Today we traveled along the Naabtal Radweg – 72km from Burglegenfeld to Hirschau.
We started riding out of Burglegenfeld along the Naab river.

We paused at Schwarzenfeld to have a quick look at the town – including an old watermill. We don’t know why the statue is holding a boot aloft.

From here on we rode alongside the train tracks for a long while, through productive rural farming country.
We paused again at Nabburg, to admire the walled town and church, all perched up on top of a hill above the river.

At one point we had to stop at this railway crossing – the gates were closed and there was an intercom with a button you had to press. Jenny pressed it and in a little while a voice asked us to please wait as a train was coming – just as well Jenny understands German! Once the train was passed, she asked Jenny to confirm that it had passed by, and then opened the gates for us.

We stopped at the town hall in Wenberg-Koblitz to ask for information on accommodation in the next ten kilometers or so. We decided to segue to the West, towards Nurnberg, staying at Hirschau that evening. The first part of this road was an excellent cycleway alongside the main road through a forest.

The road became a bit chaotic just before Hirschau, with many trucks, as we approached a large Kaolin mine. The cycleway was still separated from the trucks, but it was not as pleasant and we were getting worried about what Hirschau would be like.

Hirschau is luckily off the main road and a bit away from the mine, it is a lovely little town.

We were disappointed that the accommodation we were aiming for was charging quite a bit more than advertised on their website. We went around and asked at the other places in town but they were full – we suspect with employees from the mine. In the end we had to take the more expensive accommodation (without breakfast to keep the cost down). We decided not to eat there, and found the local pub.

It is called the Goldenes Lamm and we had a wonderful evening there with some regulars who live just around the corner. A lot of discussion on Bavaria, politics, beer, etc. We also had some surprisingly good pub food – curry wurst, asparagus toast, soup.

The pub is right next to the Catholic church and the town square – the church bells struck the hour, as well as half and quarter while we sat there. Some children dressed in white arrived and began to process around the outside of the church with candles singing. This was a ceremony to do with their first communion the Sunday before.

Elvis visited this pub in 1960!