Early on Monday morning we left Bamberg and hooked up with a barge that was going our way. This made it very easy as all the locks were ready for us. It was a long day and we pulled into the quay in Schweinfurt to meet up with Alan and Inge, friends of Nick and Monika who we were joining at a local Italian restaurant that night. Alan helped us out by driving to an automobile accessory shop where I purchased some windscreen wipers as the more expensive marine ones did not fit properly.
Next day on to Kitzingen with Vivien proving at the age of 9 she was a really capable steerer of the boat.
We ate out at a beer garden near by that has been recommended to us, but it was terrible food and the owner just didn’t care. The Golden Goose in Kitzingen is a place to avoid. The others had all finished their food by the time my string duck was placed in front of me.
Then next day onto the quaint town of Ochsenfurt still surrounded by ancient walls and towers.
We had a lovely quiet mooring in the middle of town courtesy of the local motor boat club. They even offered to barbeque our sausages that night on their large BBQ and we joined them around a large table for our meal and local wine they offered us that was produced just across the river from where we were dining.
The next day was the last full day for Nick and Monika and an easy run of one lock and 12 km took us to Eibelstadt where we had stayed on the way up. In the afternoon, Nick, Monika and the girls caught a bus into Wurzburg and Wendy and I biked along the terrific Main Rad Weg or Main Bike path, that runs all the way along the River Main. It is paved all the way and there are hundreds of “Bed and Bike” places where you can turn in for the night.
Wurzburg is a beautiful city with a great castle which we didn’t have time to visit and many beautiful churches.
including the cathedral (Dom in German) that was badly bombed in WWII and has subsequently been restored in a motley of styles.
We wandered over the ancient stone bridge and saw many other lovely buildings and churches. We needed much more time to explore this ancient city properly, but alas an afternoon was all we had.
Nick and Monika picked up a hire car in Wurzburg and after one last night on the boat left the next day for home and we continued down the Main to Wernfeld where we stopped for a few days, before a long day down to the picturesque village of Wertheim.
The weather has been perfect all week with temperatures over 30c every day.
Next week we continue down the Main to meet up with Tracy, a friend of Wendy’s, who will be joining us for a cruise through the magnificent Rhine Gorge and the River Lahn.
