Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg

This morning we were awake at 7:30am and I felt a lot better having slept nearly all the way through the night.
I knew we had a long drive ahead of us today and for breakfast we both had a couple of bananas so we didn’t have to wait for anything on the cooker to cool down and at 9am we were ready to leave.
Our first stop of the day was a 130 mile drive which I didn’t realise until I set the sat nav but it was on the way to where we would be ending up so we went there anyway.
We were both looking forward to this place, not just because it was somewhere different to look at having been stuck in the same area since my crash, but because of it’s history and a 2 hours later we arrived in a gravel parking lot at the edge of Frankensteins Castle in Mühltal. Infact the castle has absolutely nothing to do with Dr Frankenstein who haled from Switzerland or the Shelley Family but it is rumoured that Mary Shelley past through the Rhine region of Germany and thus took inspiration from the castle for her book.
Personally I think that is one of the weakest links I’ve ever read but a castle is a castle and even though this one is just remains with a cafe we would have a look.
I grabbed my camera stuff and we left Wanda and took a short walk down the road to the castle entrance only to find that it was roped off because the cafe is closing down permanently and we couldn’t get access. We were gutted.
We went back to Wanda, made a sandwich and then reset the sat nav for our next destination which was another 85 miles away.
Fortunately for us, because we had fueled up yesterday we didn’t have to make any stops and as soon as we had eaten we left and took another 90 minute drive to our next destination Lohr am Main.
Lohr am Main is said to be the inspirational town for Disneys Snow White and it is quite beautiful with its colourful houses and shops.
It even has a castle and that castle has 113 rooms dedicated to the fairytale. But we all know fairy tales start somewhere and in 1991 a scientist and historian delved into the legend of Snow White to see what was true and what was myth and it was interesting what he discovered.

The magic mirror? Clearly, there was a mirror factory in Lohr, founded in 1698 by Elector Lothar Franz von Schönborn of Mainz. Mirrors decorated with sayings – “talking mirrors” – were particularly popular during the Baroque period.
The King and Queen? Master of the city at this time and director of the mirror factory was the Mainz mayor Philipp Christoph von Erthal (1689 -1748). He lived in Lohr Castle with his wife Maria Eva, née von Bettendorf (died 1738).
Snow White and the Stepmother? Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina, Baroness von Erthal, baptized on June 19, 1729, and her six siblings had a stepmother in 1741: Claudia Elisabeth Margarethe, née von Reichenstein, widowed von Venningen.
The seven dwarves over the seven mountains? In the north of the Spessart, in Biebergrund, which was part of the territory of the County of Hanau, silver, copper and lead have been mined since the 15th century. Mining there experienced an upswing around the middle of the 18th century.
Many miners were short in stature and wore smocks and hoods to work - a model of the classic dwarven costume.
There are 7 mountain ridges to cross on the way from Lohr to Biebergrund - assuming you count correctly.
The glass coffin and the iron slippers? Glassmaking and iron processing have a centuries-long tradition in the Spessart,
wild boars still roam the wild forest today, and the handsome king's son remains anonymous.
We arrived in Lohr am Main just after 2pm and after wandering the pretty streets and visiting several shops and then finding the castle it was now 3:30pm so we decided we would come back to visit the castle and museum tomorrow when we had more time so we took a slow walk back to Wanda.
Back at Wanda Ellie said she was tired and put her headphones on and laid on the bench seats while I was checking distances and things to see for our next few destinations. Then randomly while I was checking google maps a bike repair shop popped up.
I checked the reviews and it had 20 5 star reviews all saying the shop was really helpful.
I checked the times and it said it closed at 6pm and it was now 5:30pm.
I told Ellie and at the same time I was already putting my coat on shoes on. Then I took my bike off the back and by then Ellie was ready.
It was just a 5 minute walk down a side street and Ellie thought that they wouldn’t be open given that it was low season but I was more worried that that would either be closed or just turn me away because we didn’t speak any German.
At 5:40pm we arrived at the bike shop and it was a tiny independent place that look closed but I tried the door and it was unlocked. U started pushing my bike in and at the same time an elderly gentleman walked across the road and said something in German and I apologised and said sorry were English. And then he said “how can I help you?”. I told him about the bike and he asked if I’d crashed and I told him the story and he had a few laughs with Ellie at my expense but said he’d look at it and asked when I wanted it back?
We said we would wait however long it took and then he said when did we want to leave and I told him our parking runs out tomorrow at 2pm but we can come back.
He then looked at the bike and said I only do work with a hammer but if you come back between 11 & 12 tomorrow I’ll show you what I can do. I said great have you got magic hands? And he said “ will you be able to sleep without you bike?” I laughed and Ellie agreed with him that I probably wouldn’t sleep without the bike. This guy seems like my kind of mechanic. Let’s hope.
From the bike shop we then went back into town as the shops were now closed and the lights were coming on and it was looking twinkly. Just right for taking photos.
We finally got back to Wanda at 7:30pm and then settled in for the night as it started to rain outside.Read more