DAY 9 & 10 & 11
8 & 9 & 10 AUGUST 2021
BAMBERG TO WURZBURG 70 MILES
WURZBURG TO WERTHEIM AM MAIN 70 MILES
WERTHEIM AM MAIN TO FRANKFURT 80 MILES
The last three days have been cycling along the peaceful River Main, through typically Teutonic and ordered villages and towns, along the flat valley of the Main with high escarpments and terraced vineyards of Franken wine on either side. Along the river chug absolutely massively long canal barges bringing God knows what to where.
The cycle route I’ve been following along the Main has been busier with cyclists than was the Elbe route. They come in all shapes and sizes and varieties. Most numerous among them are the middle aged and retired aged on electric assist bicycles, which are all the rage here, who breeze past nonchalantly with little effort, relying on their battery electric power. Some of them are rather hefty, and probably could do with backing off on the electric assist and doing a bit of hard peddling themselves. My one big gripe - other than being passed by some out of shape Hausfrau on an electric bike - is that they do not use the bell to warn you they are coming up at speed behind you to pass, and all you hear is the gentle whizz of their Bosch electric motor. The other group who don’t use the bell are the lycra crowd out to impress, but I’m not generally impressed by them because I know a bit about bikes, and they may look good in their tight lycra and their flashy bikes, but I know that what I am riding and what I have at home could buy and sell what they are riding. Most of them are on the German equivalent of a Halford’s special Boardman bike, which really are not anyway as quality as they might look. So, once I’ve got over being surprised by these speed merchants, young and old, and have shouted out “get a xxxx bell”, I return to a position of superiority both in physical shape and bicycle snobbery, and pedal on.
I mentioned the Sunday obligation the other day. I did stop off at a little church in one of the villages on the Sunday somewhere between Bamberg and Wurzburg, but I had to stand at the door because some worthy was adamant that I had to have the church app in order to be admitted. Anyhow, I was all compliant and stood, listened, and watched the earnest and very solemn liturgy that went on. I don’t think they mess about in German churches, and they stick to the book, and they don’t digress, and they don’t have guitars and out of tune solo singers beating out a hymn. My father, coming on 93, told me not to worry because in England the Sunday Obligation is still in abeyance because of Covid, so I was exempt and no mortal sin or proximate variation of such would be committed if I didn’t attend. To think that we spent large chunks of our lives worrying that we might go to Hell for missing Mass !
Doing a bit of shopping each day is a thing on my cycle rides. I need to have supplies for along the road, water particularly, but also something for a lunch stop, and other things like bananas and trail mix for snacking. So, I usually keep my eyes out for a small supermarket. Oh, and towards the end of the day somewhere to buy a couple of cans of beer for a drink when I arrive at my destination. I refuse to pay hotel mini bar prices, or buy from the hotel bar. Besides being on a something like a budget, I just resent paying three times the price for the same bottle of beer if I buy it at the hotel. I mentioned Aldi, Lidl and Netto. Well, the one I’ve discovered that I like most, and which approximates most to Waitrose, is Edeka. It has nice stuff. For my lunch I try and make sandwiches from whatever I can glean from the breakfast buffet in whatever hotel I’m staying, and I make them usually from that heavy rye bread the Germans have. It keeps its shape in my pannier, and it is very filling. I don’t do so not just out of economy, but mostly because it means I don’t have to bother going round the supermarket - other than for water and bananas - looking for the ingredients to make sandwiches and all the faff that entails. It means I have it all with me when I decide to stop and can just fill up, maybe have a snooze and then move on. I’ve become quite brazen in my sandwich making at the breakfast buffet. Needs must.
Tonight, as I write, I’m in Frankfurt. I’ll pause here for a few days, and then when David arrives, we will meet with a cycling friend, Lucas, for dinner, and then go to the Saarland by train to meet some friends and stay there for the weekend. Then back to Frankfurt, David returns to England, and I hope to continue up the Rhine and work my way home.
Frankfurt is, well, to be honest, very, very different from what I have experienced of Teutonic organised tweeness and ‘alles in ordnug’ Germany over the last few weeks. It’s very ethnic, there is no getting away from that, but more so it is chaotic and looks in need of a good clean up. The bits further out where the banks are will be more kept, no doubt, but the busy touristy bits and central bits leave a bit to be desired. I’ve been struck by the number of people on the streets begging, or going around the rubbish bins searching for God knows what, perhaps bottles and cans which have a deposit value here. For the financial capital of Europe - soon to take over from London which has shot itself in the foot thanks to Brexit - I’m surprised at the squalor, dirtiness and grim - of both places and people.
My passport was stamped when I came in to Hamburg when I started this trip. I haven’t had that happen when travelling to a European country for decades. Well, just so long as we have the satisfaction of stamping all those European passports when they come in to the UK, then I’m sure Boris and company will feel justified ay ‘taking back control’. Nothing like stamping a foreigner’s passport to let him / her know who is in charge. One of the consequences of taking back control of our sovereignty, I suppose. I see that we have joined ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) in some capacity so that we can sit in on their meetings and presumably have some influence. Ironic, isn’t it, that we decided to give up having any influence in Europe, our nearest neighbours and trading partners, in favour of having some negligible influence on the other side of the world with a bunch of other foreigners, who arguably are more foreign than the European ones we seem so keen to distance ourselves from. Global Britain, my backside.
I’ll be in touch after my Frankfurt and Saarland sojourn, when I return to working my way north up the Rhine and somehow back to England. Hopefully, via Belgium, France, and the Calais crossing. All Covid dependent. Things are very quiet on that front, I note. I wonder what’s brewing ?