In the middle of Franconia lies a string of lakes that did not exist fifty years ago. The Franconian Lake District was created by dams on the Altmuhl and other rivers, to hold floodwater and feed the Main-Danube canal, and the biggest of these lakes, the Altmuhlsee, lies right beside Gunzenhausen. Birds love it. The lake is a protected area for waders and ducks, and storks nest on the rooftops in the nearby villages.
The Roman frontier passed through here as well, on its long journey from the Rhine to the Danube. At tower 13/50 the Limes ran across a landscape of low hills and farmland, and the marks it left are faint: a swelling in a meadow, a stretch of overgrown wall in a wood. It was once a stone barrier, and local people long believed that it was the work of the devil. UNESCO listed the Limes in 2005.
Gunzenhausen, a town of about sixteen thousand people, has a pretty market place with half-timbered houses and a Roman history of its own, as a fort stood nearby. It has fuel, food and rooms, and Muhr am See, a small village on the lake, offers cafes by the water. Riding around the lake is gentle, with flat roads, good surfaces and plenty of cyclists in summer. The wider area, between the Altmuhl and the Hahnenkamm hills, has quiet roads through woods and fields.
Franconian food is hearty, with sausages, roast pork, dumplings and carp from local ponds, washed down with beer. Weather is mild, with warm summers and cold winters, and in winter the lake can freeze. Spring is lovely, with blossom and fresh green, and autumn brings mist on the water. A walk along the lake shore in the early morning, with the light low and the birds active, is one of the best ways to start a day.