Day 6: The German Railway saves us

After a quite relaxing night in the new tent (only around 5 am geese jumped into the lake - half asleep Jörg wondered why children go swimming so early...) we snacked on bread rolls from the previous day for breakfast (which we had bought from the bakery at the historical water wheel in Georgensmünd). We let the tent dry a bit in the beautiful sunshine and then headed towards Erlangen. The majority of the route ran along the Main-Danube Canal. Quite flat, only a bit dusty, relatively uneventful. We saw a big ship and several locks. However, the rain clouds were following us. By 12 o'clock the sun had completely disappeared. We left the canal path at Nürnberg-Gartenstadt and turned onto the old Ludwig-Main-Danube Canal, a really beautiful route. In the southern city center of Nuremberg, we took an extra round in search of the old town, as the combination of Jörg and the Naviki app didn't work so well in the city (without headphones) and two construction sites confused Janina's sense of direction. After passing the southern part of Nuremberg, which was quite comparable to the northern part of Dortmund (although dirtier), we reached the city wall. And there it became clear: The old town was full of people, full of tourists, probably from all over the world, awful! It was the first Saturday of the month and in the holidays, and on top of that, it was Christopher Street Day. After a short time, to make matters worse, it started raining... Oh, if only we had cycled via Fürth! Moreover, we were undecided about what to do next, as the rain was not going to stop for the time being. So we first looked for a well-rated café nearby. However, all the seats were occupied, both outside and inside. That's just great! It was Saturday afternoon and it was raining, so it was understandable that all the people had the same idea as us. Next to the café was an Italian restaurant with an outdoor area and opened umbrellas, under which we sought shelter. But shortly afterwards, the waiter closed one umbrella after the other, allegedly they were not weatherproof... He invited us into the restaurant and at first we were not averse to the idea, but it also filled up more and more. So we decided to take the train to Erlangen and look for a hotel there - instead of the planned campsite (Camping Club Rangau). We put on our ponchos and cycled to Nuremberg Central Station, somewhat disappointed by the feeling of defeat against the rain. There were also countless crowds of people there, which especially increased Jörg's stress level. We looked for a suitable train connection and fortunately, the train departed from a platform that could be reached with an elevator (of sufficient size). We bought the tickets through the train app (which of course crashed in between). When we arrived at the busy platform with our loaded bicycles, Jörg went off and bought something to eat and a coffee from one of the bakery stands. The stress level dropped, luckily. Although we saw that we were not the only cyclists fleeing the rain by train, we luckily found a spot at the very front just for our bicycles and ourselves. We did block the way somewhat, but Erlangen was already the second station of the train, which had Leipzig (4 hours travel time) as its destination. So the German Railway saved us from the rain and an overcrowded Nuremberg city center.

In Erlangen, we set off to the hotel 'Creativhotel Luise', which we had already identified as an alternative to camping. On the booking.com website, there were still rooms available, so we had hope of getting a dry accommodation. On the way, Janina first bought a hot bag of roasted almonds from a sweets stand in the city center for further brightening the mood :-) There has to be time for that! Then we continued to the hotel. After a few minutes, we realized that we had already spent a night in the chosen hotel three years ago! What a curious coincidence! We were warmly welcomed at the reception of the hotel. The news that we had already stayed there once before also cheered up the beleaguered hotel owner (Corona + two floods of their underground car park in 2021). And we were happy that we got a room! First of all, we headed straight for the warm shower. After that, we relaxed, Jörg even dozed off for almost 2 hours - deep and soundly. Apparently, there was still some need to catch up on sleep after the first night in the tent...

In the evening, we decided to order something from Lieferando, especially since it was still raining. So we had dinner in the hotel room, delicious food from an Asian fusion restaurant. After that, we fell asleep, exhausted and full, in the cozy warm bed under the painted starry sky :-)

Data for Stage 6:

Distance: 44.7 km

Travel time: 3:08 hours

Average speed: 14.2 km/h

Max. speed: 31.4 km/h

Elevation gain: 109 m