July 3, 2018

I was tired today. My legs felt good, but I didn’t seem to have any energy. We cycled out of the campsite and passed all of the military bases that were in this area. The first few kms followed the Donau along the top of the berm. Then we left the Donau and cycled along farm roads and gravel paths. The bikes are in desperate need of another clean and Ralf needs new rear brakes, especially before we hit the Alps!

I was expecting some early climbs but they were hardly noticeable. Although we did have an umleitung (detour) which may have taken us away from one of the hills. However, we now know where all the hops are grown for the beer brewed in Germany. There were acres and acres of hops and a few acres of barely thrown in for good measure

We arrived at the Kloster in Weltenburg and there were two signs – “Schiff to Kelheim” or cycle your buns up this bee-jeesus hill for 6 kms.

I persuaded Ralf to take the “ship”. It was just our luck, the “ship” couldn’t run because the water was too low. We cycled back to the road and pedaled up the hill. Not before spotting this oddity. A church and the pagan May pole, they have all sides covered in Bavaria.

We could go up the road or through the woods. At the top of one of the climbs this little shrine was here.  Ralf said it was so that you say your hail Mary\’s when you got to the top of the hill without having a heart attack.

The temperature was getting above 25 degrees so I opted to go through the woods to stay cool. I figured I would be pushing anyway and I would be safer with no traffic. As we were negotiating one section Ralf said “I will get you mountain biking, when we get home”. I thought I am already mountain biking and I never liked it before and I certainly don’t like it now. I certainly did not expect to be mountain biking with 20 kilograms of weight on my bike. As we came out of the woods we came down a single-track path with a 17% degree downhill. I couldn’t imagine coming in the opposite direction and pushing up a narrow path 17%. It was scary enough going down the single-track. We emerged 2 kms away from Kelheim. We could take the single-track woodland paths or join the road. We got onto the road and hurtled down the road. Again it was a 14% downhill. My top speed was 47.8 not as fast as I thought I was going.

We had lunch in Kelheim, a very pretty town.

When we left Kelheim, we cycled along the Donau Canal for a few kilometres.

Most of the area today was settled by the Romans way back and there are still lots of Roman artifacts and Towns. Bad Abbas has hot thermal baths. Kelheim has a Roman temple that towers above the City. Regensburg where we finished the day has many Roman structures including a bridge that crossed the Donau.

We have no idea why there were two stone lions here and this latin inscription.

The route signs today were very interesting, the mileage was very variable. We crossed over the bridge in Kelheim (about 200 metres) and the distance went from 29 kms to Regensburg to 25 kms. We cycled 12 kilometres out of Kelheim and it was went back up to 27 kms to Regensburg. I had no idea how far we were going to cycle today. I had estimated about 85 kms, I was very close at 88 kms, however, at one point I thought it was only going to be 76 kms because at 70 kms (on the garmin) the sign said 6 kms to Regensburg!

Part of the variation was due to the different routes you could opt to take. Other times I think the road guys were just having a bit of fun to mess with our heads and legs.

We arrived at the Kanu Club camping site at 3:15. This Kanu Club camping spot is similar to the one we stayed at in Donauworth. A basic camp site with hot showers, clean toilets and a place to wash dishes for the great price of E14.

By the time we had set up the tent, chatted to our canoeing neighbours it was past 4:00 p.m. I went to shower and Ralf went to Netto to get some dinner supplies.

As I sit here waiting for Ralf to return, in this very basic camp-site situated next to the Rad weg (cycle-path) I spotted two blue tits, a couple of chaffinches and a tiny Robin and three blackbirds, what a lovely place. However, it is noisy with two highways running parallel on either side of the river.

Our canoeing neighbours arrived from Passau today via vehicle. They seem to have a tonne of stuff including two folding bikes which we thought they were going to pack into their canoe. However they assured us that the folding bikes will stay in their vehicle which will stay at this site for the next few days. For the next three to four days they will be heading back to Passau in their canoe on the Donau (150 kms). When they get home to Passau, they will take the train back to Regensburg to pick up their car.

Our camping meals have varied from the Set Menu # 1 that we ate a lot on our Grand Adventure # 1. Set Menu # 1 was Pasta, tomato pasta sauce and a tin of tuna. Tonight’s sumptuous meal was sausage, with mushrooms and rice. We bought “boil in the bag” rice and it has varied our menu considerably. We have also been very extravagant and bought packages of Tortellini and pesto sauce (one meal) but it makes a big change from Set Menu # 1, which we have only eaten once on this trip.

Tomorrow I think we will plan a short ride of about 50 kms, that will give us the opportunity of uploading the blog, doing some washing and maybe getting the bikes cleaned before we get into Passau.

Windmills. I thought I had spotted a windmill, but it turned out to be a small power generating windmill. Running Total is Ralf 14 Jacky 6