TdE - Day 17 Bad Homburg - Miltenberg

Route: Bad Homburg - Main - Seligenstadt - Aschaffenburg - Miltenberg 
Distance: 107 km
Elevation: 305
Duration: 5:42 h
Weather: cloudy, sometimes rainy, 18C

Back on the road and bike. After a week of “rest” at my parents place, today on the second rest day of La Vuelta I continued my ride towards the Danube. 

I explained my ride to my parents (and my father continued to forget it, so I explained it over and over again), but I got some good tips, e.g. Miltenberg, a small but very picturesque town along the Main, which is where I am sitting now in the oldest restaurant of Germany!

I started quite late today (after 10:00) with my parents holding awkwardly the bike in front of their house:

The first few kilometers were along the road I took to school by bike for many years. I stopped along the way for this Thai temple (it’s one of two in Bad Homburg):

Strangely enough only a few meters behind my school “terra incognita” started. It seems I never ventured beyond that point. But today I did. The general plan was to follow the Main river, but from Bad Homburg you need to get there first. I planned a basic route yesterday with Komoot. Wasn’t for sure the best route, but it got me to the Main. The nice part started once I had crossed the river with a ferry in Rumpenheim:

From there onwards I followed a bicycle path along the Main. It was well indicated but I also had my trusted Garmin to show me the way. 

At about 25 km I took a relatively short break for half a sandwich brought from home and then decided that Seligenstadt sounded like a good next stop. I remember hearing that name as a child, but I somehow connected it with gliding not with a nice small village with a huge abbey and a very interesting garden, which I found by pure chance (the public toilet was closeby).

The garden was so interesting because it used vegetables and fruit trees with a clear decorative purpose. 

But not only vegetables, I got a grilled sausage at a local butcher’s. Tasty and quick. The weather looked as if it was getting worse over time, so I didn’t want to spend too much time on lunch today. 

After this stop I continued along the river. Twice today it rained. Once it wasn’t actually that bad and a tree provided sufficient cover. The second time I got lucky and found the roof of an outdoor pool, without any guests and waited for the shower to pass. It was never a very long rain. From tomorrow weather should become better. 

Aschaffenburg to my by surprise. I didn’t have any specific expectations and probably I haven’t ever been before, so I was very surprised by this huge palace along the river.

In Aschaffenburg the cycle way was a bit convoluted but I found my way back to the river cycling path.

At some point I passed an other solitary female cycling tourist (the first I saw on my trip), and later on she passed me (because I had been hiding from the rain). So I approved her and we road maybe 20 km together until the camp grounds where she will stay tonight. Nice chit chat. She is riding from Frankfurt to Nürnberg. So depending on the river side we chose tomorrow and our departure times/speeds we might actually meet again tomorrow on the road. 

The last 20ish kilometer into Miltenberg I road again alone, before arriving at my hotel smack in the center of the village. (But I am not staying in the oldest inn of Germany, only eating here).

TdE - Day 10-16 Bad Homburg

Routes: in and around Bad Homburg 

Walking: 44 km

Cycling: 17 km
Weather: Getting colder, generally cloudy, but not that much rain as the weather announcers promised 

This last week a welcome break at my parents house, with a washing machine, my mothers cooking, late starts, some shopping and a lot of walking.

As on the bike I only bring one “off bike” set of clothes I had shipped a small parcel to my parents with more normal clothes. 

On the Monday (TdE Day 10) my mother wanted to go shopping for her, and we found 3 very nice dresses here in Bad Homburg for her which she has been wearing ever since. And I also found a nice dress for me. 

The next day (TdE Day 11) we wanted to do some hiking and took the city bus up to Saalburg, an ancient Roman fortress, which however this time we didn’t visit (we went there with Matteo only a few weeks ago). Instead we hiked over to Hessenpark, an open air museum and then back. On the way out we got slightly lost in the forest, not really lost but didn’t find the most logical way, so when we arrived at the Hessenpark we were hungry. Since the 23/August the “3G rule” applies which in German stands for vaccinated, recovered or tested (geimpft, genesen, getestet) when visiting an indoor location or a restaurant. In some places they just ask in others they duly check at the entrance. At Hessenpark they checked in detail, but we were all in the “geimpft” (vaccinated) category and could proof it, so had no problems. 

After lunch we hiked back taking a slightly different path and this time following an officially indicated hiking path, which came by this newly created pond complete with a bench, where we observed a caterpillar  crawling up and down the table in front of us, apparently without a clear idea where he actually wanted to go. We couldn’t help either. 

In the evening Matteo came for one night and on Wednesday (TdE Day 12) we made a trip together to the newly built “Altstadt” (old town) of Frankfurt. Scenic it is, and for sure nicer than the ugly post war city hall that was occupying that space before. 

We had lunch together and then Matteo departed while we went for some long planned shopping in the city. Due to Covid-19 my parents weren’t in Frankfurt for over a year, maybe even 2 years. Not that they were going to Frankfurt frequently before then either, but since Covid they avoided to take public transport plus most shops were closed for a long time. Nevertheless the shopping list of my mother wasn’t that long either and we managed to get everything in a single street and then had cake in the same street as well before returning home by commuter train. I was surprised how much the busy city center of Frankfurt did stress me out. Living 4 years now in small Leiden and never going to Amsterdam has had an effect. And we’ll, Tokyo or Osaka is just not the same stress level (for me) as a busy European town. Maybe the fact that we needed to look constantly not to loose my father was also an additional stress factor. He orientates himself well in Bad Homburg in areas where he always is, but he wouldn’t be able any longer to orientate himself in Frankfurt or be capable of taking some actions to get back home. 

On Thursday (TdE Day 13) my mother wanted some time at home, I wanted to do some bicycle related shopping, so I took my father along on a bike ride that would bring us midway through to a huge bicycle shop. Actually the same bicycle shop where I bought a lot of equipment for my 2 month ride through Japan 4 years ago. This time I got a new helmet (same model as before as I find it quite comfortable) and a pump, as the old one at my parents place was loosing more air than putting in the tubes.

In the afternoon the weather was still fine (although the weather forecast was warning since days that it would like early autumn and rainy), so all 3 of us went for a walk through the park. Heidi and I each wearing one blue and white shoe as she has two identical pairs of barefoot shoes. (We we’re also wearing our new blue dresses bought on Monday).

We also admired a lot an electric substation that recently got painted as if it were a small temple. The “background” is actually the real background that would be visible if the substation didn’t block the view.

On Friday (TdE Day 14) we had an appointment at a restaurant at Saalburg where my parents first met and where they now 52 years later will celebrate their Golden wedding anniversary. Now it was only the organization what menu to choose, where the table will be… As the appointment was at 11:30 it was too early for us to have lunch right away, so we hiked instead to Herzberg (“heart mountain”) and had lunch there. My parents already told me, but really nearly all the thick forest that once covered the entire hike between Saalburg and Herzberg had gone. Fallen victim to a hurricane and the destructive forces of the bark beetle. 

As it was rather cold that day, all the sun was actually quite welcome but if you are expecting to hike in a nice, lush forest away from the heat, you are up for a big disappointment. 

Yesterday (TdE Day 15) we stayed in Bad Homburg and had a look at the extremely low key edition of the Laternenfest (“lantern festival”). In normal times THE festival of my home town, but this year a quite depressive affair. 

And no, this picture was NOT taken when it was still closed.

And finally today (TdE Day 16) we hardly moved, but we did go down to the nearest park where a traditional dog racing event was held. Although I am afraid of dogs, I do remember it fondly of my childhood days. 

And it was funny again. The best scene being one of these dogs deciding mid race, to take a poop. 

In the afternoon I helped my father to write the text for the invites to their Golden wedding anniversary and packed everything for departure tomorrow. 

 

TdE - Day 9 Boppard - Bad Homburg

Route: Boppard - Bingen (by ship) - Mainz - Bad Homburg (by train)
Distance: 43 km by ship, 34 km by bike, 60 km by train 
Elevation: 54 m
Duration: 1:31 h
Weather: light rain, heavy rain, sun, clouds, 22 C 

Yesterday I missed the boat in Koblenz and ultimately this was a good thing because psychologically it “allowed” me to take the ship today. And what a ship!

MS Goethe, a paddle steamer built more than 100 years ago for riding up and down the Rhein. 

It was a good idea also because of the weather which sometimes had very heavy rain in store, but also because I think this part of the landscape is best seen from a ship. The Rhine valley between Konstanz and Bingen is a very narrow, which means that the rain tracks are besides the road, beside the cycling lane. This the cycling lane isn’t probably really nice. It’s separated from the street, but really alongside. 

From the river however I had perfect view of all the castles that spot the valley. Not sure if this part of Germany is the place on earth with the highest castle density, but it must be close. 

So many castles that even the announcer on the ship only called out the most significant ones, like this pair at Kaub:

Quite interesting was the navigation around Loreley rock. We went super slow and there was even something like a traffic light showing if there was oncoming traffic from behind the bend in the river. The ships going upstream didn’t go straight through but rather sideways, so that they only needed to turn a little bit further at the bend at the exit in order to be again straight. I really could appreciate how difficult navigation on this twisting river is. 

Apart from an overflow of castles, there were also vineyards everywhere, as to be expected. 

After over 4 hours for only 43 km, I got off at Bingen, the last but one stop of the boat, from where I either could have taken a train directly to Frankfurt and then on to Bad Homburg (in case of rain) or alternatively I could cycle a bit onwards, which was the option I took. The valley widens immediately and the cycle path is generally far away from the road and in the meadows of the river. First with a lot of orchards (apples, plums…) and as I was getting closer to Mainz more and more private, small gardens. 

I actually took some pictures but due to some problem with my phone those pictures didn’t get stored. Maybe storage capacity of the phone was limited. Finally later in this week I deleted a lot of old pictures, so I hope this will fix the problem. 

I cycled into Mainz, all the way seeing very dark clouds in front of me, but luckily I had tailwind so the clouds were moving away. I got dry and safe to the station, had just the time to buy a ticket, catch the next commuter train to Frankfurt, make a quick change of trains and out to Bad Homburg where it must have rained heavily shortly before I arrived, but it was dry for long enough for me to make the last 2.5 km to my parents place, where I now will stay for about a week. 

A few days ago I really dreamed about a hot bathtub but when I finally arrived it was warm outside and no longer bathtub weather. 

Around Hardtwald - on Regionalpark Rhein-Main cycling lanes

Bicycle: 15 km 

Riding time: 1:05 h
Total ascent: 150 m
Avg speed: 13.8 km/h
Route: Around Hardtwald
Weather: Cloudy and cold, but no rain

Today after some last minute Xmas shopping I had exactly the time for a small loop around my parents house on my fathers bicycle. A very strange bicycle with 3 brakes! 2 hand brakes but also a coaster brake. Plus the seat post has a suspension which makes that one sits on the bicycle and then sags in... it takes some time getting used to it. But well, it is a bicycle. 

Today I took it up into the small forest and then to the right following (initially) a cycling path that circumnavigates once Bad Homburg. I had done nearly the entire loop in the summer this year, but failed to find the indications in Ober Erlenbach, so ended up in Seulberg and then from there back home. Today I started the otherway round and it was much better indicated and I found my way to Ober Erlenbach. Once there however, I didn't really want to ride into the village, but took this picture instead:

And then continued on through the fields around Seulberg and Friedrichsdorf. There is a cycling lane system, Regional Park Rhein-Main, which while it doesn't really say where the round trip goes to, it is very efficiently indicated with these white stripes on the road... 

... and sometimes also some indications.

Additionally throughout there are indications of directions, similar to the Netherlands. 

What isn't similar to the Netherlands is the gradient.