MANNHEIM was the start of our castle route. We’ve been following the trail for 3 days and seen 15 castles.  Initially, the route was along the River Neckar were we whizzed along enjoying easy cycling conditions but it couldn’t last.  Today we changed from the river side route to face headwinds & hills.
The castles have been awesome. Many have been immediately on our route while others have proved more difficult to find.  Waldenberg was the first to have both Gid & myself pushing the bikes up the last 50 metres or so. Heidelberg was so stunning that we camped nearby & went exploring. Tomorrow we visit our last castle before heading down to Ulm to visit Gid’s friends.
Schwabisch Hall, was delightful, conical towers, turreted tower, castle walls the lot.  It was a grand sight sitting on it’s hill top to finish our castle explorations.
This latter part of southern Germany has shared many characteristics of our French route.  There has been far more evidence of rural farming with ancient tractors trundling through village centres, large wooden barns and farm machinery in various states of repair.  The farming itself has seemed to be on a very large scale with fields stretching as far as the eye can see but not a hedge in sight. It’s very possible that the fields are sectioned up.  We had a near escape with one farmer who was muck spreading next to our cycle path. He very kindly turned towards us directing the muck the other way. We passed, exchanging wry grins.
The German cycle tracks have been outstanding.  We have travelled long distances on these routes that are mainly paved, frequently across the fields, with not a horse trodden quagmire  to be seen.