After spending most of early July complaining about the heat, we’re now wishing the sun would come back. It’s cold in Germany with grey days, a lot of rain and little sun. For the first time in well over a month we really snuggled into our sleeping bags last night and when we emerged this morning to make our coffee there was a near frost on the grass. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It can’t be good business for the many outdoor pools we’ve passed. The water is ready but we haven’t seen a single swimmer.

With an extra layer of clothes on, we toddled steadily southward, first along the Main river path, where grape vines grow on the steep river banks and almost all the towns are full of  pretty half-timbered houses. Miltenberg was the largest town on our route and we pushed our way through crowds of tourists admiring the historic centre to get to a bakery, where we enjoyed a coffee and resisted the temptation to spend all our money on plum cake. We also stopped to get lunch supplies from a local butcher before ploughing back through the picture-snapping, umbrella-toting bus tour groups and hitting the road again.

From there we took up another trail which led us alternately through farm fields and woodland until we found a camping spot late in the evening. Unfortunately the cycle paths don’t seem to be as well signed as we’ve gotten used to over the past few weeks, so we lost some time taking wrong turns and trying to find the right way. Tomorrow we will likely hit the roads again. It’s just too frustrating trying to follow a trail when half the turns aren’t marked.