Wipfeld to Bamberg

Sunday marked our tenth day of riding without a rest. Yes, we had had two "half days" in there but they ended up being a bit stressful for other reasons, so not much rest.

We left Wipfeld and headed north along the Main towards Schweinfurt. There was some sort of water sports festival along the river and they were already selling Brauhaus Schweinfurt beer (the other brewery in Schweinfurt) but at 10:00am it was a bit early, considering all the breweries we'd pass that day. We did stop for a coffee at a nice new Youth Hostel along the Main.

We passed thru Hassfurt -- a nice Eiscafe that I'd visited two years ago but no brewery and soon arrived in Zeil am Main, home to Brauerei Göller.

Brauerei Göller

Göller does quite a selection of beers and many of the wheat beers that smaller breweries in the area serve as their own are actually brewed by Göller. They also do a lot of contract bottling, especially of "swing top" or bügelverschloss (a/k/a "Grolsch bottles) as these require specialized, expensive equipment.

The biergarten was packed as would be expected on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We had a nice lunch and Rauchbier and Kellerbier each.

Göller Kellerbier (take my word for it)

Setting off again after a while we came to Stettfeld, the last village before you cross from Unterfranken to Oberfranken. It is home of Brauerei Schwarzer Alder and produces one of my favorite beers in the area. So we stopped for a couple. Patrick, a friend from Bamberg rode out to meet us for a beer and then rode back in to Bamberg with us.

Adler Pils

There were a number of routes we could take, with a choice of brewery stops but we decided for the southern bank of the Main with a stop in Bischberg at Brauerei zur Sonne.

Brauerei zur Sonne, Bischberg

They had a Zwickel and Hell on tap and we ended up having one of each. They are similar beers, with the Zwickel being a bit cloudy and a bit more bitterness. Both were delecious.

Zwickel (rear) and Hell

We headed into Bamberg, passing the end of the navigitable portion of the Main and the start of the Main-Donau canal (the Regnitz river). A bit of a milestone.

Milestone!

We also saw, tied up at the port a catamaran from the Virgin Islands named Angel Louise. We had seen this ship all along the Main is we rode up. Like seeing an old friend.

And old friend...

We are staying at Brauerei Fässla but they close at noon on Sundays so they left the keys for us across the street at Brauerei Spezial. After retreiving the keys we thought it only polite to have a beer as a thank you. It had started to sprinkle and the only outside tables were in the rain. The waitress at first refused to serve us but relented and said we could have just one. So we sat in the fine drizzle (much lighter than we've ridden thru) and enjoyed our Spezial Lagerbier.

After been made fit for civilization (as much as is possible) we met back at Spezial for dinner.

Tomorrow we walk -- yes walk -- around Bamberg and drink some local beers.

Distance Ridden 77km
Total Distance: 1033km