Thursday Rothebburg to Dinkelsbvhl

Cool and cloudy. up early and packed ready to ride. We have been in Europe now for one week. We are lucky that our weather has been perfect for riding and just getting around. Todays ride is said to rolling countryside with farmlands. "Lots of fairytale villages perfectly kept up."

A great ride today as expected. Mostly bicycle paths. most of the group split off to visit a Castle and see a Falcon demonstration. I rode alone to stop and take photos and enjoy German countriside ad is. As it turned out it put me in front of the group and at our lunch stop around 12:30. Perfect timing for a beer and a dish of Spetzel and Cheese. (Kind of like Mac and cheese but much, much better. Eventually the group showed up and took off puting Barbara and me in last place, as usual. Here are some of the photos from todays ride.

Yougos and me. One of our leaders who left today.

George and Laura. We have been on a few trips with these lovely folks. Always fun!

Looking back at town.

Lunch

Wednesday. A day to ourselfs

Seems odd, but oh well! Take it as it comes. But what a great town to be by yourself. Rothenberg. Old and beautiful with a hundred places to spend tourest dollars. I think there are 3 Christmas Shops. Rick Steves has a podcast walking tour now downloaded to my phone. That should be fun. Overcast with no rain today. 57° at 8:50 am. great lighting to shoot film. being alone, I will do just that as well as shots for this blog.

Wienerschnitzel and potato salad

Tomorrow we move on. Its been nice being here and having the time to really check things out. Breakfast at 7:30. Bags down by 9.

Tuesday. Bad Margentheim to Rothenburg

Beautiful Crisp Morning! Breakfast and than another amazing ride. Rolling through the countryside as slow as you want to go. Stop when you want to, enjoy what ever strikes your fancy. Our destination today is a very large Medieval town named Rothenburg. Packed with tourists. Its the first time I have seen a Selfie Stick this trip. Oh ya, that kind of place. it is how ever the first place i have found with a full leitre of Pills in an earthenware stein. (the sun ruins the beer in short order.) For the most part, the town is amazing but tourists, including me, wander not knowing exactly where we are going. Tonights dinner is with the group avter a wine taisting event.

A thing of beauty.

Monday , Monday!

The firsr day of our trip! The perfect day! Crisp' cool and clear! Wurzburg to Bad Mergentheim. 35.6 miles. Marked with chalk arrows all the way. We have been told that we will be on Bicycle path a lot of the way. We were also told that "Bad" means Spa, and when ever ee see that it means that the town was mostly based around miniral springs and a destination spot for travelers in poor health.

Our hotel.

The vineyards in town. Across the river from our hotel.

We had a great ride today. As it turns out it was more like 38 miles. Sunny and dry. Rolling thtough the countryside of mostly open fields,empty possibly post harvest. We did however see lots of apple trees . Some fenced off and pruned in rows. Others,stand alone with lots of drops. There were men picking them up, but no picking of the trees, yet.

Tonight is dinner with the group, here at the hotel. We have been told its one of the best places we will be esting at and to save our appetite. We are in our room waiting for dinner time to come, charging our devices and washing cloths for tomorrow's ride.

Dinner was quite good. We had a choice of 3 things. Beef, Fish or a Baked Feta cheese. I choose the cheese. Multi tall beers. All good and ready for bed.