We planned an earlier start today as we knew it was going to be a longer day of riding getting to Guxhagen, so we arrived at the hotel breakfast room at 8 am. Early for us but the large area was almost full of other guests. Although busy, there were plenty of breakfast goodies and they did bring Scott three espressos. After a couple of trips to the buffet tables we were feeling full. We gathered up our panniers and retrieved our bikes from the hotel`s garage. Our way out of Bad Hersfeld was pretty straight foward and of course, included a stop at a bakery for some sandwiches and treats. On a long day you do not want to run out of food!
The start of our ride was not very exciting as the cycle path was right beside a busy road for the first five kilometres leaving town. Finally the cycle path route signage directed us across the rail lanes and onto the R1 Fulda cycle path.
Another look at one side of the main square in Bad Hersfeld. We found the town to have extensive pedestrian and cycle friendly areas. Some nice old buildings too!
A statue in the town square left me searching for an answer as to what it was all about. It maybe this, ¨In 1674, the citizens of the city suspected a fire in the town church tower, as they saw a huge cloud of smoke rising. They stormed to the church, armed with buckets of water, and formed extinguishing chains, to try to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. In fact, however, after they had mastered the 222 steps of the church tower, they realized that the building was not burning at all, but that a large swarm of mosquitoes had simply gathered around the high city church tower. The nickname of the Hersfelds was born!¨ "Mosquito Strikers"
Steve Miller/GrampiesSeems a likely explanation. Sounds like a real plague of mosquitoes though, and way before the advent of spray repellents! Reply to this comment 1 week ago
For fun, planet markers with scale distances from the sun and between each were set up along our path. At 1cm=20,000 KM it did not take too long to complete the solar system. But it did make it very clear that the distance between the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars is actually not that great compared to the immense distances of the remaining planets from the sun.
Always learning. It is possible to refer to a number of swans swimming together as a bevvy, flock, or bank of swans. Thank you internet. How about just pretty?
Steve Miller/GrampiesThere are many interesting names for groups of different birds. A "murder" of crows is one of our favourites, as well as a parliament of owls. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Barry DevlinAccording to Google AI - a group of cormorants can be called a "gulp", a "flock", a "raft", or a "squadron". They are also sometimes referred to as a "flight". Since this lone cormorant is neither flying nor rafting, we'll have to go with "gulp"! Reply to this comment 5 days ago
Looking back when leaving a really nice stretch through a nature park area beside the Fulda. The riding has been quite nice with a few stretches beside busier roads.
We picked the town of Rotenburg for our daily coffee stop, obviously not for its name but because it was a larger centre that likely had a café and it was about 25 kilometres into our day. As it turned out Rotenburg is an exceptionally nice looking town and a very good place to stop and look around. From the internet, ¨Rotenburg a. d. Fulda – also known as the pearl on the Fulda – is not only located at the narrowest point of the Fulda Valley, but also in the middle of fairytale-like, wooded mountain ranges in the home of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.¨
Rotenburg Castle is now a school for finance. The cycle path runs right through it and on this Saturday we were the only ones there.
After our coffee, we still had almost 50 kilometres to go today. We headed down the main street before rejoining the R1 cycle path and taking a very squiggly route to Guxhagen. The ride through the rural areas and along the Fulda were a cyclist`s delight.
Lots of cyclists riding all kinds of bikes on the paths.
Kirsten KaarsooWe have one in Canmore but they also have sausages etc. so you can get a ‘whole’ breakfast after the shop is closed. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
We reached Guxhagen at around 5 pm. Our hotel was a bit out of town but the small town was pretty quiet when we rode the main street. Not sure what we may have missed but we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and called it a day. For us it was a long day in the saddle but a really nice day of riding.
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles) Total: 436 km (271 miles)
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Suzanne GibsonGreat pictures, and what a beautiful bike path. We have ridden it and I am enjoying seeing the sights again. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
