Wurzburg 44...Tough klms

Today we had a choice,follow the river for 100 klms or cross country for 44 klms,'with some bumps in the elevation profile' & since we have been following the river for some time we chose the shorter cross country option .

Again the scenery was breathtaking but some sections of the ride were challenging. On the main tracks there were long slow climbs of several klms & some of the gravel tracks within the forrest were VERY steep ascents & descents with loose gravel, these sections were challenging to everyone.

I was very proud of Yvonne on the gravel, as she has a particular dislike for loose gravel, but she handled them like a champion. There was one particularly long & tough climb just before Wurzburg where several of our group pushed our heavily loaded bikes up the endless hill, luckily that section was very smooth hot melt bitumen track.

Allison has pulled a muscle in her back or side, so is resting up so she & Stewart decided to eat at home while the rest of us checked out Wurzburg & it was again our turn to choose dinner location. On the way we all stopped & had an emergency ice cream.There was some kind of festival on & we tried to get a seat for a feed there, but it was way too crowded.

We then managed to find a nice quiet bar where we all ordered the Frankonische schnitzel, which was true white veal schnitzel topped with sauerkraut & melted cheese with chips & a salad, I managed to wash mine down with 2 bottles of black beer We were so full I don't think that even Mark could have eaten any more.The Thursday night pub schnitzel will never be the same again.

Tomorrow is a rest day & we will spend another night here in Wurzburg, at this rate we should easily manage to put on a kilo per day.

 

Last couple klms of river prior to heading inland.

 

Heading cross country through farmland.

 

The silver grey area at the top of the picture is a solar farm.

 

I love these giant power turbines that are common all over Europe, they look beautiful & are so graceful in their movement.When I spotted the first of them this morning, it was good & bad. The good thing was the breeze was turning them & was producing huge amounts of power, the bad thing was that it was a head wind for us, but not too bad.

 

Some quarry we passed that produces a special clay for pottery.

 

I love the shady forrest and with temerature again in the mid thirties, even the hills didn't seem so bad.

 

Forrest rest stop.

 

Trackside lunch stop.