Day Three of the tour: Ochsenfurt to Gemünden

Since the bridge over the Main is being rebuild, the town of Ochsenfurt has sponsored a ferry just a bit downstream from where the bridge was. It is for pedestrians and bicyclists only. Cost for a bike is 50 cents. We road up just as the ferry was leaving with a large load of cyclists.





We were the only cyclists on our voyage.




Once on the other side we made good time -- it was cool but still humid. Then came the first few drops then more and finally it was a full fledged rainstorm. We were in a park and managed to find shelter under a some trees (with a few other cyclists). Whenever there was a lull we'd ride a bit. We came to bridge were there appeared to be the annual meeting of the local cyclists club -- at least that is the way it looked with all the bikes parked underneath the bridge.

Finally the rain let up enough that we decided it was time to push on. As we pass thru Würzburg we looked for a place to stop for beer and/or coffee. I'm sure there were plenty of places open in town but everyplace along the bike path was not yet open. This continued for quite a while. Monday must be a popular rest day ("Ruhetag") in these parts.

Finally about 1:30pm in the village of Himmelheim we pasted a place just off the bike path that was open -- Biergarten "Down Town." It was sort of a permanent tent, done up in a Western (US) theme - wagon wheels and old wooden junk scattered about. The beer was Würzbuger Hofbräu Pils, And at Schnitzel with fries was just €4.50, so we were watered and fed.




We continued on and when we reached Gemünden we decided to stop for the day. It was 68km or so (my GPS lost satellite track a few times while we waited under a bridge) in about 4:30 hours of riding. A little slower pace, but the rain made for slower going.

Our hotel sold beer from Schlappesepple in Aschaffenburg -- it used to be a brewery but now the beers are contract brewed someplace else. Didn't matter, we were thirsty. I had the Pils, the others the Dunkles. The Dunkles was better. If you had called the Pils a "Helles" or even "Lager" I would probably have liked it better -- something with "Pils" in the name should have some hops.




We wandered about the town looking for a place to eat and settled on the Ratsschenke -- fresh Steinpilze (Stone mushrooms) was the clincher. The beers were Würzburger Hofbräu Pils and Werner Landbier. Tom had the Pils and my dad and I the Landbier. The Landbier followed what seems to the pattern around here -- well made (nothing significantly wrong) just sort of bland. Beer number two for me was the Pils.





Tomorrow is an if-y day. It should be nice riding weather if the rain stays away. But we are feeing worn and my bike is making some noises that I hope are just mud in the wrong places but I may have the bike shop across the way take a look.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Obertorstraße,Gemunden,Germany