Dinkelsbühl & Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Just out of cycling distance and up the Romantischestrasse lies Dinkelsbühl, so thats where we head to next, parking close to one of the medieval entrances to the town

On a cold day we enter a very quaint town which has for us the 'Denmark' feel to it

The huge building at the rear is St George's Minster

Inside and we are really impressed by the sheer scale of it all

Outside various dignitaries are honoured in the cobble pavement

Nina is happy as all the shops are open and we have all day….

I do hope they use helium!

Later that afternoon we visit Rothenburg ob der Tauber with its fascinating history and much revered architecture

Cheeky...

Step away from the sausages..

Harry Potter and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang were filmed here

The promise of a Brauerei trip later that evening kept us out of all but one refreshment stop...

The town's delicacy, Schneeballen

They looked delicious but to be honest I wasn't impressed!

Guess the profession?

Nina spent a mentally unsafe amount of time admiring this coat

I hope you like soup…..

Proper tourists we were today, even having time to visit this excellent establishment 7km north of Rothenburg

In fine Frankish tradition there's a full blown brewery with restaurant/gasthaus on the premises

Get your book out Pat...

This less than voluminous shared dessert was actually very tasty

I replaced the lost calories with another Dunkles beer

With the van parked over the road from the brewery and a few beers down us you would have thought we would have been crashed out for the night. Alas no, as the lads start work early brewing and doing in the yard opposite. There's another brewery next week me thinks so will vet it more closely…

Hard life this!

Radwegs

Off we go now in to the centre of the country and leave behind the mountainous south. Whilst we could stay there indefinitely by choice we have to move on as the snow and skiers will move in soon and there is much more to see yet

The next few days are spent at Friedberg, Rain (aptly named), Donauworth and Treuchtlingen

Each day we go out biking, mostly following the Romantische Strasse which links Füssen on the Austrian border with Würzburg in the centre of the country, north to south. The route takes the traveller through many old cities and towns and is also nicely linked by radwegs

This was our best effort with us returning over 50km for the afternoon

There are loads of these massage places in the towns and draw our curiosity

(we have as yet not entered)

Although its quite cold now (the clocks have just gone back as well) we wrap up well and bike till we are quite saddle sore

Always an eye for the blondes me….

When the sun bursts through I swear its ten degrees warmer..

KMKYWAP (Steve Coogan)

Its all academic guys as 'Skippy' will no doubt get there first...

Oh dear, three days of biking has its downside as we give my knee a rest and enter town. Mondays in Germany mean most shops are shut (bad timing Nina)

One of several Kebap shops are doing trade and somehow we get sucked in almost against our will..

Right, lecture time….

This place, like most of the rest, was immaculate with very clean everything including hotel style toilets

We both had a monster sized kebab wrap with shared pommes (chips) and a shared large beer for less than a tenner!

How different was this experience to the same establishments in the UK. It has to be said the food here is so much better (and dare I say it, healthier) with no tell tale run of grease dripping of your elbow at the end of your gorging….

Alles Klar und Alles CLEAN

Well done!