

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Leaving Dinkelsbuhl Friday morning. Taken by a very friendly young lady we got chatting to Some of our pathways yesterday were alongside roads like this. Lots of farmland and small agricultural  villages A very ornate Kloster along the route yesterday. These massive stone buildings don't need air-conditioning, a welcome waft of cool air awaits when you step inside 😀  

Not all tour days are perfect

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 Yesterday (day 5) was a hard day, mostly because of the heat. By noon it was over 30C. By the time we reached the spectacularly situated town of Rothenberg high above the Tauber River at 1pm, we were dragging our feet. A tasty Mexican lunch within the town walls was a respite from the heat.  However, it was tough to get motivated after that as the next section had hills and was along some roads rather than pathways. So we had the bright idea of using public transport for a bit! And amazingly enough with Google maps's help, we found a bus that was going to a suitable town along the route for which you could purchase bike tickets. Google confused me as it directed us to the Bahnhof (train station), so I assumed we would be taking a train. But no, it turned out to be a bus that left from the train station. Anyway, after a bit of head-scratching, we got us and the bikes on the bus and we therefore managed to skip 20km of not very inspiring riding. How we felt about today's ride R...

Pretty towns, hot weather and two hotel nights

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 For the last two days we have passed through quite a few beautiful and historic towns - to the point where they're starting to blend together now in our heads! Worth (where we camped on Monday night), Miltenberg, Wertheim, Tauberbishofheim and Bad Mengentheim were all picturesque and historic towns. Once we left Wertheim, we had left the Main River and started following the Tauber River, along what is know as the Taubertal Radweg. This route is promoted as being one of the loveliest routes in Germany. It certainly has been a nice mix of woodland, farm land and cute villages, with views of vineyards on nearby steeply sloped hillsides. Riding through Miltenberg, a stunning town on the River Main Lunch in Miltenberg. The bakeries have such wonderful stuff! A river boat making its way through a lock on the Main River The town of Wertheim in the evening. Our hotel was just around the corner from here Saw this huge field of sunflowers today along the Tauber River Quiet pathways today al...

Day 2 Steinheim to Worth am Main, first night camping - August 26th

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 The highlight of today was morning coffee in the idyllic historic town of Seligenstadt. Towns like this seem like they're out of a fairytale. Perfect riding weather at about 25C, no wind and clear skies. Generally flat pathways, saw many herons and two storks. Frank has a bad case of ptsd with any mention of storks - a result of a certain stork-pooping incident two years ago 😁 Seligenstadt where  we had morning coffee and pastries. Such a pretty town, lots of timber framed houses View of the River Main from our campground. Lots of river boats went by - huge long Vessels, some river cruise boats as well as commercial traffic. Nice campground right on the River in Worth am Main, views across the river of sloped vineyards Cost was 18 euro Schloss Johannesburg in Ashaffenburg

Back in the saddle again

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 Made it to our first hotel yesterday evening, a 35km ride from Frankfurt airport along the River Main. Everything went pretty much according to plan, including Calgary Airport requiring us to empty the bike boxes and go through Everything! But at least we were prepared with extra tape and scissors. My bike did suffer a heavy dent in my frame. Luckily it's steel, so it shouldn't be a problem. The bikes made it to Frankfurt at the over-sized luggage  and assembly began rightaway Very busy cycle route as we passed through Frankfurt.  This street festival and market went on for a few kms  Nice quiet paths as we got further east of the city Our little hotel in the quiet town of Steinheim. This is the only accommodation we booked in advance

Big Plans Ahead! Another European Bike Tour

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 The count-down is on for our next cycle tour! On Sat Aug 24th (that is tomorrow!) we leave for yet another cycle tour in Europe. This one will see us flying to Frankfurt and riding from there south towards the Alps via Bavaria, a little part of the west of Austria (Tyrol) and on into Italy, eventually ending up in Venice. Lots of similarities to our last tour two years ago, but quite a different route. We have set aside six weeks for this journey. The main goal of this tour is to cycle a route called the Via Claudia Augusta . This route starts in Donauworth, Germany (located on the River Danube) and ends either in Venice or at the Po River south of Verona (depending which fork of the road you take). The attraction here is that it follows an old Roman road that once connected the northern part of the Empire via the River Danube, with the Adriatic Sea via the River Po or the Venetian lagoon. So there's lots of history attached to it, and it takes you through a lot of beautiful scene...