Day 11 Rotthenburg - Dinkelsbhul

Sho....! ( they seem to say that a lot round here), as it is Sandra's birthday we decided to have a day off. So after a leisurely breakfast in Rothenburg we just did 41 miles and 2400 feet of climbing and stopped after lunch at Dinkelsbhul, yet another fantastic medieval town where you expect to see Hans Christian Anderson strolling round the corner at any moment.

Today was yet another change of scenery, for the first time in about 500 miles we weren't following a river, instead it was rolling farmland and forests, very much like Moray or Aberdeenshire,  we also spent most of today on quiet back roads and a few forest tracks.  It was good to have some changing terrain rather than just flat all the time.  Our legs seemed to cope well with the hills but we know this is just the warm up for the bigger stuff to come in a few days time.

 

At Feuchtwangen we stopped for a coffee, and as there was a bike shop there we got a fresh supply of oil for our chains.  Also, since all the way along the Rhine and Main cycle routes we've been regularly tinged at by Roadies passing us, or tutted at by other tourers and electric bikers for passing them without tinging, we bought bells.  Needless to say we haven't seen another bike since.

Since we started we have been constantly been running about half a day behind schedule, mainly due to it taking longer to get off the Ferry than expected and taking ages to get through Amsterdam.  With today's "rest day" we have now cashed in one of our 3 spare days and can now try to keep to our original rough itinerary, although now a day behind. Time to look at the maps!

Today's miles 41

Total miles 643