Pff…after cycling 130 K with most of the time a strong headwind I arrived in Mainz. It had been a while that I had a so much headwind….I had planned to camp on the nearby camping but again the promised restaurant was not open I also didn’t want to eat pasta, ravioli or Hahne-topf…again.I checked booking and found a room in Mainz city center… which has plenty of restaurants to choose from.
The headwind took away most of the fun today, the route and and views where really nice. I followed some part of the day the Main and when cutting a bend of the Main river I cycled though a beautiful forest and a cycle path through fields and small villages..I also passed the nice town Darmstadt. It would have been a great cycle day wasn’t for the headwind….
When I cycled along the Main river a man stopped me…He signed me to follow him and explained that he wanted his photo taken….he had just catches a big fish and wanted proof of the catch….he had an old mobile phone and it took some time to make his picture…I took the man’s picture but he was not happy with 1 photo he posed in different ways and eventually I think I had to take almost 20 photo’s before the fisherman/model was happy…..
Most of the small villages I passed at the Main river are now protected by concrete walls against flooding. I had seen the same when cycling the Donau..Complete villages surrounded by a concrete wall able to be sealed of by big steel gates and doors. I also passed a shipyard which was still in operation, quite impression to see how big river boats are today.
The weather today was also great (except the headwind) blue sky, big white clouds and warm, even hot later in the day…and it was good to ride sometime through a forest…when I exited the forest the view over the valley below was stunning….Until Mainz I cycled though beautiful landscape, descending to the river Mainz again. It is also asparagus and strawberry season in the region I passed a lot of farm which cultivate both and selling their products in small stalls along the road.
The last 10 KI cycled again along the Mainz. First to the camping with the closed restaurant and afterwards on the other side to Mainz city center. Mainz is located at the confluence of the Main and the Rhine. It is not a small town and the pedestrian city center, with it’s market place, cathedral, terraces and shops attracts a lot of people. I checked-in in my hotel and strolled around in the city and had a big Radler (it was really warm) and a nice ice cream….
This evening I may opt to have dinner of Aspargus which is served in a lot of restaurants with sauce hollandaise, potatoes and a small Wiener Schnitzel…
Tomorrow I will cycle along the Rhine to a camping in Remagen, just below Bonn, some 140 K. I hope Loreley will not seduce me and that I safely arrive at my destination. Even more I hope there will be no headwind…and that the restaurant at the camping will be operational.
Lessons learned :
- Old fisherman - more demanding then Kate Moss on coke.
- You can smell when nearing a strawberry farm…the air seems to be full of strawberry.
Song of today : Fisherman’s blues - The Waterboys
Strawberry fields forever
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great day, except for the headwind! Loved your photos as usual, nice views!
ReplyDeleteZo te.horen heb je een mooie dag gehad alleen de wind was er teveel aan.
ReplyDeleteSlaap lekker dan ben je klaar voor morgen weer een leuke fietsdag.
spijtig van de tegenwind maakt het minder leuk, de ontmoeting met de visser was speciaal, je zal hem heel gelukkig gemaakt hebben, een goede daad noemen ze dat dan. Geniet van je tocht morgen de omgeving van de Lorelei is zeer mooi. Laat het vanavond smaken.
ReplyDelete