On the Romantic Road from Dorfgütingen to Creglingen
Wednesday June 20, 2018
When we wake up, we peek through the lacy curtains to see what the weather is like.
Ah, another good day, sun and clouds and no rain in sight. But it seems there were mosquitoes in the room at night. Perhaps many, many mosquitoes. At any rate, Janos's arms are covered with itchy welts. I have some red spots on my legs that aren't itchy - yet. To get ahead of myself with the story of the bites, in the next days the bites don't get much better. I find bites on my arms and neck as well, just not as many as Janos has. So many mosquitoes under the blankets? Finally, I realize they are in all probability flea bites. The itching is at times agonizing, but my main concern is that the pesty creatures might have hopped into our panniers. In the meantime, while I am writing this, we are home, everything has been thoroughly cleaned and there have been no fresh bites. Phew!
Our picturesque landgasthof, with extras
Patina or neglect?
It seems that the hotel is struggling to survive. Probably, there isn't enough money for basic repairs and maintenance. The town Dorfgütingen doesn't seem to be prospering, either. Many houses are vacant and boarded up. The loud traffic running through the center of town doesn't help to make it more liveable.
Anyway, after a decent breakfast, basically the same as our evening meal without the beer, we are on our way again through lovely countryside. We have a short but substantial climb around kilometer five and I announce to Janos, the good news is, that was our only real climb for the day. The bad news: the hotel we booked for tonight is even cheaper than last night's - and you usually get what you pay for. Actually, the Hotel zum Ross in Dorfgütingen wasn't particularly cheap, we found it through booking.com and the price was in the normal range. As it turns out, neither my good news nor my bad news is particularly accurate.
But we do have a divine, long downhill after Schilllingsfürst, and then a wonderful path on a disused railway line.
Anyway, after a decent breakfast, basically the same as our evening meal without the beer, we are on our way again through lovely countryside. We have a short but substantial climb around kilometer five and I announce to Janos, the good news is, that was our only real climb for the day. The bad news: the hotel we booked for tonight is even cheaper than last night's - and you usually get what you pay for. Actually, the Hotel zum Ross in Dorfgütingen wasn't particularly cheap, we found it through booking.com and the price was in the normal range. As it turns out, neither my good news nor my bad news is particularly accurate.
But we do have a divine, long downhill after Schilllingsfürst, and then a wonderful path on a disused railway line.
Actually, we haven't seen too many farm animals in the fields so far.
Old stone cross on the wayside
Roses and geraniums everywhere
A beautiful day, and very hot, the hottest of the whole trip.
We are now on the rail-trail with its easy gradients.
This used to be Bockenfeld train station.
The railway signals as well as the train station have been saved.
It looks kind of curvy for a railway line - maybe it's the foreshortening effect of the zoom lens.
Another little climb and we are in Rothenburg on the Tauber, the river we will now be following. Rothenburg is lovely, we have been here before on other bicycle tours, and Rothenburg is jam packed with tourists. We think it would be too arrogant to just cycle by, so we take a small loop through town. Janos is able to buy an ointment to alleviate the itching bites, we take a few pictures and beat it. There are so many good pictures of Rothenburg to be found elsewhere, I feel no inclination to work my way through the throngs of tourists to get some typical shots.
Choose your language, English or Japanese.
Reflections and geraniums
I didn't take pictures of the tourists, I took a picture of my bike. We are color coordinated.
We leave Rothenburg on a very very steep little foot path down to the Tauber, it somehow doesn't seem to be the right way to exit the town. But we are soon on our bike path and are now riding through the lovely Tauber Valley.
The Tauber - the river itself isn't particularly stunning but the valley is lovely.
In the Tauber Valley
We take a break in the shade.
A guest at our table
Wood stacked along the side of the path
We reach Creglingen around 1:30, too early to check in to our hotel. We circle around the little town and pick a cafe where we can sit in the shade and while away the time. Ice cream, yes it's time for ice cream. Creglingen celebrated a rose festival yesterday, and today there is rose petal ice cream! I have never tasted rose petal ice cream. It's high time. It is excellent - it has the delicate taste of the sweet scent of roses.
The owner of the cafe, and ice cream maker, explains how he made the ice cream. It is hard to imagine the mounds of rose petals required.
We are sitting in the shade but it isn't cool under the awning. A look at the thermometer on the wall tells me it's 34°C. We get back on our bikes and find a cooler spot along the river with a bit of a breeze. I'm still thinking our room is probably going to be small and dreadfully hot. I'm not looking forward to our bargain quarters at all.
The Tauber at Creglingen
We can check in at 3:00 and to our utter surprise the room, no rooms, are spacious and cool. We have a bedroom and sitting room with a little balcony and a view. Although the furnishings are from an earlier generation, everything is in tip-top perfect condition and clean. We are happy to settle in - and hope we didn't bring any fleas with us.