Day 38 - Tue 7 Jul: Mainz to Frankfurt

Estimated km: 40; Actual km: 45; Total km: 1574; Ride time: 3h04m; Av speed: 14.7 kph

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.

We rode away at 9am and headed back to the city centre of Mainz for a look around. As it was a short-ride 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 Christoph'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. Greg 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 (Holiday Inn Express Frankfurt Messe) was very pleasant, mostly along the Main River but also thought a large forest near Frankfurt. Mornos was enjoyed 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, and lunch, beside a busy cycle path, where just about everyone says the German equivalent of “g'day”, killed another 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 (fresh salads, cold meats, hot pasta and veggie dishes and drinks were collected from the supermarket (REWE, with the microwaves to heat your dish) and taken a couple of 100m away to a nice spot on the river. We 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.