Today I did what I was planning on Sunday: driving down the river Main from Wertheim to Miltenberg. The plan now is to take the train at 7 in the morning and go to Wertheim, drive to Miltenberg and take train back to Aschaffenburg. I must say, it all worked out this time!
The related photo albums can be found here: River Main route (part 2) Visiting Wertheim and Keurzwertheim Visiting Stadtprozelten Visiting Miltenberg
Wertheim looked appealing and it really fulfilled my expectations. Starting out from the train station towards the old town I was just looking around at the buildings, taking pictures from market square, the church,.. While looking around to get to the ruins of the castle up the hill., driving through the narrow streets, I looked left. What to I see? A man peeing in a public garbage bin. I mean, if that isn’t a cold shower..
Anyway! Having found a way up, I continued on foot up to the ruins of the castle. It’s just amazing. I’m there, all alone, not a soul around (it’s a holiday) and it feels a bit spooky: Great! Seeing the old road I wondered how in the world they got up the hill in that time. They must have had much better condition than these days. Of course, they had horses back then, but not everybody. If you were on top, you stayed on top I figured. Going to the entry of the castle I found it closed. Expected. I knocked on the door, no response. So I decided to go around the castle which was made possible by some paths and stair ways. Really great! Damn shame I couldn’t get in.
After all the sightseeing in Wertheim I crossed the river Main direction Keurzwertheim where I had a small lunch. The church was making lots of noise, and people were rushing in. Me, the reverted-from-Catholicism pagan, I just sat down and eat a croissant I bought earlier, with apple juice. A well needed boost as I was to begin the journey along the Main.
I passed nice places, but I was especially attracted by Stadtprozelten. Don’t ask me what that name means in English, but to me it means: stop, get of bike and go up hill visit Henneburg ruins! It was great! The way up was quite a climb but the view was just.. just see the album. You can climb two towers through narrow stairways to have a view over the ruins, over the Main and some villages in the distance. This is a must do! There is even a pub in the ruins where you can have a warm lunch and beer (I think also water). Climbing down the hill again, I took another croissant and some apple juice. Again at the local church there. Well, it’s just easy to find your bicycle back this way!
Another surprise driving down the river Main came from Freudenberg. Making a turn, you see the village and up the hill, you see these ruins with a big wall coming down. The village itself is also very nice with old buildings and new buildings made with stones, same used for the castles. I didn’t climb towards the ruins as I started to have serious problems with my knee again. So painful I almost cried, and screamed.. but I had to continue towards Miltenberg.
Miltenberg is a bigger town, I guess smaller than Aschaffenburg (where I live), but quite impressive. The mainstreet has just all authentic German houses and the market square is very nice. You can take stairs up to a small castle up the hill and have a view over the town and the river Main from there. Unlike the other towns I passed, Miltenberg was quite active, with lots of people. Maybe because it was already afternoon and I was to early in Wertheim to see the action there.
This was a great trip which was like 50km, with lots of stops in the small towns and villages between Wertheim and Miltenberg, with Stadtprozelten as a highlight. By bicycle you have a good route, which is easy to drive with lots of stuff so you can’t get bored (well, in my case). I could do that every week just for sports, but I think I might do some of the villages during winter with snow.