Lohr a. Main

 Lohr a. Main is a lovely old village, with a lot of history, It's a shame we only stayed one night. The marina has drinking water and electricity close to the guest dock and the showers were large, with your own dressing area and a rain shower head.

The village has 3 supermarkets, all within walking distance from the marina.

Left early the following morning as the boat in front wanted to leave at 7:00am, the position of the guest dock is at the entrance to the marina and the boat leaving early needed us to more so they could get out, we decided we might as well leave as well.

This stream is where the former moat circled the town in 1854.

Techo stuff with a Pi

I've been spending a fair bit of time this trip doing 'stuff' with my Raspberry Pi.

So this boat has a bunch of electrical and electronic things that all work independently and I've wanted to hook them all up together for ages. This year I have been doing some of that. Still more work to go but I have definitely made a start.

Things to integrate:

• GPS
• Navigation instruments
• Power monitoring
• Diesel engine data
• Electric motor data
• Music / Video

And then, once I have all the data in their, create a web console to make it useful to see and use.

So far I've got the GPS, power monitoring, music and video working well. Navigation is only one way (read) and ideally I'd like to be able to sit out the front of the boat with a tablet or my phone connected to the autopilot and be able to 'steer left' / 'steer right' but that will need more hardware to turn the navigation into read / write.

I've also been able to get the GPS to send AIS data so that other people can see us and it also updates the Vessel Finder page and the Where are we now page. Probably a bit redundant having them both there but I'm seeing which one is more accurate.

 

With the electric motor, I can see the data coming out of the canbus cables but I can't make any sense of it at the moment. The diesel, no luck whatsoever at this stage.

This is the sort of output I've got so far.

Cruise ship in the lock - Wurzburg

 We don't usually get to see this view of a Cruise ship in a lock.

Würzburg - from 4th July to the 8th July

Arrived at Würzburg just before 4:00pm, had our safe arrival drinks (Gin and Tonic) and relaxed for the rest of the night, we did have a few interruptions. 

First full day in Würzburg, this morning we walked to the laundromat started 4 loads of washing, walked to the supermarket, did shopping for 3 days, walked back to the laundromat, placed washing into driers, walked back to the boat to put the groceries away, walked back to the laundromat, folded the cloths and walk back to the boat. Below is a photo of Martin pulling the trolley and bag full of clean cloths, sheets and towels. Started this mornings journey at 8.30 finished at 11:30. Even though it's a lot of walking, it's a good feeling to have everything clean.

Second day in Würzburg we became tourists and looked around.

Visit to Marienberg Fortress

The fortress isn't far from the marina, so we walked the 2.1 Kms.

Part of the wall on the way

Half way, I hope

Finally made it

The Moat, dates to 1200 

Scherenbergtor Scherenberg Gate

Brunnentemple Well Temple

This is the Bergfried Keep in the middle of the court yard, the watchkeepers kept an eye out for invasion from the top of the tower. The door on the right takes you to the stairs up (we think, as you were not allowed in) the door in the middle was where the prison was, we went in there, it was very disappointing just one large room. 

Entry to the Marienkirche St Mary's Church

Inside the church, couldn't go all the way, so couldn't see much.

Princes Garden

View from the Princes Garden

In the background you can see the Alte Mainbrucke or Old Main Bridge, the structure began in 1476 in 1488 it was completed and was the only river crossing until 1886. It also has the lock near it.

Yes a Café time to sit and have a coffee.

Not what I was expecting.

The whole place was a disappointment, if you only have time to see one castle in Germany, don't pick this one. The Castle in Nuremberg so far would be my pick.

There seemed to be some work being done around the place, not sure if it was to improve the area to open it up more or repairs. I hope they do more to bring people in.

There are 2 museum on site, but no English translator so we didn't go in.

_______________________________

We decided to stay an extra day because the weather predicated rain most of the day and strong wind. Yes it rained, but the wind wasn't that bad, now we sit here regretting that decision. The restaurant next to the Marina also has an extra room with a Cocktail Bar and Night club with disco lights. Not sure we will get much sleep tonight.

Not far from us at all

Eibelstadt

•  30 euro a night, including electricity and water
• one shower each, large with private dressing area
• hidden key for WC and shower block, harbourmaster forgot to tell us, found out the following day.
• quaint little town
• excellent public transport, took the bus to Würzburg to Ikea 
• ended up staying for 3 nights waiting for a space in Würzburg

Kitzingen

•  stayed 2 night
• showers - private dressing area with a separate screen to keep dressing area dry
• close to supermarket
• public transport, central is close enough to walk

Passing Kitzingen on our way to the marina 

View of the marina from land

View from our boat

Very helpful Harbourmaster, brought out his book of the Main river and told us some of his favourite places to stay at.

Heading into Kitzingen

Entry into Kitzingen Old Cemetery when the grave of Dracula is.

Vlad Dracula grave

A local legend is that the golden ball atop the crooked tower contains the heart of Vlad Dracula of Romania. The golden ball leans directly towards the cemetery and his grave.

I liked the mural on the wall behind the garden

Walking back across the bridge and noticed the marina in the distance.

Zoomed in to see our boat

There is an island under the bridge called Mondsee with an outdoor pool, play grounds scatted around the grounds