Day 33, 29 6 2014, Bayreuth to Bamberg
Today was a top day’s riding. The Main River cycle route is advertised as Europe’s first five-star route, whatever that means. But it is very good.
The sign-posting is as good as we have seen and the design took us through varying country, farmland, forest and villages as well as a little actually alongside the river. River routes are best when they do not simply take you along the banks of the river. The route used mostly little-trafficked local roads, farm lanes and some built for purpose bike paths. Almost all had a high-quality sealed surface.
We started this morning in undulating country that flattened out during the day.
We thought we might get wet, as the sky was dark and threatening, but we stayed dry, and only had a bit of drizzle.
The riding was a pleasure in its variety and ease, although the head wind that we have had for the last few weeks persisted today.
We rode into Bamberg with no expectations but were overwhelmed by the old town. It is beautiful in a classical European sense. It is full of quirky buildings, brightly painted and of varying age back to the middle ages. I do not know why town centres of this sort are so appealing, but they certainly are. There is a considerable contrast with Bayreuth, which was bombed in the last days of WW2, and seems to have lost a lot of its old structure, although some has been reconstructed tastefully.
We purchased a guide to this route before leaving this morning but the quality of the signage is so good that we hardly used it. I didn’t use TomTom at all.
I have been meaning to make the point for some time that if you choose to use a smart phone for bicycle navigation, you need a backup battery. You can guarantee that the time you want to use the device most is at the end of the day and in the absence of a backup system you will not be able to use it. I use a system of my own devising based in part on a battery for toy electric vehicles.
So, a great day, finished off with a really shit meal at a place recommended by our hotel hostess.
110 easy Km for the day.
Roz says: Beautiful Bavaria and Bamberg, such a wonderful surprise. The villages en route are lovely too with half timbered houses. Also love the sweet smell of fermented cow crap that they spray on the fields, nothing wasted!! Tip for tram travellers (learned in Dresden). Buy a ticket from places like hotel reception and put the ticket straight into the machine when you get on the tram. Man rider sat down first. OMG, it took two ticket collectors to resolve the problem!!
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