The Great Bike Tour Day 3: Snail Slalom in the Lovely Tauber Valley

It was a very wise decision to get a room last night. It's raining when I wake up, I'm not in a hurry. I arranged breakfast with the landlord at 8:30 a.m., I'm the only guest. He, from Graz, talks about his financially tense situation due to the corona and complains about the rising energy prices, which he believes the state is to blame for, using the Ukraine war as an excuse to take away everything he has built up in 30 years of work. The breakfast is rich and good, especially the coffee.

Since the weather forecast predicts continuous rain for the whole day, it doesn't matter when I start getting wet. It's not that bad though, it's 10° or 11°, compared to the temperatures at the Doubs, it's pleasantly warm and above all, there's no headwind today. Almost cheerfully, I cycle happily through the blooming orchards and the rain.

The biggest challenge today is not to run over any of the numerous snails on the road due to the weather. I slalom around them, the large vineyard snails should all have survived, but I'm not so sure about the smaller ones, especially the mini-naked snails.

https://www.komoot.de/tour/748535857?ref=itd

The route intended as a relaxing stage turns out to be quite hilly in the end, it's too wet and too cold for outdoor breaks today, in the end I'm very happy to finally arrive at the Gasthof Holdermühle. Feels like an Alpine club hut, only the drying room is missing. For dinner there is Schäufele (pork shoulder) or cabbage rolls, vegan is not an option here. This is the countryside, here people live who work physically and speak a dialect - of course not as annoying - as the man from the Seitenbacher Müsli commercial.

Encounter of the day: the couple my age from north of Marburg, who want to hike in stages from home to Rome. I passed them today on the cycle path east of Igersheim and talked to them for a long time.

Gasthof Holdermühle, €45 with hot shower and WLAN in the building with the rooms, not in the inn.