Day 8 – Sunday 15 July 2012

Rest day at Lohr am Main

Campsite

Campingplatz Mainufer, Jahnstrasse 12, 97816 Lohr am Main, Campingplatz Mainhufer

Notes

I quite like Sundays off, and during my journey from Tarifa to Le Havre I had looked forward to them to regather my strength. Later in this ride while I was on my own I didn’t feel the need for them, possibly because there wasn’t the anxiety of being so far from home. As it turned out we couldn’t have chosen a better site to spend a couple of nights.

In the morning we walked to the church we had found the previous evening, only to arrive half way through their morning service. Afterwards we joined the congregation in their monthly coffee and cake get-together and found ourselves sitting at an international table with a businessman from Switzerland and a Chinese student at a local university. The student had quite firm views about why the European Union had been founded: to strengthen the economies of Europe against the threat of Chinese imports. She was amazed to find that I didn't share her view, and was not convinced by my suggestion that it was really to prevent further conflict within Europe after two world wars.

The church paster took us round all his facilities and was proud to show us his children's teaching area. Finally he gave us a book of photographs and details of all the protestant churches in the area. His generosity was very touching.

We had a good lunch in a restaurant in the town and then visited the Lohrer Schloss which housed a museum of the “neighbouring Spessart forest in the Mainviereck (a square region bounded on three sides by the River Main)”. The museum also had an exhibition of Snow White and the theory that she had been a real person who had lived in the castle. Additionally Lohr used to have a thriving glass industry and was well known for high quality mirrors. One of the smallest museums we had ever seen housed a collection electric insulators but it was not open as we walked past.