July 1, 2018

Happy Canada Day everyone.

We had a lovely day of cycling today. The weather was good (apart from the wind), it was warm about 23 degrees. We left the hotel after breakfast in the room of muesli and yogurt. We picked up the Danube from where we left of on Friday. It was easy to get back on route. We passed a large flea market on the outskirts of Ulm. There were some big stall holders and others with their car boot open selling from the back of their vehicle on a small table. We used to love wandering around these “flea” markets when we lived in England.

We have now moved into a new state, the state of Bayeria famous for its Munich beer festival.

The Ulm to Passau section is supposed to follow the Danube the closest of all the sections. Today it did, we cycled close to the Danube for the majority of the day and it was very pretty. The river was wide and gently flowing, with lots of water birds around – moor hens, coots, swans and diving grebes. A very peaceful day.

Surprisingly there were not a lot of people out on bikes. There were a mix of walkers and cyclists but not as many as we saw our first week-end in Belgium and Holland.

The route was a mix of paved farm roads and gravel tracks which followed the river. We were taken through small villages and towns which is a nice change to the farm fields of rye, wheat and barley. We had decided on two end points today. A lot depended on how bad the gravel tracks were as to whether we would finish in Dillingen an der Donau at about 50 kms where the first campsite was or carry on to Donauworth at about 90 kms where the second campsite was located.

We got to Dillingen an der Donau before noon, too early to stop for the day, but we did stop for lunch. When was the last time you have seen cigarettes advertised?  Unheard of in Canada.

Both Ralf and I were feeling good. The only problem to carrying on to Donauworth was we were not exactly sure how much further it was. The route took us away from the Donau and through fields and farms roads in a very convoluted manner. We could follow the B16 but it could be a busy road.

We cycled past a large stone mason with some lovely granite. Then I spotted this carving of an eagle. I called Ralf back to take a photo of it and he then spotted Stalin and two other guys.

We arrived at Hochstadt an der Donau and there was a sign that the B16 had a radweg (a farm road) along side the main road. Because it was Sunday we knew the B16 would not have a lot of traffic on it, so we opted to take the non-scenic route to Donauworth. The route was probably very similar to the scenic route with fields of barley, rye and wheat and maize (corn). However, if you opted to take this route during the week the noise of the traffic would be awful. The small town of Tapfheim are campaigning for a By-Pass

We arrived in Donauworth at about 3:00 p.m. the map said there was a campsite. Donauworth has 19,000 population with 7,000 of the population working at the Airbus helicopter factory in the Town.

The old city was open for business with every café and ice-cream shop open selling cakes, and ice-creams. It was a very busy downtown. The amazing thing in Bayeria is that every other store is closed on a Sunday even the garden centres.

There were no signs to the campsite. Maps.me found it as the Kanu club camp site. I was beginning to think that this campsite was for campers and not tents. We followed the garmin and then asked an elderly couple where the camp site was. We weren’t sure of the street name at the intersection we were. They gave us great directions and Ralf congratulated them it was the same as the Maps.me! Within five minutes we were at the Kanu Club. Ralf wasn’t sure we were in the right place, I cycled through the barrier and there were instructions on what to do if no one was there. It was a camp site, situated along a tributary to the Donau, with a waterfall (dam) located just up stream. It could be a noisy night with the flow of water, but we have ear plugs.

There were a couple of guys drinking on the balcony. Ralf asked if this was a camping platz and more importantly were there hot showers. Yes, it was the camping platz, and hot, clean showers and toilets and beer, the beer was extra. The campsite was E14.00 with excellent showers.

We set up the tent and then went to register, there were three guys sitting drinking beer on the balcony so we got a beer out of the vending machine and joined them for a couple of hours chatting and putting the world to rights. Sometimes they would switch to English if I lost the conversation, but most of the time they were chatting in German. Another couple of cyclists joined us, one of them was having trouble with his bike and needed to know if the bike shops would be open tomorrow. The two bike shops are closed tomorrow. I was going to offer my help until I realized the bike in question had a Rohlhoff hub – nothing I could help with. A Rohlhoff hub is a very expensive sealed hub. They don’t often go wrong but when they do they tend to go wrong in a big way. Fortunately there customer service is really good and because they are more common in Europe there are more bikes shops that are familiar with the mechanics of the Rohlhuff hub.

It was a lovely day and a great way to finish it off chatting over a beer, putting the worlds to rights!