June 26, 2015
Sonderheim to Dinkelsbühl
We have got to have some shorter days!
Riding along the Donau Radweg to Donauwörth wasn't particularly memorable. There seemed to be a referendum or something like that about a "Polder" with posters and banners for and against in the towns west of Donauwörth. We didn't go into the centre of Donauwörth but followed the signs (with assistance from a helpful local) to join the Romantische Straße Radweg heading north.
Our first stop was Harburg. Wow! We weren't expecting to cross a mediaeval bridge and ride (very steeply) up to a castle. We paid the 3€ admission to the castle but there wasn't access to anything really without taking the tour for an additional 4€. We ate our lunch and used the very modern washrooms. There is a hotel there that would be interesting to stay in, but it was far too early for us to call it a day.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Our next stop was Nördlingen, where we had coffee and pastry at a bakery-cafe. Finally, we made it to a German bakery. We decided to make this a daily occurrence.
Nördlingen was another unexpected gem, but like Hochstädt, there was a lot of construction underway. The huge church of St Georg has been under restoration continuously since 1971! Then again, as Al pointed out, these big churches often took decades or centuries to build.
Onward to Dinkelsbühl, our goal for the day. We thought it would be 35 or so fairly flat kilometres, but they were unexpectedly challenging. We had a hard time finding the route after Marktoffingen and lost the signage somewhere around Minderoffingen. We rode tracks through fields and forests and finally came to Raustetten where the only cycle route marking disagreed with my Garmin (I'm using OpenFietsMap). A fellow came out to set us right--apparently the Radweg had been closed and detoured through Fremdingen until recently, but the signs hadn't yet been replaced. His directions agreed with Garmin's navigation. I noticed on my way through Raustetten that this tiny village of maybe a dozen houses had two (!) guesthouses. For lost travellers?
We finally made it into Dinkelsbühl. We got a room at the second gasthaus we tried, the Goldene Krone. A nice room on the second floor (2 flights up) but this place had a lift. I generally avoid elevators but when I'm really tired and have a lot of stuff to carry, I make exceptions.
After a short explore, we returned to our gasthaus for dinner as it seemed as good as any and at 9 we were in the square for the night watchman tour. It seemed pretty good, but it was all in German. At many of the stops, the watchman would blow three times on his horn and sing a verse before beginning to speak. There were stops in front of many of the hotels and guesthouses, and at each of these the watchman was brought a glass of wine or beer. He passed the glass to one of his listeners who would take a sip and pass it on. I had some white and some red, though the beer never made it to me. By the time the tour ended around 10:30, we were ready for bed. Even though we didn't understand more than a word or two, we enjoyed the evening.
Today's ride: 97 km (60 miles)
Total: 264 km (164 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |