Distance: 94 km
Elevation: 429 m
Duration: 5:05 h
Weather: very sunny, starting coolish, getting warmer but still bearable, 22 C
Today started with the ascent to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. As a child I did the same cycling trip with my father from Wertheim to Rothenburg and I vividly remember how steep the road up to Rothenburg was. Maybe I took a slightly different route today, but it really sooooo bad as I remember. I could have ridden it up, but I stopped just before the city gate to take a picture and remounting on a steep hill I haven’t mastered (yet?). This is how Rothenburg looks from the Tauber:
But the day actually started in the early (well, 9:15) morning mist:
I passed through the center of Rothenburg, which admittedly is a beautiful small town. And now probably because of Covid and the still relatively early morning there weren’t too many tourists.
But I didn’t linger. The 80 km or so to the Altmühlsee were waiting.
Most of the cycling was actually on “normal” roads, not cycling paths, but there is so few traffic in this area, plus there are bigger roads where the actual traffic is, so that it was very relaxing to cycle. And WHAT a landscape.
Not sure if this is a typical German landscape or a typical Franconia landscape but this is definitely MY landscape. Some hills, but nothing too serious. A lot of hamlets and villages, most of them with their own inn… churches with beautiful towers…
But I am getting ahead of myself. After Rothenburg my next goal was this watershed:
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere this important decision is taken for each drop of rain: Atlantic or Black Sea!
Quite close by was the source of the Altmühl. It seems it actually has 3 sources, 2 in a lake and one in the middle of a farm:
From there at least theoretically it was all downhill as I am following a cycling path along the Altmühl, but as it is such a small river, the path doesn’t always strictly stay along the riverbank, so there is a little bit of up and down to master.
Most other cyclist here are “mastering” them with e-bikes. But even on the e-bikes they are quite slow. I think in the entire day today I have never been overtaken by an other cyclist (while cycling). It helps to me younger than the average of other cyclists, but there were also some of my age or younger.
The river slowly wins its way through the meadows …
… and only shortly before the Altmühlsee does it get broad (because of the artificial lake).
At around 15:00 I arrived at my hotel for the night, at the right moment. It was getting hotter and hotter. (Although the wind was cool). So I took a 2 hour break, drinking something cool on the shaded terrace. But the day was so nice and the lake so close that at 17:00 I took the bike again, without the “heavy” bag and did a quick round of the lake. 13 km in 30 minutes, overtaking a lot more e-bikers.
Today really felt like the day you see in adverts for a cycling holiday in Germany. Nice landscape, sunny, old villages, inns, castles…
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