Day 10. Bad Berneck to Bamberg

Day 10 Bad Berneck to Bamberg 117km 7:17

We set off after an excellent breakfast at Hotel Heissingen at 08:30. We thought we had about 80 km to go today but when Ian punched the route into the GPS, he has now figured out how to work it, it said we had 113 km to go. A bit of a shock.

We met two very jovial guys from Dresden who were doing a circular route back to Dresden. They showed us a short route out of town and we followed them for a little way to the turning to Neuemarkt  where they turned off.

The route today was very flat through mixed farmland, wheat, peas and maize, and did not go   along the river much. We met a few  more like minded touring cyclists going in the opposite direction, more than we have seen to date. 

We passed through  Kulmbach, a lovely walled town,with the magnificent Plassenburg Castle perched up on the hill. The town is also known for producing the best Brattwurst, sorry we can' t substantiate it.

Our lunch stop was at Lichtenfels, where a German couple tried to convince us to cycle for 1 km up a hill to see the beautiful basilica Velfahrdsbasilika Vierzehnheiligen. Having ridden 70 km and with 40 km to go we didn't take up the offer. A good choice as we arrived in Bamberg at 17:30 and what a beautiful town it is, not much time to explore before dark.

We did a quick wiz around before dark and managed to see Der Alt Rathaus and The Dom fleetingly. We also popped into Schlenkerla Bar to taste a pint of their famous Rauch beer ( smoked beer).The barley mash is smoked before adding it to the beer making process, according to the age old tradition the monks used. I must say it tasted a bit strange but the directions are to take three big gulps and then it will taste good. It worked - it was delicious after that.

We had a lovely picnic in the garden of our excellent Arkaden Hotel on the Carmelite Plaz, really good to have something light after the rather heavy German food we had been eating for the last few days.surprisingly we were not too exhausted after the marathon cycle. The difference between cycling and running!