A Late Autumn Bikeabout in Castle Country

I first saw Geichburg through my rear-view mirrow, so to speak. At a moment of stretching and route contemplation on an early winter bikeabout, I looked back along the road I had just rode. Atop a ridge rested a medieval castle and a church, separted by the hill's saddle. By the time I reached the castle, I was cold and tired, so I didn't bother to go inside.

The nice part about riding in the winter is that the light starts getting interesting in the early afternoon. The bad part is when your eyes tear up on downhills from the cold wind and you have to brake and slow down an piss off all the impatient German motorists behind you who then try to pass you in their little BMW on a blind corner doing 70 kmh even though your 40 kmh is really fast enough given that you might have had a bit too much Bayrisch Rotkohl und Rindfleisch for mid-bike lunch and the gulash from yesterday is making you fart boarishly, making steering tenuous to say the least!

Earlier in the day, riding to Tiefenellern, along the "Roadway of Art". There is a multi-use path on the way to Tiefenellern, and it is strewn with "art". Some of the sculptures are quite interesting, some an eye sore in a pretty country landscape. I wasn't sure, but I thought that pile of bricks at the base of the tree may be a commisioned piece.

I spent most of my free time last fall exploring the landscape east of Bamberg, on the way to Bayreuth, and as far south as Ebermannstadt. I am looking forward to getting back on the bike as the weather improves, and pushing out a bit farther.


Rapeseed is grown for oil, for cooking and for fuel. It smells divine in the field; I have yet to learn why these fields are unharvested at this point of the year. The crops could have been damaged by the rains, maybe the guy who lives in the barn wants to live on a sea of yellow. It is interesting to me to see a plant flower so long and vibrantly into the winter.

My friends Ian and Jenni and I drove to Nuernberg one Saturday before Christmas, to visit the world famous Christmas market. The market is full of stands selling Gluhwein, Lebkuchen, trinkets and candles. We walked through the city to get to the market, seeing just enough to warrent a return trip. Coming from Bamberg, it seemed modern, commercial, and teeming; I spotted two Starbucks, the new canary of Americanization.