Cyclingholiday along the river Main

Three years ago my husband and I cycled along the Main from Bayreuth as far as Würzburg. That year we travelled on to Nuremberg and a medieval festival in Abenberg. This year we had decided to cycle along the remaining part of the Main and although it turned out a longer distance than expected, it was the most comfortable cycle trip we did so far.

We took the train to Würzburg and after lunch beside the famous old bridge we cycled to Gemünden, the first stop, about 52 km.

 It was a perfect day for cycling: sunny, but not too hot, no wind except at our backs, even cycling paths under a blue sky, beside fields of grains, gras and many colorful flowers and hills with grape wine.

 We passed by the first castle ruins, watching us from the top of the hills.

The next day we saw many more castle ruins and well kept castles. We also visited the home of Snow White and stayed in a small place of wine growers called Homburg.

Sometimes we saw som special treat beside the cycle path:

The 3rd day took us to Freudenberg - the main reason for this trip. This place is the home of one of the best destilleries of fruit brandy and German Whisky, which I sell at work. We got some samples to taste and were allowed to look at the casks, where the Whisky is sleeping, as well as a smal tour through the destillery.

The following day started just as sunny and promising, but during our lunch break a soft summer rain started and stayed with us most of the afternoon. Luckily there was no wind and no thunder storm although they were forecasted for the area all week.

That night we stayed with a friendly couple offering their attic flat via Airbnb. We had plenty of space to dry our wet stuff and enjoyed a very lazy evening.

The next morning we had a look at the castle and market of Aschaffenburg and cycled on to Seligenstadt where I had a look at the local cloister.

Next we climbed the hill in Steinheim for a look at the castle and then moved on to Offenbach. There were plenty of clouds that day and some looked loaded with rain, but those never were above us. We even enjoyed a break beside a ferry, still taking cars across the Main.

When we had checked into our hotel that day, we still had energy left and walked down to the river to enjoy a wonderful sunset playing with clouds down there.

The last day took us along Frankfurt to Mainz. We were suprised about the modern outskirts of the city and the green surroundings of the cycle paths. As it was a Sunday, it was busy but we never had to get off our bikes.

 There was a long stretch of urban gardening.

 All day arriving and starting planes were above us.

 In Mainz the river Main flows into the river Rhein.

That night we spent at the youth hostel - on top of a hill as usually. Then it was time to say goodbye to the rivers and travel home. We were tempted to cycle on but had already booked our train tickets.

 We had some time to spare while changing trains in Frankfurt and went down to the Main once again to say goodbye.

At home a wonderful sky welcomed us.