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Weikershiem/Laudenbach – Schwabenmuhle – ASCI-2010-611, contd
Sunday, the sun is shining when we get up.
Mass is 9:00, so Kathleen has to be up and ready unusually early (for her), the church is only five minutes walk away.
We (I), blunder with the buying of bread, the bread shop in the village does not open on Sundays and we have not ordered bread from Reception, so I have to cycle to Weikersheim (5 miles there and back), to buy bread, whilst Kathleen is at church.
After mass, a cycle ride to Niederstetten, only 5 miles away, but very up and down, a very hard 10 miles round trip!
It is Fathers day today, I get the "Happy Fathers Day" messages from Gary, Dana, Claire, Phillippa and Tanya.
Kathleen, goes out of her way to look after me and fuss over me, as you can see.
We decide that tomorrow, we will have another little adventure.
In this region, you are allowed to take bicycles on the train, free of charge.
A couple of days ago, I was talking to a fellow brit (well a Scot), caravanner, who was staying on the site, and he told me they had used the train (not with bicycles), to travel to Wurzburg, and, that the station (Bahnhof) is only a short distance away.
We walk to the railway station, it turns out to be only about 500metres away, check out the time and frequency of the trains, and also how to work the ticket machine.
I should explain, the train does not routinely stop at Laudenbach, if you want the train to stop for you, you have to be on the platform and signal it to stop!
Similarly, if you are on the train, and you want it to stop at Laudenbach, so you can get off, you have to go to the front of the train and tell the driver.
Monday morning, we set off at 9:45, on our bicycles, to catch the 10:00 train to Bad Mergentheim.
We arrive, just in time to see our Dutch neighbours boarding the train going in the opposite direction, complete with bicycles.
We negotiate the complexities of the ticket machine, and manage to buy ourselves two single tickets to Bad Mergentheim, at 2.20Euro each.
We are just completing the transaction when a helpful German chap asks us if we need any help. Although we do not realise it, he addresses us in Dutch, but when he realises we are English he immediately switches to English.
His is interesting and informative to talk to, and chats to us as we wait for the train, which arrives at about 10:10. We are not sure if this is because the legendary German efficiency has slipped, or if my reading of the timetable was faulty.
Our new German friend, it turns out, was born here in Laudenbach, 70 years ago, and spent his childhood here, but has since lived in the UK, USA and Holland, where he now lives with his American wife.
He explains to us, that when the railways were built, in this part of Germany, (just over a hundred years ago), the region was divided into several little kingdoms. Each had its own railway, which served the towns within the kingdom, but had poor or none existent connections with neighbouring kingdoms. Hence whilst it is simple to travel between (now obscure) places, which were formally in the same kingdom, it is sometimes torturous to travel to significant towns which were formally in a different kingdom.
Our conversation then ranges over the trials of the Euro, and how the German people are happy with the economic stability and low inflation it has brought, but they are unhappy with having to bail out Greece, and possibly other Southern European countries, since they feel the Southern Europeans (and in particular the Greeks), have deliberately misled the rest of Europe as to their parlous economic condition.
He is very easy to talk to, and despite the usual Basil Fawlty advice, when talking to Germans, of "don't mention the war", I even risk a question (which has puzzled me), ie how did all of these villages and towns with their building from the middle ages, escape damage in the war. His answer, seems sensible, since there is virtually no industry in the area, except wine making, the area escaped bombing by ourselves and the Americans (it is even too far from major industrial centres for American legendary target (in)accuracy to have done any damage).
He really has, had an interesting life, after university, he trained to be an English teacher in Germany. This entailed spending a minimum of one year living in the UK. He actually opted to spend two years there, living and working for one year in Glasgow, and a second year in Southampton. He was even able (after all these years) to detect from our accent that we came from the North of England, and to do a passable imitation of a Scots person talking. After his teaching time, he became an Academic and worked at Universities in the USA and Holland.
Although, he is now 70 and retired, he now helps "old" people, on a volantary basis.
Eventually our train arrives. There is a designated place in each carriage to put bicycles, naturally, this is German organisation. Since there are three steps up from the platform to the cycle bay, this is no easy task, and I have to load both bicycles, but the driver is patient and waits for us.
The train stops at several small villages along the way, and more people with bicycles get on. Also what seems like a class full of school children aged about 10/11, it would appear supervised by only one adult. They were remarkably well behaved, but all wished to sit in the "front" carriage where the driver was.
We arrive at Bad Mergentheim, and unload the bicycles. Our German friend is getting off here too, and we say our goodbyes and head off to explore.
In truth, whilst it is a very pleasant place, it is perhaps not quite as nice as some of the other villages and towns we have visited. There is a very poignant memorial to local Jews who were killed during the Hitler era. So sad to see a list of several hundred names, all with differing dates of birth, but the same year of death.
On a brighter note, it has been an interesting and informative train journey to get here, now we must find our way back!
As we cycle back toward Weikersheim, we pass the Bad Mergentheim Stellplatz, which is shown in the Stellplatz book.
I pause to take a photograph, as you can see.
It is a reasonable spot, as stellplatz go, and has Electric hookup, waste disposal facilities etc.
I catch up with Kathleen, who, typically, has not waited for me, and we cycle on, mostly along the River Tauber. It is easy going, and to be honest, I think it is as quick to cycle as to take the train!
We pass through the several villages where the train had stopped on our way here, ie Igersheim, Markelsheim, Elpersheim (seen here), and then Weikersheim and Laudenbach, to make 12.5 miles in total.
We detour at Weikersheim to buy fruit and vegetables, plus, I buy some German sausage to have for my lunch. Kathleen, predictably, sticks to Edam.
The German sausage evokes memories of childhood.
As a child, did you ever have "Polony" (if you remember it was a sort of large sausage with bright red skin, which you could not eat).
The German sausage tastes a bit like that, but slightly more pleasant. Definately more pleasant that the Weiswurst of a previous lunch time!.
It is decided that since we have a heap of washing, we need to use the washing machine. Having deciphered a German railway ticket machine, operating a washing machine with all of the controls in German is only a minor challenge for Kathleen.
The washing emerges clean, and the same size as it went in.
What more can you ask?
Here you have what is probably, that should be definately, the only photograph this trip, of Kathleen preparing vegetables for our evening meal.
Just to re-inforce the point, you can even see some of the washing hanging out to dry, she has been a busy little bee.
Dinkelsbuhl – Stellplatz Contd
Overnight, it rains none stop. It stops briefly at about 9:30 on Friday morning, which allows me to cycle to the campsite to pay our 10Euro, and get our token to get through the barrier. By the time we leave, it has started to rain again.
I had hoped to take a photograph of the Stellplatz, but it was raining too hard!
Our destination is a site at Geslau (ASCI2010-475), which we think will be in cycling distance of Rothenburg.
When we arrive, it is pouring with rain, which never helps with first impressions of a place, plus it is very remote (it is not actually in Geslau, but at a hamlet called Lauterbach) and we have neglected to buy bread (or rice which we need), note the use of “we”, you know the score, no names, no pack drill.
After some discussion, we drive into town (Rothenburg) to buy supplies, the good news is, the supplies includes an Apple Strudel.
The rain continues, if anything it is worse. We decide, if we return to Geslau/Lauterbach, all we will be able to do is sit in the van and watch the rain. We study the Stellplatz map, and the ASCI map, and decide to head for Weikershiem/Laudenbach (ASCI-611).
This does mean we are missing out Rothenburg, but given that we have now done three medieval towns, we cannot summon much enthusiasm to walk around another one in the pouring rain.
Getting out of Rothenburg turns out to be something of a nightmare.
The Tomtom directs us down a road which is closed. Not sure why it is closed, all the signs are (understandably) in German. Our only options are ahead, which has a height limit too low for us, or a left turn into a car park. Fortunately the car pack has room to allow us to turn around.
We try following the signposts, for a diversion, but we run out of signs and end up at the bottom of a very steep hill, in a very small road, in a village, at yet another road closed sign. We are accompanied by a large German lorry, towing an equally large trailer. I manage to keep out of his way, while he attempts to turn around, which he does manage to do, but not before flattening a road sign, with the trailer. He does not seem too worried about this, as he smiles to us, and shrugs his shoulders French style.
At a junction at the top of the hill again, the German lorry stops, and waits until another passing lorry gives him directions, we opt to follow him, given that he is bigger than us, and if he can get past, so can we, until eventually the Tomtom begins giving us sensible directions again.
Weikershiem/Laudenbach – Schwabenmuhle – ASCI-2010-611
I hesitate to say this, but the rain has stopped. For the first time in I think four days, the sun is shining and we can actually see some blue sky!
This site is also in the Stellplatz book, and there is an area just outside of the site, which looks like you could park there. But inside the site everything is brand new, most of it looks as if it has never been used before, it is excellent. The owner and his daughter, do not really speak English, but they try hard, and with a bit of English, a bit of German and a bit of arm waving, we manage to communicate.
We cannot help but notice, the Germans have World Cup fever. People have flags in their windows, flags on their cars etc etc. I know they have thrashed Australia 4-0, and today when we arrive at this site, the owner is too engrossed in the football on TV, to check us in, Kathleen tells him she will come back when the match has finished.
We find the church in the village, the sun is shining, so Kathleen is happy. Added to this, one of the chaps watching the football, apparently plays the Organ at the church, and he is called Albert, so she has a date with him (at church) on Sunday.
Saturday, I hardly dare say this, it is not raining!
It is hairdressing day, so it is decided we will do the cycling in the morning, before the hair washing etc.
There is a cycle track to the next village, Weikersheim, and it is reasonably flat. On our way we spot a Lidl and an Aldi, both within 3km of the campsite, just on the outskirts of Weikersheim.
There is nothing Kathleen likes better than to have a Lidl within cycling distance.
As you can see, there is a wedding in progress, they must have started early, it is only 10:15 and they are at the photographs stage.
Sorry, we still have the sideways photograph problem!
Weikersheim is another village full of buildings from the middle ages, and has a large square with cafes/bars around it, and lots of tables to sit having a drink and/or food.
This suggests, they usually have fine weather and warm sunshine here, although, some of the cafes do have blankets provided to wrap around you, while you sit enjoying your drink (I am not joking!).
Just at the end of the square, behind where the couple are having their wedding photographs taken, there is a Schloss or castle / stately home.
As you can see, it is a very grand affair, and dates back to 1400 and something, if my memeory is working.
This shot is of the courtyard in front of the main building.
It also has gardens, some of which are the "usual" formal rose garden type etc, but, the part I liked the best, was a "Witches and Spells Garden".
Here, in addition to all kinds of "magic" props, like animal bones, hideous masks etc, they have figures of witches sitting on broomsticks, with their pet Raven in attendance, perched high above the footpath where you walk.
There were other amusing little touches to do with superstitions, for example, as you walk along the path, you are forced to walk under a ladder, propped against the wall, because there is nowhere else to walk.
Plus there is this chap, a figure of a wizard or goblin, I am not sure which, sitting on the branch of a tree, watching you as you walk through the garden.
We cycle on towards Creglingen (this is about 19km away, I do not expect to get that far).
As we went along, we pass a Stellplatz at Rottingen (it is in the book). I linger to check it out, for Bryan and Joan.
Kathleen pedals on regardless, see later.
There are about 20 vans there (all German as far as I can see, not that it really matters).
It is opposite the fire station and alongside the river.
The green portacabin type buildings are showers and toilets, at the time we are passing, there is even a cleaner there, doing the necessary.
There is also the usual fresh water and waste empting point, plus Electric hook ups.
Once I have finished taking the photographs, I pedal on after Kathleen.
We have been following a well signposted cycle track, along the river. I continued following the track, through Rottingen, and on toward Creglingen.
I usually pedal quite a bit faster than Kathleen, so when I have not caught up with her after about two miles beyond Rottingen, I conclude, she is not in front of me, but must have taken a detour.
Fortunately, we have our mobile phones with us.
Needless to say, I get no answer when I call.
Shortly after, I receive a text, to say she is in the church at Rottingen. I turn around and peddle back, to Rottingen (seen here).
It is verbotten to comment on who's fault this little mix up was.
We set out, together this time, still heading toward Creglingen.
We make it as far at a place called Klinger, before it is decided we have gone far enough and we turn around and head back.
As you can see, the cycle track is excellent, making its way gently through lovely quiet countryside, and is more or less flat.
Although it looks deserted, except for Kathleen pedalling on ahead, there are actually quite a lot of people cycling along, or having a picnic at tables provided along the way.
We return to Weikersheim, and pause in the square for a beer, before pedalling back to the campsite, to complete a 23 mile ride.
After lunch, Kathleen disappears for the rest of the afternoon to do the hairwashing / drying / straightening.
Wednesday, and we wake up to rain. We decide to give up, on waiting for better weather, and continue on our way along the Romantische Strasse.
There are no more campsites actually on, or reasonably near to the Romantische Strasse for some considerable distance, so we head for a Stellplatz (a German version of the French Aire).
Donauworth – Stellplatz
We have not used one of these before, so this will be another little adventure.
The Stellplatz is at Donauworth (for Bryan and Joan, or anyone else who may read this and come this way). We got it from the Stellplatz book (2010 version), it is Page 216. It is called Wohnmobilstellplatz am Festplatz. Which I think translates as “Mobile home parking place at the Festival Ground”.
The book says there are places for 8 vans, but when we get there we find there is marked out parking for 8 vans, plus unmarked space for about 4 more, on the edge of a large car park, but only 8 electric hook points (1Euro per 8hours of Electric at about 6amps).
There is a service point for fresh water, and a disposal point for Water and Chemical Toilet.
Water is 1 Euro/100litres, the actual parking is free, and you can stay for upto 5 days (we think), so in short it is 3Euro per day, or free if you do not bother with electric hook-up.
We arrived at about lunch time, at which point there were four vans, including ourselves. By 16:30 there were 10 vans, including one other Brit, the rest being German, Belgian and Swedish.
It is not very scenic, but it was quiet, and only five minutes walk into the town.
It is worth noting, if you may come this way, there was a poster for another StellPlatz, Wertingen (see Page 600 of Stellplatz book). It is a few kilometres off the Romantische Strasse, but the photograph looks very impressive.
Still on the subject of facilities, for the benefit of Bryan and Joan, or anyone else who may read this and come here, there is a town map at the tower on the edge of the old town. Among other things it shows the location of all of the Toilets, in the town, which Kathleen committed to memory.
Donauworth is a very pleasant little town, with lots of cafes and bars. It still has a significant proportion of the town walls and moat intact, dating back to the middle ages.
There is the usual crop of churches with incredible interiors (am I beginning to sound bored with them?).
This is just one of many ceiling paintings, and these are in churches in small towns/villages in Southern Germany, not major Cathederals. There must be dozens of them.
After a good initial explore, we settle into a pavement bar, a pleasant surprise the beers are only 2.5 Euro each for about a pint, the cheapest we have had I think. Kathleen gets her moneys worth by ensuring she makes good use of their toilet, since we are on our own facilities for as long as we stay here!
Thursday morning, surprise, it has not rained overnight, and it is not raining when we get up. The first time in several days.
We walk into Donauworth, for some groceries, and to have a bit more explore. We are very impressed by Donauworth, it is so beautifully kept, and a lot of the town walls, dating back to the middle ages are still intact. We do not know it yet, but there is even better to come.
Storks nest, on chimney of this building.
Really neat vegetable garden, this one taken especially for Martin.
Donauworth, Town Walls
Donauworth, Town Walls and moat.
We are beginning to think, there is so much to see on the Romantische Strasse, we will not be able to fit it all in, in the time we have available.
We come upon this place (Schlosse Harberg), as we drive along. It is free to park, and if you are happy just to browse and take photographs, that is free too. You can have a guided tour if you wish.
Kathleen can be seen checking out possible disposal points, since we will be on another Stellplatz tonight.
Next we come to Nordlingen. It is lunch time, so we stop, park and have a walk around the place.
Back to thos photographs which have not turned around!, damned computers.
We treat ourselves to a Latte Machiatta (a sort of fancy coffee), and enormous pieces of cake. Kathleen has (relatively) healthy Strawberry cake, I have a totally unhealthy slab of cream, black cherries, chocolate, ice cream and cake.
Nordlingen is even more impressive than Donauworth, with even more of its original Town Walls in tact.
Walking along the parapet of Nordlingen Town walls.
Nordlingen from the Town Walls.
More Nordlingen from the Town Walls.
Suitably filled with cake, we return to the van, and head for our destination for today, Dinkelsbuhl.
Dinkelsbuhl – Stellplatz
The Stellplatz is a sort of stripped down campsite and, I think, belongs to a campsite, which is about 500 metres along the road.
It is countryside on the edge of Dinkelsbuhl (about 1 mile, more or less flat, cycle track into town).
It is securely fenced, with “street lights” and an automatic barrier to let you in. You have to pay 10Euro per day, that is inclusive of Electricity (6amp), Water, waste disposal. You pay at the campsite about 500 metres along the road. You cannot get out until you pay!
There are marked out spaces for 14 vans. Once it is full it is full, no chance to squeeze in any more. There were only six vans there, including us. All German, except us of course.
We cycle into town, and explore, it is another beautiful little place, filled with building dating back to the Middle Ages, and all beautifully preserved, but still in regular use.
Dinkelsbuhl, town gate (c1340).
Dinkelsbuhl, street scene
Dinkelsbuhl, another town gate (c1640)
Dinkelsbuhl, houses built into town walls.
Lots of cake shops, it is clear, Germans like their cakes!
While we explore we see two of the German couples from the Stellplatz. On our return, I notice one couple have returned with a giant Strawberry flan (it must be at least 18” across and 3” deep). They sit and demolish half of it!
Monday morning, still pouring with rain. It has rained non-stop for 36 hours, and it is not just light rain, most of the time it has been hammering down, with a couple of thunderstorms thrown in.
I had left a plastic bucket outside, on the bike rack, and when I went to begin loading the bicycles on the bike rack it had about 4" of water in it!
We head north toward Germany and the southern end of the "Romantische Strasse" (Romantic Route).
Our first stopping point is Schwangau, to see the famous Castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau.
We do not plan to stay here, we just park and walk to see the castles, take the photographs etc.
I have to say I was disappointed.
The castles look like fairy tale German Castles.
But it turns out they are not original, they were built in the early 1800's by "mad" King Ludwig II.
Ludwig II had two original medievil castles, on the same site, knocked down, in order to build his "pretend" versions.
As if that is not bad enough, he died before they were finished, and they were not even completed to the "original" plan.
To round things off, it begins to pour with rain again as we head back to the campervan parking spaces, and it cost us 7 Euro to park for less than 2 hours!
Rain here is clearly a regular event, the ticket machine for the car park has a sign on it in German, French and English, telling you not to put wet tickets into the machine!
I hope the rest of the "Romantische Strasse" lives up to our expectations.
Rottenbuch/Ammer Terrassen-Camping am Richterbichi ACSI2010-559
First impressions are favourable, usual well organised German site, everything tidy and spotlessly clean, plus free wifi, and the rain has stopped (for now anyway).
One of the "must see" sights (Weiskirche, which to me translates as White Church, but is shown in all of the English literature as The Church in the Meadow), is about 10km away. There is a cycle track. I am working on Kathleen to cycle there, so far, she will not take the bait.
We cycle into the village (Rottenbuch), it is beautiful and has a very impressive church, which as far as I can tell from the information (in German of course), was built around 1450.
Quite what such a small village is doing with such an enormous church is not explained.
Next we cycle towards Weiskirche, but after about 4km there are a few spots of rain, cannot risk getting the hair wet, so we head back (damn, thought I had it in the bag). In the event it does not rain.
Have you noticed by the way, my "portrait" orientation photographs are now showing OK?, don't know why, I have not done anything differently, computers!!
Tuesday, the plan is, if it is not sunny, to go to Oberammergau on the bus, if it is sunny to cycle to Weiskirche.
The weather is on Kathleen's side, although it starts fine, by the time we have had our breakfast, it is looking decidely like rain.
The bus stop is just at the entrance to the campsite, so we present ourselves at the bus stop at 10:25, and sure enough, with German precision, the bus arrives at 10:29. Oberammergau is about 19km away, and it costs us 14.70Euro return for the two of us.
It takes about 50 minutes to get there, and we get a tour of the small villages en-route as the bus stops at many of them.
Oberammergau of course is famous for it's Passion Play, which is performed every ten years, and 2010 is a year for the performance. I did look on the internet to see if tickets are available, but they appear to cost something like £200 each, so my enthusiasm waned.
The story of why the Passion Play is performed here every ten years is moderately interesting.
It dates back to the time of the 30 years war (roughly 1620 - 1650). At this time Bubonic Plague (Black Death) swept through Europe and killed millions of people.
The small village of Oberammergau, did not escape and the survivors vowed they would perform the Passion Play each ten years, in thanks for their survival.
It has been going on more or less ever since, with a few interuptions due to wars, interference from the church, and economic upset.
Over the years (particularly since about 1850), it has become increasingly commercialised and there is now a purpose built venue for the play. The original was performed on a makeshift stage over the mass grave of the plague victims.
As you would expect it is now a full blown tourist industry, complete with shop after shop selling tacky tourist souvenirs, although to be fair, the buildings are beautifully decorated.
Part of the enticement to encourage me to want to come to Oberammergau, was that Kathleen would buy Apple Strudel and Ice Cream. But, Oberammergau, being such a tourist trap, the prices were exhorbitant.
I decided I would not enjoy sitting eating Apple Strudel, if Kathleen was continually complaining about how much it had cost.
Instead we had lunch in a typical German fast food place. They are attached to a shop, so I suppose it is a bit like Carricks, you buy what you want to eat at the counter, and there are sort of high bar tables, where you stand and eat your food.
Kathleen opted for Goulash Soup, which was very good.
I should have had the Bratwurst ( a known quantity), or the Jaegerbrot, which appeared to be a sandwich with a gammon steak in it.
Instead I decided to throw myself in at the deep end, and opted to have Weiswurst (which came with bread and mustard), if you get the opportunity, do not bother.
As it's name suggests, it is a white sausage (which is boiled, it arrived in a small container of hot water), and looked like two dead fingers.
Kathleen was interested to know which part of what animal it must be. I preferred not to think about that until I had it all down! Not to be recommended in my opinion, but you have to try these things to learn.
On our return journey, we were on the School bus, and had to change buses en-route, all very exciting.
I have to own up, the bit about Kathleen not wanting to pay too much for the Apple Strudel was (more or less) made up. I discouraged her from buying it on the basis that we would probably get a superior version for the same or less, at a less touristy place.
I knew you would not believe that Kathleen was reluctant to spend her money.
