Wipfeld – Day 29 along the way.

Apologies - but this is a post with only 2 photos - each one took nearly an hour to insert.  Will add the rest when I have better wifi so check again later if you want to see them.  

Photos now added - in about 15 mins.  What a difference good wifi makes!

I left Schweinfurt early this morning, making the most of the cool dry weather, as thunderstorms were forecast.  I ambled along the path from the city, stopping on the way to look in the Catholic Church which I passed on the way out of town.  Soon after that the way took me down to the River Main.  My first view of it was with some anglers who had dropped a line in near the weir.  The path followed the river for a while, peopled with cyclists heading to work, or to a “work out”, and as always, the dog walkers.

 

The Catholic Church (above and below) I passed leaving Schweinfurt

My first sight of the River Main ....

..... and a little further on

I stopped and adjusted my pack (it has only taken me 18 months to figure out what to do), carrying on until the first drops started to fall.  As once before, I just happened to be about 100metres from a bridge.  I didn’t want to stop so close to it and so made a dash for the bridge, or as much of a dash as my foot would allow, and sheltered underneath it.  However it seemed as if the rain was set in and so with no-where to sit, I decided there was nothing for it but to put the pack cover on, along with my raincoat, and get out the umbrella and head off.

I wasn’t far from the next village, Bergrheinfeld, where I was hoping to find a cafe and something substantial to eat.  I was walking against the traffic (on the left) on a narrow road and I could see a cyclist making his way towards me.  I stopped (and stepped off the road a bit) waiting for him to pass me, as with my umbrella up I have a bigger “footprint”, but he too stopped.  He had obviously been watching me walking with an umbrella up, but both hands on my poles, and he wanted to know how it was attached to my pack.  He was not only a keen cyclist, but also a keen walker and had been thinking that an umbrella would be a good idea, he just couldn’t figure how to attach it – he’s now sorted, and I suspect will be off to buy one soon.  It’s great to have chats with people along the way, and mostly they speak English which is fortunate.

The church in Bergrheinfeld .......

.......and across the bridge to the village on the other side of the River Main

I debated with myself as to whether to stop at the supermarket cafe (they always have one – Aldi, Edeka and so on) or to take a risk and see if there was one further in the town.  I decided to stop at the supermarket, and lost, because there was a delightful cafe only 200 metres up the road, but I had eaten well and so passed by.

No this is not snow, or hail - it is falling petals from the blossom.  Entering the village of Garstadt

The only buildings I was to pass on the way from Garstadt to Wipfeld was a farm building.  No villages - but this is the farm (called Dächheim)!

Although the path was following the River Main today I really didn’t see much of it at all – the beginning of the day for a couple of kilometres, and the end of the day for a kilometre or so.  I was walking on cycling paths, and though the river was often very near it was hidden by vegetation – a bit disappointing.  It was a very hard day today.  It is flat, and very easy walking in that sense, but the whole way was on cycle paths, which are beautifully asphalted for the cyclists, but really hard on the feet for the walkers.   I was very careful, trying to walk on the verge where I could.  I have had experience with tendonitis from these kinds of paths and I didn’t want to add that to my injury!

Looking like something from a sci-fi - but then again, they are a bit!!

Decisions sometimes have surprising consequences.  I decided to stop in a Gasthaus for a drink before pushing on for the last 3 kilometres, making it a 19 kilometre day.  I just happened to speak to the lady at the counter and she thought I might have trouble finding a room in 3 kms.  She didn’t have a room, but sent me over to the Gasthaus on the other side of the road.  This lady didn’t have one either and sent me down the road to a pension.  Here I have my own room (a double bed which is nice), my own bathroom, Wi-Fi, TV (some in English!), and brekky – all for 32 Euro!  I was so thankful that I hadn’t pushed on as about a half an hour later a very noisy thunderstorm unloaded a torrent of rain, and I would have been in the middle of open fields for that event.  A very fortunate decision indeed!

I watched this cyclist ride along a cycle path on the other side of the river, arriving at the ferry just as it unloaded, and cycle straight on.  The ferry crossed the river with only the cyclist for a load.

Looking across the River Main at Wipfeld

Horticulture is huge in this region - in particular wine growing.