Rotenburg/Fulda to Schlitz

July 21, 2012

I was still sleeping soundly when Janos woke me up at 8 o'clock - that doesn't happen too often - and I felt weary, almost drugged all day. We had breakfast and it was still pouring, all the more reason to want to go back to bed. But we didn't. Instead we bravely donned our rain attire and sallied forth.

It's raining so we head straight for the bike path without casting a glance at Rotenburg.

After about 20 km we were in Bad Hersfeld. The Fulda Bike Path is wonderful and well sign-posted, that is until you reach Bad Hersfeld. All of a sudden you are left stranded at the train station. You can choose between some underpasses with stairs or a high bridge spanning the train tracks. I'm sure if you are a local you know how to proceed but there was no help for the cyclist passing through. It was exactly at this point last year that we took long and unnecessary detours trying to get on the bike path. Now we could see clearly that it wasn't our fault. It was almost impossible to find. Almost, since we did find our way into town after a bit of frustration.

It had now stopped raining and sun and clouds alternated. The sun was warm, but when it went under the air was cool, almost too chilly for our sandwich in an outdoor cafe. We ate in the busy pedestrian shopping zone, a post-war conglomerate of not too attractive buildings. Last year we had slept in the youth hostel and spent some time at Bad Hersfeld's Abbey, this time we just passed through and had completely different impressions. I liked it the first time better. Just goes to show how subjective our likes and dislikes are - Bad Hersfeld didn't change but my view of it did.

We weren't using our Garmin track for this part of the route. We had uploaded the tracks from the route we had cycled last year, complete with all the unnecessary detours we had taken, not a big help. This time, we just followed the signs which took us on some paths that were not familiar.

It's still cool enough to wear my rain jacket in spite of the sun.

Lovely path along the train line which must be very new. We didn't see it last year.

It was Saturday and we saw more and more people out on their bikes who would perhaps also be looking for a place to stay tonight. We decided Fulda, where it would be easy to book a room, would be too far for us. Schlitz, a little off our path, seemed to be the best bet. When we got there, we saw we were right, tons of cyclists were cruising around taking the last available rooms, or so we imagined.

Schlitz is pretty, the old part of town situated on a hill. We cycled up and were able to find a room in a quiet little hotel that looked like it hadn't seen any business for quite a while. We got the key, carried our bags in and I didn't bother to shower or change my clothes, I just lay down and fell into a deep sleep until dinner.

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 746 km (463 miles)

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