Day 1,382

Hundertwasser

We were so tempted to stay in Rothenburg. We could shower as much as we wanted, walk around all the city walls, rescue a few Rapunzels, watch the clock on the hour every hour and drink a gallon of wine, seriously why would anyone leave? Common sense prevailed and we opted for a bike ride instead. After all, we had places to be. 

Our destination that evening was Ansbach. It has had a rough old time of it over the years but today was looking rather beautiful. We were on the hunt for the lost Prince of Baden. On May 6th 1828 a rather underweight young man appeared in Nuremberg, not far from Ansbach. He claimed that he had been held captive in a darkened room, fed only on bread and water for as long as he  could remember. Not only that, but he was also the missing Prince, hidden away so his evil relatives could claim his inheritance. It caused an international sensation but alas there was no happy ending. In 1829 he was stabbed by a would-be assassin. He survived but on 14 December 1833 he wasn't so lucky. This time the assassin's knife found its target and the poor young man died. Science has long since proved his story wasn't true but hey let's not let that spoil a good legend! The town remembers him with two statues and his remains lie in a local cemetery. We spent the night with another Warmshowers family, and were soon immersed in family life. Tom was soon adopted as their son's new favourite uncle, and saying goodbye the following morning was extra hard.

Kaspar Hauser

One of the things we love to spot is a stork, but not just any old stork. When a family has a new arrival a wooden stork is placed outside the home, the birth date, sex of the baby are proudly displayed, we particularly loved this one for twins.

The happy twins

Onwards rode the brave duo, up 14% hills, along winding paths, gazing at castles rising above us in the hills, mile after mile. Then we had a 1 in 10,000 experience. We spotted not one but two black squirrels, and very cute they were too. The weather was kind, we even had a tail wind! We pushed on over 60 miles to a campsite that wasn't there. Should we freeze trying to find it? There would be no showers or warm place to shelter, just a field to pitch our tent in. Our stove is still without fuel so we decided to opt for a new experience for us in Germany, a hotel. The owner agreed with me, far better to be warm in her lovely hotel than freezing in a field. She reduced the price of the room and threw in breakfast. We dined in their wonderful restaurant and went to sleep, warm, well fed and broke!

A black squirrel is actually a black morph of the European red squirrel

Tail wind!!!

Again we opted to leave the comfort and head out on our bikes. We were heading for another cyclist's reunion. In Peru we had been overtaken by Stefan. There was no point in us trying to ride together, he was 30 years younger, on a much lighter set up. We had chatted and he was clearly impressed by this old couple battling away. So much so, that when he spotted on Strava that we were close to his hometown, he drove 40 miles to treat us to lunch in Abensburg. We had a lovely couple of hours catching up. Thanks Stefan! 

Now we were not in Abensburg by accident, or because it was on route. No we had diverted here to visit a brewery, but not just any old brewery, Carlsberg eat your heart out! Kuchlbauer brewery was founded in 1300 and has produced a heck of a lot of beer over the years, but we weren't here for the beer! We were here for a tower, the Kuchlbauer Tower. Sat in the brewery's grounds it can be seen from miles away. Designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, it's hard to describe. Weird, wacky and wonderful. Hunderwasser was a visual artist and architect, and we hope to see more of his work in Vienna. Sadly the tower and brewery were closed, so after gaping in awe for a while we headed off on our bikes. More miles along the Danube, another fantastic warmshowers evening. Austria is getting  nearer, just two more days in Germany to go. We must fit in a visit to a beer garden before we leave!

The Kuchlbauer Tower