Day 5: Franconian Waterwheel Path - 5 (Final)

From Gunzenhausen to Wallesau: Today, on the last day with the Bompels, we started with a very nice breakfast at the Hotel 'Blauer Wolf'. Unexpectedly good and probably even the best breakfast on our waterwheel path, there was even a flaker to crush your own cereal grains. After leaving more than half a dozen coffee cups on the breakfast table, we started cycling towards Brombachsee. A nice route that didn't really challenge us, even though we carried all our luggage ourselves. It went through wooded sections on slightly muddy ground. However, the weather challenged us: It started drizzling before Brombachsee. Then it was dry for a short time, although dark clouds were visible in the distance. When we were in a wooded area by the lake, heavy rain greeted us. Fortunately, we found some shelter under some trees. Due to time constraints for the next vacation, the Bompels decided to take the next train from Pleinfeld, which didn't take long. So we said goodbye in the rain, but it was beautiful days together on the bike, with many great and fun moments. Very happy to do it again! :)

After saying goodbye, we waited a few minutes in our rain ponchos for rain-free weather. It didn't take long at all. So we continued cycling with the wet ponchos, but it stayed dry from above and later the sun came out again. What a relief! Continuing on Lake Brombachsee, we came across the obligatory photo spot with a lake slogan. Afterwards, we reached the eastern shore of the lake, where we said goodbye to the ponchos, because it was now slightly uphill.

In Georgensmünd, we took a break at the recommended 'Herzblut' ice cream parlor. Very friendly owners! The café was located near the historic waterwheel of a former paper mill, which continued to turn diligently. Around 6 pm, in the best weather, we arrived at our accommodation, the Waldsee campsite. We were greeted by a nice woman (BVB fan). Our tent pitch was located on the main path near the entrance and the lakeside bathing access. After finding the correctly numbered pitch, it was time to get down to business! For the first time, we had to set up the brand new 4-person tent (Voyager Versa 4). Fortunately, we had experience with the 2-person tent from the same manufacturer, and we were especially lucky that Janina is a true tent assembly expert (and had read the instructions beforehand) :-)) After a temporary confusion of the color-coded tent poles, the rather mediocre tent pegs were pushed into the relatively stony lawn. It seems that the manufacturer Robens thought: 'Let's use the angular, less handy pegs ...'. If only we had a rubber mallet! Well, we managed, but maybe we shouldn't have oriented our tent entrance towards the main path for a better view... Details! After the tent assembly work, we visited the quite clean sanitary facilities, which felt good! And later in the evening, when tables at the campsite's small restaurant were available, we feasted on pizza. Luckily, it was pizza day (every Wednesday and Friday), because the rest of the menu was more like fast food style, but hey, at least there was a restaurant on site, which is not very common. Of course, a chilled beer was a must!

So shortly after 10 pm (curfew), we bid farewell to a varied day. We dreamed of cycling stages with the Bompels and of soft, cozy hotel beds, especially Jörg :-))

Data for stage 5:

Distance traveled: 44.0 km

Travel time: 3:15h

Average speed: 13.5 km/h

Max. speed: 28.7 km/h

Elevation gain: 228 m