Day 35, 1 7 2014, Schwarzach to Gemunden
We stopped in the very pretty town of Ochsenfurt for a bakery break, and as we left Roz estimated that there must have been 150 cyclists passing through the town. All of the cafes, bakeries, restaurants and the like had a reasonable representation of cyclists. Touring bikes were parked everywhere around the town, carrying luggage to support a morning out, to luggage to support an extended camping trip.
Yet, when we were on the track it was a bit like being on a country road in Australia with cyclists passing every few minutes.
If anything the path today improved. The surface was near perfect, and much of it custom made for this cycle route. There was considerable advertising coming towards the towns and villages, and a fair number of cafes and biergartens opening on to the bike path.
We wondered about the economics of the investment in this bike route, but there is no doubt that it brings a good deal of money to these towns.
The riding today was even easier than yesterday, still flat but with better weather and virtually no wind.
Like most of the German river cycle routes, and there are 37 of them, this is an excellent place to start cycle touring. There is every conceivable service available, and only a few Km between centres.
There is a great deal of tourism in most of the centres along this river, which have in common a basic European design. They preserve the historic centres, and make them pedestrian only. The service areas, supermarkets and the like are at the edge of town. The larger towns have extensive public transport, mostly light rail and trolley buses, and this combines with bikes for local transport.
If this is what people like, and there can be no doubt, why is it that the new world has generally rejected this model? And yet, where areas in new world cities are made pedestrian only, people flood into them, to sit outside and drink coffee and beer, just like Europeans.
102 easy Km for the day.
Roz says: Relying on internet for researching towns comes adrift when we have not had easy wifi lately. The benefit is a magical mystery tour!! More amazing towns en route today especially Wurzburg. You know there is something to see when the river cruiser boats are lined up offloading their patrons into the town.
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