Germany Splendour

I'm now a week into my tour and what an amazing first 300km it's been, full of plenty ups and downs already.  My bike did arrive the next day, thankfully.  I'm still struggling to adjust to the time change here though. My body likes to be awake way too early in the morning and wants to sleep mid-afternoon here.  I know I'm not getting as much sleep as I should and need, but am hoping all will pass soon (fingers crossed).

From Frankfurt I look the train to Mainz, a beautiful resort town on the Rhine river. Steps that disappear into the river and sandy plots with volleyball nets and lounge chairs and outdoor restaurants (a little like what I would imagine Greece to be like in the Roman times actually). While I was cycling along the river prominade I heard a group of men singing drinking songs, it had a lot of peoples attention so I had to check it out. Never would I have ever imagined what I saw...a Beer Wagon! I wish I could have gotten a picture of it but they were gone down the street too fast. Seriously though. So imagine a vendor cart on wheels with a canopy over head and about eight men (four on each side) sitting at a rectangle table (on wheels) with beer taps in front of them and glasses in hand singing drinking songs and pedalling the whole time. Not sure how the mechanics work as they are pedalling towards the centre of the table rather than the front, but it did and does.  Okay way too awesome! I want one for christmas now.

Germany has the best bike routes, they are every where! Rarely am I cycling on roads, pretty much only when I go through towns.  South of Mainz is the winegrowing region of Phalz. I came across my first vineyards there, the bike route goes right through the middle of them, it was an amazing experience. There was a shelter built from old clay bricks for cyclists to rest under in the middle of the vineyards even.

I am sooo in love with Germany! Every little town I pass through is absolutely perfect with is narrow streets and small markets and colourful two and three story buildings made of old brick. Every town also has an old church or two. From a distance I always see steeples sticking out of each town (most towns are about fifteen to twenty kilometres apart so you easily see them from a distance). The country side is a mix of rolling farm fields littered with wind turbines and then steep wine vineyards near the slopes of the river in places.

The Rhine has a culture of its own, when I look at it I see it's history and depth by the boats on it, a mix of some new speed boats, lots of old river boats and a constant stream of transport boats.  It's a fast flowing river and flows in the opposite direction than I think it should (I think it should flow south, but it doesn't...a lesson in not getting everything I want every time I look at it).

At Mannheim (about 60km south of Mainz) I decided to route away from the Rhine and follow the Neckar Valley for a bit of change.  Wow was I ever surprised! Ancient medieval villages with massive castles and old churches and traditional stone houses below situated in a valley between medium sized mountains that are lush and green with the Neckar river making it's way through the valley bottom.  I'm pretty sure I did not close my mouth once since beginning in this valley due to the awe it elicits.  

Hiedelberg is the first town in this valley.  I found a statue over a stone bridge of all women. At the top was a solo woman in roman armour holding a shield and below her several other women were sitting at her feet. It was magnificent to see women depicted with such strength. A huge castle sat up the mountain side above to the left and a large cathedral surrounded by stone houses to the right with the promenade below on both sides of the river.  People lounged on the grass and fished in the river, no one had a care in the world it seemed.  It was quite busy there though, tourists and it being Sunday. While staring at the castle, I almost veered off the side walk on to the road (that would not have gone well for me or my bike!). As beautiful as Hiedelberg is I was happy to be moving on to less busy places further down the valley.   

I stopped in Neckergemund for a banana and some nutella snack. I'd found a clean creek that flowed into the Neckar river near the promenade there and took the opportunity to splash some grime off my body. I also discovered that the river bottom for the Neckar is red clay sand and river itself is very warm. Some river ducks waddled around me eyeballing my banana and nutella, but as nice as their company was, there was no way I'd share such a treat with a bunch of ducks!  

In Eberbach I found a campground in the middle of the village and immediately veered in as it was around 8pm and I was reaching about 95km for the day.  People camp so differently here.  They have large almost army like tents and bring everything but the kitchen sink with them and no one wastes time on a campfire as most campsites are in the middle of the village.  Instead each tent has a small table they each brought with candles and couples and small families lounge about with wine and dinner. 

When I was seeking out a place to put up my tent, I came across a woman at one of the only picnic tables here and asked her about paying for the night.  It turns out she is cycling to Vienna solo as well! She is from Holland, 56 years old.  She had just finish having dinner and offered for me to join her. Do you know how wonderful it is to arrive at a days end and not have to make dinner?!  She had made delicious pasta with fresh veggies! Gave me a glass of wine and we had instant cappuccino's and cookies (that I supplied) for dessert. I cannot say how wonderful it is to come across another woman cycling alone as there are not many in this world.  

I also discovered that I'd be able to have a shower and considering I had not had one since l left Frankfurt two days earlier was very excited! I even found a place to charge my ipad for a bit in the bathroom, something I'd been trying to do all day. After my shower I was lounging in the bathingroom letting my ipad charge for as long as I could when another woman came in and we started talking.  She too is cycling, alone (!!!), to Prague.  Do you know the odds of me finding two other women who are touring alone in one place are?!! Rare. When I crawled into my tent that night the world felt a little smaller and not so alone because of two strangers.  

After breakfast the next morning my new friend from Holland was ready before me, mainly because I had to clean breakfast dishes as we used my things for the morning. We said our goodbyes with hopes of maybe running into each other again on the road some where.  I was ready to roll about thirty minutes later.

It's so odd here because villages are so close together, valleys are short and beautiful vistas end too quickly. The last bit of the Neckar Valley ended too soon (even though the river goes on till the Alps). On route to Heilbronn, the next large city on my route, I came across a mall in a village (I use the word mall for lack of a better word, I didn't go inside, but from the exterior it looked more like a big Garden centre, but I suspect there were other stores inside. I needed to eat something and was hoping to find a wifi connection there (something I'm constantly seeking out, along with a place to charge devices)).

There were some tables and chairs out front, which I took advantage of to make myself a sandwich.  While eating my sandwich, I quickly became the talk of the mall.  Two older German ladies sitting beside me inquired about what I was doing and where I was going.  Okay so I speak very very little german and these ladies spoke about the equivalent amount of English. I am discovering though that conversation is still possible despite language barriers. I had maps out deciding which way I wanted to go next while devouring my sandwich. It didn't take long for the ladies to be curious and start to ask questions. I got the impression that they came to this garden mall often to socialize with the employees and other people as they had many visitors for the hour I was sitting there. After communicating that I was cycling to Istanbul and then on to SE Asia and all alone for the next ten months, the ladies decided I should become the celebrity of the garden mall and told every one who'd listen (in german) what I was doing. The shining spotlight moment of my life eh! But all good things must come to an end, especially when I don't get an internet connection or plugin and so I moseyed on my way. 

Heilbronn was the next major city where I planned to route away from the Neckar River and seek out more castles.  What a navigation disaster Heilbronn is! I was turned around so quickly I had no idea. And actually the only reason I found out I was headed back in the same direction I came but on the other side of the river is because of two large smoke stacks I'd passed on the way in.  When I discovered roughly where I was I re-routed to get myself eventually back to where I wanted to be.  It was here on this re-route that I had an unexpected visitor.  A girl in her mid twenties I'm guessing saw me ahead of her and pedalled to catch up.  Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks Heilbronn is poorly marked for their bike routes because she was lost too.  Unfortunately she was headed to Frankfurt along the same route I had just spent the past two days cycling. Her visit didn't last long.  I was running out of daylight and needed to push through if I was to find a place to put up my tent for the night somewhere.

After spending that night in a sudden storm in my tent I was happy to see the next morning sunshine! After a morning dry out session it was time to get cycling again as I was excited to find more castles. This castle route proved to be more challenging with many more hills.  I came across this wonderful bakery in one of the villages called Cappel to distract me. Let me just say when it comes to pastries and breads Germans know their stuff! Absolutely delicious!

I have also now come to realize that all the castles are built high up on mountain sides, which means this route I'm not would take me through some big ascends and descends.  Not such a great prospect after the lack of sleep the night before due to the storm. The first big hill up was to Waldenburg (a 10km switchback up to the top with not so nice grades). In addition my derailleur is acting up and I couldn't get my gears to drop into an easier gear to make it up the hill...meaning I'd have to do these hills in a harder gear (just what I needed but had no choice).  I did it though, made it to the top and was treated to another Medieval village with spectacular views of the valley below. I found a cafe for a cup a green tea and some homemade apple juice to rest and recover and look at the map to examine more closely what was ahead of me.....take a wild guess....more steep hills! I wouldn't be so frustrated by these steep hills if my derailleur was functioning properly and had full range of my gears, but I just let these feelings be and accepted the situation.

The other part of steep grades up is you also get big hills down, which is always fun.  I headed into dense forest and wilderness, which is a rare thing here in Germany.  The forest was so quiet though, it was odd.  No birds, no sounds whatsoever, not even trees rustling, but beautiful nonetheless.  I had also decided that I'd stop at Schwabisch Hall making my cycling kilometres for the day at only about 60km, but after all the hills really didn't have much choice due to the beating my body was taking.  I also spied that there was a Hostel there and decided a real bed with a roof overhead was just what I needed for the night coming.  

After two more massive climbs up through the forest and a long ride down I came into the next valley.  When I finally saw Schwabish Hall, I was again surprised by it's immense beauty. This time I was treated to a Medieval city rather than a small village situated in the bottom of the valley rather than high on the mountain (thank god!). 

After finding my way through the city, which I might add is full of hills, I found the Hostel only to discover it was full for the night.  Tired and exhausted, I checked myself into the hotel next door.  I'm going to take an early rest day today as my body hurts a lot from the insane hills of yesterday, besides I want to explore the city and was too tired when I arrived to do anything other than a short walk (which I felt in my legs immensely due to the hills in this city).  I really didn't want to spend this much money, but will enjoy it nonetheless.  I know I deserve treats like this and will not bother feeling guilty!

This morning when I woke and was fully prepared to find a cheaper place to stay, but after enjoying brunch in the cafe below decided that I was going to stay another day in my hotel. This place is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so why shouldn't I treat myself to the splendours of it.  Plus my body really needs a break and the thought of moving to the hostel was just too much effort.  I also discovered that there is no place to do laundry here, which I really needed as all my clothes are dirty now and smell.  So after a hand washing session in the sink and clothes rinse in the shower, I now have clean clothes drying in my hotel room.  

I love having days off! There are several churches in addition to the main cathedral and when the hour and the half hour come to pass, all chime together.  Pretty awesome to hear.  I've spent the day walking around the city exploring everything I could.  And found the bakery, which is now a daily treat!  I can also order everything I want all in German, so proud of myself! It's amazing how quickly you pick up on language when no one speaks the same language as you.  

There is a huge cathedral in the middle of downtown and is situated to be at the highest point of the city so it looks down on everything.  I lounged on the steps of the cathedral in the afternoon sun drinking some wine I purchased at a wine shop I found (because here in Germany it is not a crime to drink in public!) and munched on my daily bakery treat.  There is an outdoor theatre that is staged on the cathedral steps, I watched them set up over 100 chairs in the courtyard below.  

I'm actually rarely about after dark, mainly because I'm sleeping and have usually been up since 5am, but tonight I found a place to catch glimpses of the theatre production.  The city is equally as beautiful at night as in the day!

I'm sorry about the lack of pictures for everyone too.  I'm having trouble getting pictures from my camera to my ipad, but am working on it and hope to find a solution soon.