Tauberrettersheim

We were both awake at 7am this morning. Considering we spent the night in a car park it was very quiet and even though I’d chained all the doors for security, I did feel quite safe. My biggest concern staying in cities isn’t actually getting robbed in Wanda. It’s more having an accident or someone spraying the side of Wanda in graffiti while we’re sleeping.
Luckily none of that happened and we got dressed, drank teas and coffees until just gone 9am and then I programmed in the saved route of the romantic road and we left.
Our first proper stop was going to be Rothenburg Au De Tabor, or Christmas town as it’s known and we could have just driven straight there and it would have taken about an hour but I stuck to the route which took us 2 hours and we passed through little towns and a few villages none of which were very inspiring and then it started raining again.
We’re in no hurry so we decided rather than wander around Rothenburg in the rain we’ll park outside the town today and go in tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be better and we found a beautiful park up free of charge in the village of Tauberzell.
It’s in a lovely green space, right on the river Tabor with lots of hiking and cycling paths and as it was still only 1pm I decided to get my bike off and go for my first ride since my accident.
I knew I had to adjust the gears which took me the best part of an hour and I’ll never get them right because the cable wasn’t replaced. I’m going to look for a proper bike shop or Decathlon service centre as we head down but I can make do with what I have.
Just after 2pm I set off on my bike leaving Ellie watching YouTube videos in Wanda and I turned right and up a huge hill on a cycle path . My ribs did hurt but I as I went on they hurt less and for the most part I could control my breathing quite well.
The cycle path mainly followed the river Tabor until I came to a Y junction and there were just 2 green arrows telling me both ways are a cycle path but not where to.
I turned right and ended up having to cross a main road and then ended up in a town following the green signs until I picked up another cycle way.
On route I found a huge caterpillar the size of my index finger crawling over the cycle path, I took a few pictures of him and then used google lens to identify him as a fox moth. He was fascinating to watch.
A little further on I found 2 buzzards one on the floor right in front of me and another looking the part in a dead tree but as soon I got my phone out to take a photo the flew off.
I ended up in a pretty little village where there were 3 churches and at the top of a big hill after 20km I turned around and started heading back.
I don’t know what it is but I’m just not feeling it for Germany. It’s definitely the busiest of any European country we’ve been too, even out here in the sticks it’s crazy busy. Obviously the language barrier is a problem but Germans just don’t seem that friendly and welcoming like other countries. It feels very like England where everyone is in a rush and there’s no sense of freedom.
I can say that for free aires and water and dump stations Germany is far better than England but in all honesty I can’t wait to leave.
I took a slow pedal back to Wanda and ended up doing just under 40km with 300 meters of climbing. Not too bad considering my cracked ribs so I’m still hopeful I’ll be able to do at least one mountain pass in Italy.
It was now 4pm and we sat in Wanda people watching as more motorhomes decided to join us in this great little spot. One has come in that is the size of a coach. He’d never be able to take that where we go, so bigger isn’t always better.
At 5:30pm Ellie cooked us Chicken Schnitzel with the German potato pasta things that we like then it was time for a shower as we can get fresh water here in the morning and then we settled in for the evening.Read more