To Dinkelsbuhl - The Road to Rome, Part Two: Europe - CycleBlaze

September 6, 2021

To Dinkelsbuhl

The most interesting part of the day was our morning walk through Rothenburg, but the ride was very nice too.  Great weather once more, not too long, not too difficult - if you don’t count dropping to and back out of the Tauber and two other streams.  Nothing really specific to say about it though, other than to show some photos.

Oh, wait.  The storks!

Leaving Rothenburg through the Kobolzeller Gate. The cobblestone road drops very steeply to the bridge over the Tauber, making this a challenging cycling route in either direction.
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Crossing the Tauber, we get a last look back up at Rothenburg.
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After dropping 300 feet to the Tauber we have a 400 foot climb out the other side before leveling out on the plateau. Until now we’ve been backtracking the route we took arriving in Rothenburg - except for Kobolzeller Gate, which we wisely took a pass on yesterday.
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We’re at the crossroad to just about everywhere. I count at least eight different branded cycle routes passing this way.
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Steve Miller/GrampiesI think "branded cycle routes" is a good term for these. We love them, and typically stick only to these, downloading their official gpx files. Jacquie Gaudet, by contrast, uses RWGPS and obtains daily point to point routes from this - as she explained when asked how she obtained her "Fibonacci Scribble". Andersons, as far as I remember, have never been very explicit about how they plan their routes. So how do you actually decide where in detail you are going next?
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesWe (primarily I) pretty much invent the general itinerary from scratch, after staring at maps and taking such considerations as time of the year, difficulty, and previous experiences into account. Once we have a vision on the table we iteratively work through a more detailed plan by looking for plausible overnights spaced the right distance apart. We work out the detailed routes primarily using RideWithGPS and Google Maps to model candidate routes. Other than to take suggestions from a few cycling guides early on, I don’t think we’ve ever consciously chosen a predefined route to follow.

RideWithGPS just keeps improving though. One recent enhancement that I really appreciate is that it highlights and quantifies the portions of the route that are unpaved. This works much better than staring at the satellite view trying to figure out if some minor road is paved or not.
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3 years ago
There are many wind turbines up here but they’re all motionless today.
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Crossing the Tauber at Wilhelmsmühle. We’re near its source and the river is a mere trickle here.
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In Wilhelmsmühle.
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In Wilhelmsmühle.
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Suzanne GibsonI often see goats and chickens kept together, I wonder why.
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonKeith Klein probably knows. He’s a font of esoteric knowledge.
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3 years ago
Suzanne GibsonI just googled it myself - they offer protection against foxes and hawks.
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3 years ago
Entering Wettringen.
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For a short ride we packed in a fair amount of climbing. More than a fair amount really, some would say.
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We stopped for lunch in tiny Arzbach after the last climb of note for the day. We found the perfect spot here, a watering hole beneath the shade of a linden tree.
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How do we know it’s a watering hole? By the bottle opener, of course!
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The GBO never gets to commune with his own kind, so we let him out for this rare opportunity. Pretty frustrating though - they shared no common language, and without arms they couldn’t pantomime either.
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Jen RahnCertainly GBO left this encounter having at least mastered his pronunciation of "Prost!"
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnMaybe, but with his unfortunate speech impediment it’s hard to tell.
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3 years ago
This was in the adjacent garden. So what are these, anyway? We’ve been spotting them from time to time ever since entering Germany.
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Keith KleinHi,
We call them insect hotels in France. They are supposed to promote biodiversity in the invertebrate community.
Cheers,
Keith
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Keith KleinInsect hotels! I love that.
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3 years ago
Rich FrasierI’ve got one in my garden but after 3 years nothing has moved in. I’m starting to get a complex about it…
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3 years ago
Bruce LellmanThe holes in the wood and straws (middle left) are for mason bees. I drill holes in a different piece of wood each year for masons. I mount the pieces of wood on the side of our garage facing south under an eave. The masons love them. They lay eggs in the holes, mud them over and die. In the spring the new bees emerge and pollinate our fruit trees. Our fruit production has increased significantly because of the masons. The thing about mason bees is that they come out earlier than honey bees and don't care if the weather is awful like Oregon springtime weather often is. And they don't sting.
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3 years ago
steve bartleyInsect house
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3 years ago
In the garden.
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Bill ShaneyfeltCabbage butterfly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieris_brassicae
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltWell, of course. What’s the flower though? It doesn’t look like cabbage.
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3 years ago
Bill ShaneyfeltNot laying eggs. They like all kinds of nectar.

Not sure about the flowers without leaves, but looks kind of like wild basil.

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:61206-2
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3 years ago
Just a shot along the way. Great sky today!
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Stork! We’d about given up on seeing a stork on this tour, thinking they must have all already gone south.
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Suzanne GibsonYay! Great shot!
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThanks! I was so tickled to catch him with his beak open.
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3 years ago
What could be better than seeing a wild stork up close? Two storks, of course.
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Keith KleinThey like to follow the farmers mowing hay, picking up insects and other small critters. If you pass someone cutting hay you might see as many as thirty following along.
Cheers
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3 years ago
A deceptively bucolic but sad scene as we enter Dinkelsbuhl - the old debtors’ prison.
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Entering Dinkelsbuhl through the Rothenburg Gate.
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Video sound track: Waiting for You, by Lee Ritenour

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Ride stats today: 36 miles, 1,800’; for the tour: 872 miles, 79,200’

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 870 miles (1,400 km)

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Ben ParkeWhich route did you follow to Dinkelsbühl? The town names don’t sound familiar from what I recall when I rode the Romantische Strasse. There are so many Radweg options in germany. A person could ride between the same towns but not take the same route twice.
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3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Ben ParkeWe didn’t follow a named route in general. Most of it is signed as bike routes, but it was a mishmash. I just experimented around with RideWithGPS until finding a route from that was not too long, not too hard, not too unpaved. Just right.
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3 years ago
Ben ParkeTo Scott AndersonAs memory serves, the Romantische Strasse had a habit of going some rather random places. I think I may have bypassed part of it and rode along a main road on a nice paved surface for part of it. That was a few years ago though. Memory is getting fuzzy. You should hit Nördlingen tomorrow. I really enjoy that town. You can walk all the way around the town on the city wall.
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3 years ago