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Walker's Travels in Scandinavia 2017 and others
41km, 21-33deg, fine and pleasant. Our last day on the bikes for this tour, where has the time gone? As Maccas was across the street from the hotel, some (who shall remain nameless) had to wait until they opened to have brekky. Maccas opens very late (8am) here compared to Oz. They actually serve a nice bacon and eggs breakfast in Germany so it's not too bad for you. Greg had brekkie in the room. Rode away at 9am and headed back to the city centre of Mainz for a look around. As it was a short day there was no hurry to make tracks. Market Square, the main square in Mainz, by this time was bustling with fresh food stalls, shoppers and cyclists. What a lovely way to buy your weekly food supplies. Market Square is right next to the Mainz Cathedral, yet another massive old church from the 11th century. About this time in history the Bishops in Europe must have been trying very hard to outdo each other by building bigger and better cathedrals. At what cost to the surrounding community of those days who were probably struggling just to feed themselves? After a wander around and a look inside the cathedral, off we went to another church, but this time it was in total contrast to everything we'd seen on this trip. The St Christopher's Church was very badly damaged during bombing raids in WWII; so badly in fact it was never rebuilt. They just shored it up where it was unsafe and added some structure to make it look ok and left it as it was. It is a very sobering reminder of the ugliness of war. Maybe one day they will rebuild it? I liked it more than some of the elaborate ones we'd seen. We could have delayed our last day of riding even more, but alas sadly it had to be started eventually so it could be finished. The rather short ride to the Hotel we stayed in Frankfurt at the start of the tour was very pleasant. Mostly along the Main River but also thought a large forest near Frankfurt. We enjoyed mornos at a very busy bakery in Russelsheim, where the Opel car is made. The massive Opel factory stretches for kms and kms beside the cycle path. Not long after that we spotted a nice spot with shade and grass, away from traffic and beside the river for lunch, which we had bought during mornos. So a rest beside a busy cycle path, where just about everyone says the German equivalent to g'day, and lunch killed a hour or so nicely. The remaining 14km went far too quickly and in no time at all the tour was over. It was great to gather in front of the hotel for a final group photo together. Wendy and Greg are both sad that it's over as it has been a fantastic tour with a great bunch of friends. Dinner was collected from the supermarket, fresh salads, cold meats, hot pasta and veggie dishes (they have microwaves to heat hot dishes) and some drinks. We then walked a couple of 100m to a nice spot on the river, settled in, started eating and drinking, and it started hailing. So we quickly moved to a spot under a building and dined and wined there. The after-dinner walk was also cut short by another storm, but most of us had had enough anyway. What a great day for our last riding day.
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Marion Adlam An awesome grand finale to your tour with God clapping his hands. I have loved traveling in computer chair comfort with you all. Enjoy a well deserved snooze on the plane. Oscar & Mac cooked the raffle pork roast tonight with crunchy crackle & gravy. The ladies are being spoilt... even Jessica pointed for more! It will be "return to normal" to have you all back again. Cheers M & M