We arrive at the hotel restaurant for breakfast at 7:30 AM and dressed to ride. Then we meet with our leaders at 9 AM for a route review.

Today’s ride is a total of 23 miles. Rain is in the forecast so ideally, we need to cover that 23 miles including lunch and be back at the hotel before 3 PM. Our ride starts out with a terrific descent from the hotel in Badenweiler into the surrounding countryside. And we use Ride with GPS for our route directions. Today we’re cycling through the Rhine River Valley along a combination of bike paths and narrow, paved vineyard roads only open to farmers and cyclists.

Ross stops to take closeups of the cows and I pass him. It’s a long pants and jacket kind of morning.

Ross catches up with me. Black Forest in the background.

We all start out in multiple layers as the morning temperature is in the 50s. Along the way we shed clothing as it warms up. We all also have our rain jackets packed.

One of the many vineyards we passed today. This part of Germany is known as the Kaisestuhl region and is a very sunny part of Germany and ideal for cultivating Pinot Noir and Riesling grapes.

Our bikes have four levels of assist and I used them all today. We had a lot of descent but this photo is just after coming up a sharpish hill. Seems most of us needed a stop to catch our breath.

We did see several tractors on these roads and one was behind us going uphill again. I did not stop to let him pass though. He had to wait till I made it to the top. Too steep for me to restart riding on this heavy bike.

We saw lots of flowers in bloom including these wild poppies.

This part of the world has an extra hour or so of daylight both morning and evening than we do which must account for the plethora of flowers we saw in the small towns we rode through. The photo below is of an inviting section of bike path but not one we were supposed to be on. Made a wrong turn here and had to backtrack but in the background are the Vosges Mountains the highest of which is about 4,700 feet.

After about 12 miles we enter Staufen for lunch. The town is a perfect example of the cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses we saw throughout this area.

The canals or Bachle on this street were originally used for fire protection but now are mainly used by kids to race little sailboats. In 1540, the pink house on the right was home to legendary alchemist Johann Faust, the character of Goethe’s play, Faust.

We had lunch at a nearby bakery that had speedy service and according to Ross, the right prices. He’s still recovering from Switzerland prices.

A photo of our yellow bakery lunch spot from a different angle.

We don’t have nearly enough time to explore the little town which also has a castle and are some of the last riders to get back on the trail. And we have to keep worrying about rain. Here, I’m following Ross through another village.

A signpost along the way.

Stopping to check out the clouds.

At about 20 miles in, we meet the van which has snacks. Ross carries on for the remaining three miles and I hitch a ride with Paul in the van to avoid the hill back up to our hotel.

Back at the hotel we have time to clean up, do a little exploring, or enjoy the hotel spa, and then we meet a guide who walks us to the nearby Badenweiler Roman Bath Ruins. The ruins are protected under a large glass cover while excavating continues on the site. The ruins were first uncovered in 1784.

The warm springs that support the local spa were important to the Roman bathing culture and they built these baths when they occupied the area around 1,800 years ago.

This model of the original bath shows that there were two identical sides, one for men and one for women which was considered unusual.

There were believed to be both pools of warm water and cold water.

Another pool.

Our guide also showed us the underground area that was used for maintenance.

When our tour finished we walked a little further to the Markgräfler Winzerstuben, a traditional German restaurant, for dinner.

We had a great mixed green salad – salads here are all good – and I had pork schnitzel while Ross was more adventurous and tried the Stubenteller, a plate of Black Forest ham with potatoes and topped by a fried egg.

The food was great but service was slow – they were busy – but we made it back to the hotel before 10 pm. Time to pack up. Tomorrow is a moving day.