81km, 12-29deg, mostly sunny, no rain. It's hard to get sick of walking around these beautiful old towns with their medieval architecture, especially early in the morning when there's no one around. The local people dress up their houses with traditional colours, flowers and ornate decorations. The local councils keep the place immaculate too with street art and potted plants; makes it all a bit of a fairy tale sometimes really. Sadly if you tried to do this in A...

50km, 17-24deg, cloudy but fine, an early to mid morning mist and a little drizzle just as we arrived in Dinkelsbuhl, so good timing. An early morning wander around the old town walls and fortifications started the day in Rothenberg. They were certainly well built; 700 odd years later they are still standing and in good condition, albeit with some maintenance over the years. A lot to see in a small area of the town but that's SE Germany all over. Sadly about 30% ...

87km, 16-34deg, (still pleasant though) fine and sunny. Awoke to bright sunshine streaming into our motel window; a cycle tourer's dream. After another lovely Holiday Inn brekkie we headed out into an already warm day. It took 13km to clear the city traffic and noise, and what a relief that was! If there's any such thing as a perfect touring day this goes close. Apart from a dodgy downhill gravel section (which was a mistaken shortcut) it was smooth cycle paths o...

25km, 14-26deg, cloudy but fine. Poor old Nuremberg was punished for being Hitler's favourite city and the centre for his Nazi regime. The allies bombed it mercilessly leading up the the end of WWII. However the Germans are a resilient bunch so over the decades since then they have re-built this place to somewhere near its former glory. The city centre has a lovely mix of old and new and the Old Town walls from the 15th century are just about fully intact. After ...

71km, (total 461km) 12-22deg, mostly cloudy with patches of sun, no rain. We could have easily spent more time in Bamberg, a fascinating city with a rich history. However we've pre-booked motels for the first part of the tour due to school holidays so we must keep moving. After a rather late (8am) brekkie (which was very nice) we rode away at 9am. It was easy finding our way out and onto a brilliant bike path along the Danube / Main Canal. After a little while we...