Rothenburg odt, Bavaria by 'little car'

[ebbo]

After some 45 years of biking I swapped the bike this spring for an MX5 (little car). There's lots of reason I did this, white fingers, bad back, bad neck etc etc... Anyway, with the car came an opportunity to go to Germany with the wife who previously wasn't interested in touring by bike, does that sound familiar?

Using the P&O Hull-Zeebrugge ferry, I planned a route down to Rothenburg odt, Bavaria, with a stop-over half-way there and half-way back to break up the journey. I can tell you honestly, I haven't been this excited about a trip for a very long time



Tue 2 Sept - We set off from York early afternoon for the 50 mile run to Hull.

The happy couple, Judy and me.

I kept telling the boss, its more space than you'd ever get on a bike and its all in one place. Nothing was allowed in the cockpit but paper work and one handbag. We'd packed our stuff into two Ryanair cabin cases and the two pannier inner bags I'd previously used with my RT, its the best we had to fit the boot.

Fifty miles later, Hull ferry port waiting in the lanes to board.

Car deck - Loads of room compared to the usual bikes crammed together and trip wires

Over the evening meal in the buffet I'd said how nice it was in Dinant by the river side, but I'd left it out as it wasn't really on our route and it would add quite some miles to the day. I'd like to see Dinant she said, so route #1 was thrown out of the window and we'd just use the map and satnav to take us where we wanted to go tomorrow

 

[ebbo]

No breakfast this morning, not after last night pig out, just coffee. Anyway, its a lovly morning, warm and sunny.

Wednesday 3 Sept - Departing Zebrugge - You might be fooled in to thinking this is a roof down all the way trip, but you'd be wrong, I'm only allowed the roof down at slow speeds, motorway it's roof up all the way, I'm fine with that

136 miles later... Dinant. I fanced a coffee and bun by the riverside, the boss said she'd spotted a place on the way in and wanted to go there instead, all we had to do was find it.
OK, we found it... Les Amourettes Cafe, its very pink, she loved it, N50.25610° E4.91587°

Very pink

Les Amourettes

Driving out of Dinant

Its a 145 mile drive now to Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel for our first night stop over. I made the route up picking out villages from the Michelin map on green boarded roads, it was a great scenic drive, but I must confess I was glad when we got to our over night stop.

Bernkastel-Kues - We found it, Gasthaus Burkard, right in the old town, but its closed on a Wednesday! took us half an hour to sort out contacting the owner to come down and book us in.

To cut a long story short, our room was cosy, the car got locked up in a private carpark for the night and we managed to get a table in the restaurant next door called the Graben-Schenke, what that means I don't know, but it does do a mean Schnitzel and mushroom sauce, I'm happy!

After dinner we did a little window shopping in the gathering gloom, it's a lovely old place, we'll explore a little more in the morning before heading for Rothenburgh

More to follow...

 

[diplomaticdanny]

Can see me and the wife doing this one day, did a trial week away to Scotland in August to see if we could do Europe on the bike.

We'll be taking a car!

 

[Mr K]

 

[ebbo]

After a very good breakfast served to our table we went to explore Bernkastel as the shops were opening. Bernkastel-Kues is actualy two towns opposite each other divided by the Mosel river (bit like Budapest). We're on what I believe is the more scenic side.

Three random pictures of Bernkastel, its a very pretty spot.

It was time to get going, but we're not driving directly to Rothenburg just yet, as around a bend in the Mosel there's one of the bakeries the Hairy Bikers called in on during there Bakeation through Euorope.

Coffee and cake at Bäckerei Fleury in Brauneberg. N49.90932 E6.98743 Look at the size of the cake!!

Having finished the cake & coffee I took the tray back into the shop and said we're here because the Hairy Bikers came here, no kidding, by the time I'd got through the shop door the owner was coming out through the works door with the Hairy Bikers Bakeation book with personal letters of thanks from the Hairy Bikers! He said the Hairy Bikers were a little crazy but very genuine, what you see is what you get.

He then offered to show us around the bakery! apparently other bakeries in the area try to emulate his bread, and cakes but can't do it because they don't have the patience or experience to make it work. It takes much longer to make things his way, but the proof is in the eating!

He insisted on a selfie! what a great guy! BTW, that oven behind us might look quite modern, in fact its very, very old and built of stone, but modified with modern heating and controls.

We drove away amazed how the last hour had turned out, Judy spent the next hour firing off text messages to all and sundrie

On we went, next stop Seligenstadt N50.04444 E8.97534 by the river Main and just off the A3 Autobahn.

After parking up at the north side of town, and walking in It didn't look very exciting, till you got to the main square.

It's a bit dull here, but still very warm

More cake!

Charming national dress, such a shame we don't have one

Next stop Rothenburgh ODT!

After a total of 215 miles we finally drove into Rothenburgh, Judy though we were going into castle, I'm not surprised. after passing through the Bastion it was like stepping back in time. It was only an 800yd drive to the Hotel Gerberhaus N49.37266 E10.18054
We went in and said we'd like to check in, man on the desk said 'we're full!' I said I have a booking, he said 'we're full!' Something is getting lost in translation I though, I said I'd get my paperwork, yes please he said. Two mins later I showed him the emails, OK he said, here's your room key, How long you staying, four night I said, your lucky, its Rothenberg's annual medieval festival, your going to have a great time, parades, music, dancing, firing canons, fireworks! This going to be fun!

Our room in Hotel Gerberhaus,

The guy on reception recommended the Greek Taverna just over the road for dinner, so that's where we went, in fact, we enjoyed it so much we went there every evening for the whole stay

More to follow later

 

[Posh Pete]

Planning something like this with the boss. Ta Martin.

 

[David Nimrod]

Fantastic!

I love my MX-5, and have really enjoyed driving it in Europe.

And one morning in Berlin, I literally had to dig it out of the snow,

Nowadays there's no way I'd do that kind of thing on the bike

 

[Lord Snooty]

Those towns and villages look great, love the bakery story, keep it coming

 

[MasterDabber]

I really like Rothenburg, been there a few times. You should have a good time. We eat one night at Zur Höll (Go to Hell). It was very good and a great atmosphere.

 

[motobiker]

watch out for the Child Catcher... Rothenburg was the town used for those scenes in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

 

[Packer]

You keep at the cake and you'll need a bigger car.

Looks like a great trip. My wife isn't invited on the bike but we'd do something like that in her MX5.

 

[MasterDabber]

watch out for the Child Catcher... Rothenburg was the town used for those scenes in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

And the night watchman tour is good fun.

 

[FatAl]

I first went there on a bike tour in 1984, we just happened upon the festival and luckily managed to find accommodation as the place was packed.
There was a torch light walk through the streets with many of the locals dressed up in the medievel style, I seem to remember the mayor or some local politician having to drink a load of wine on the town hall steps in front of the crowds. It's a lovely old town I hope you enjoy your stay.

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Good Man, I may well follow in your footsteps re destination but will have to shed some stones to get in an MX5. Lovely car to drive though.
Looking forward to your next post.

 

[ebbo]

The night watchman tour is indeed good fun!


Friday 5th & Saturday 6th September - I'll merge the pictures from these two days as we just spent the days exploring the town

Breakfast at the Hotel Gerberhaus, without doubt the best breakfast I've ever enjoyed anywhere, so much choice, great atmosphere and friendly staff.

You can have your breakfast out here or in the adjoining garden if you want, it was just a bit too cool for us first thing in the morning

Through the left archway is the way to our hotel

The roofed city wall that circle much of the the town

Ice cream and foaming coffee, Mmmmmmm

The blacksmiths house

Everyone was happy to talk and be photographed from old guys to kids, for many of the people taking part its the highlight of there year.

Torchlit parade, which went on for ages!

Fireworks in the old town square

Sunday (next day), we went outside Rothenburgh to explore More to follow...

 

[Norrie]

A calorie free tour nice wee car and some lovely photos thank you for posting.

 

[jonnie comet]

Great stuff ebbo.....I used to enjoy the write ups you did when you were touring with your mates on the bikes....

Keep it coming....

 

[geordie156]

Great read, brings back memories from years gone by. Keep it coming

 

[ebbo]

Sunday 7th Sept, our last full day in Rothenburgh. I felt we needed to explore a couple of other towns on the 'Romantic Road' just South of Rothenburgh, the two I had in mind are Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen. So after breakfast we got the little car out of the hotel carpark.

The run to Dinkelsbühl is 30 miles by autobahn, there is a partly scenic road (the S2419) but we though we'd probably drive back that way. Getting out of Rothenburgh so early in the morning wasn't too much of a problem except our South exit was blocked off for the day, we had to exit via an Eastern gate, the Galgentor, we didn't give any thought to getting back in...

Pictures of Dinkelsbühl

Its Sunday, Dinkelsbühlall is very quite, all the shops but one tat shop are closed, most cafes are open and there are a few tourists about.

Very clean combo on British plates outside a guesthouse

And a very smart and well built Trike,

A little disappointed, we're heading for Nördlingen next


Well, Nördlingen does at least have a covered wall

And very nice ice cream... But not a great deal more, Judy said 'how far is it back to Rothenburgh...' It was late afternoon when we got back, we got back inside the towns walls but couldn't navigate the roads back to our hotel, they were all closed off or full of people enjoying the last afternoons celebrations. In the end I dropped Judy off and drove the little car around to a public car park outside the wall and walked in (one good thing, the ticket machine was faulty and asked people to place a parking disc in your car instead)

Back in Rothenburgh town square much merriment was taking place with a group of dancers, a bottle of schnapps, the fire brigade and buckets of water,

You have to see the video really, but what a laugh. There's going to be sore muscles and heads in the morning

Things were slowly winding down, and so were we. One last night here, then heading back tomorrow

More to follow...