We followed two major cycle routes the Rhine and the Danube. The Rhine was not as well marked as the Danube and we got lost almost every time we went through a big city, while on the Rhine route.

The Danube signage was excellent, although we didn’t get to see a lot of the river itself as the route often takes you away from the river.

Germany’s cycling network comprises of a lot of field roads. For the most part German’s do not want you cycling on the roads. A lot of the cycle-ways are shared cycle paths on the sidewalk. For me it seemed very strange to be riding on the sidewalk. In one Town we were looking at the Town map to continue our way along the main road and were redirected to the farm cycle paths. We thought this would take us around the houses too much, however they were fairly direct routes. Some of the main roads also had cycle paths along side.

In the smaller Towns and villages people were friendly and helpful. Although we would often have to initiate the conversation – Excuse me, can you help us? Fortunately, Ralf’s German improved the longer we were there and we had no problems with the language.

We found that when we were camping most people kept themselves to themselves. Although, there were lots of touring cyclists they tended to come in a little later than us and were gone before we had finished breakfast.

We also noted, that most cyclists had E-bikes or E-assist bikes. We love to visit bike shops while we are cycling and were amazed to discover that most bikes in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Austria were E-bikes and very few “real” bikes.

The campsites were not too expensive, (E14 to E24) with good facilities and surprisingly most had picnic tables or benches and free showers.

We spent five years living in Germany from 1985 to 1990. The country was clean, organized and prosperous. However, things change over the years.

We were saddened to see the amount of garbage everywhere, something we would have never seen 28 years ago.

The political situation in Germany is very difficult. They accepted over a million refugees from Syria and other countries. To accommodate that amount of people they spread them around the country. Almost every city, town and village had some refugee families. In the mid-size towns and cities the infrastructure is in place to assist people find homes, jobs etc. However, in the smaller villages it is very hard for a village to support the infrastructure needed to integrate families. I believe it is hard for the village as well as the refugees who are trying to live a “normal” life.

Germany has an industrialized north – which relies heavily on big companies like Bayer, and the automotive industry. Consequently, employment generally is good, the unemployment rate is 5.5% per potential employees available for the job market. Obviously this does not include all the refugees.

There used to be a saying “Germans work hard and play hard” Do not expect a German to give up on his recreational time. Now it seems that Germany and Germans have changed, they no longer feel that they have the time for recreation. A lot of Germans we spoke to did not take all the vacation time that was given to them (6 weeks +), they felt that they could not afford to leave their job for any longer than a week at a time. What a change in outlook.

Sometime I think you should never go back to a country or place where you enjoyed living. Times and circumstances change and you should remember it as it was. Although I must admit I enjoyed going back to Lahr and revisiting the areas we lived. Other than the base, there were not too many changes.

July 8, 2018

Again we were awake early, the tent was soaked inside from condensation and dripping on the down covers! We got up, washed, ate breakfast of peanut butter and jam sandwiches and were on the road by 8:15.

We were on gravel as soon as we left the campsite/gasthoff and joined the river path.

About 5 kms along the path, Ralf took me away from the gravel path and onto the L501 and the L205. Both of them were paved roads with little traffic. It is Sunday and he figured that even if they were usually busy roads, on Sunday they would be quiet. He was right, there was some traffic but nothing too busy, only old folks going to church. Some of them were obviously late considering the way they were driving.

We had time to stop and take pictures.  There was a sign for a \”lookout\”, this is where the River Inn and the River Salzach split.  The River Salzach we follow into Salzburg.

Most of the villages/towns we cycled through had a cycle-path which disappeared as we left the village/town. However, most of the cars waited behind us as we struggled up the hills.

As we crested one hill we spotted this lovely old Citroen – referred to as “The Duck” It was advertising a Gasthaus called the Enten (The Duck in English). The license plate on the car was Ente! As we came up the hill and spotted the old duck, I told Ralf I was heading down. What a great downhill and up the other side without needing to pedal. You cannot do that on gravel roads.

What a lovely ride, it was hillier than if we had followed the river, but we could enjoy the scenery because we didn’t have to concentrate on the gravel and the soft spots when we were cycling up the hills. I didn’t have to get of my bike once to push.

I knew we were getting closer to Salzburg and started singing the songs from the Sound of Music – the Hills are Alive, Raindrops on Roses and whiskers on kittens. Fortunately. Ralf was far enough behind me he couldn’t hear me singing.

At one point we knew we would have to follow the Radweg into Salzburg.  The road was getting busier and there was no shoulder.  We stopped and a young boy came across the road and started asking us questions.  \”Where are you going, with all of that package? Where did you come from? How many kilometres\”?  He was such an inquisitive young fella.  Eventually, we were able to ask him if the radweg (cycle path) was paved or should we continue up the road.  He told us the radweg was paved, but if we went up the hill it would direct us onto the radweg to Salzburg.  We followed the radweg, little shit, within 500 metres the paved road turned to gravel.  Fortunately, it turned back to paved all the way into Salzburg.  Except for one 250 metre section where we negotiated this tiny path.  How did we know to follow this tiny path, because an older couple on E-bikes told us to follow them.  The radweg came to a T-junction, (right or left) nope, straight on and within 250 metres the paved path was there again.

What a difference a day makes. The weather was good, we were cycling on roads and we had a tail-wind coming into Salzburg.

However, as we reached the outskirts of Salzburg we had to call the owner of the apartment we had arranged to rent. We had booked it through Bookings.com but I think it is also advertised as an AirBNB, E76 per night.

In Europe there are no roaming charges for the phones. But . . . we couldn’t get through to the owner of the apartment on our  “not very smart phone”. We tried to text him, but that didn’t work. Ralf programmed the garmin and we found the apartment. We were at the apartment but had no way of contacting the owner. I had spotted a Gasthaus which I thought was open, we headed back to that and I was going to be the  “stupid” tourist to ask for help. The Gasthaus was closed, of course, it is Sunday! Then we spotted a “phone booth” remember those things, there is a phone in a box, you dial a number put money in and get connected to whoever you might want to speak to. Unfortunately, the owner of the apartment had given us the number as if we were outside of Austria!!

Ralf was about to rip the pay phone of the wall, because it wouldn’t give him the money back. Fortunately, there was a lady in the parking lot near the tram line. I had the phone number and I asked her what we were doing wrong. “If we were calling from outside of Austria we needed to use the + before the number” I said “The +” she meant we had to use the international 001. “O.K. I am in Austria do I need to dial the + and the 43? what number do I need to dial.” All the 12 numbers of the phone number plus a 0 in front. So, 0 area code and then the phone #. “Yes” she said. Thank God, she spoke English and Ralf had not ripped the phone of the wall by the time I got back to him. Dial this number , I told him – finally we were speaking to the owner and he would be at the apartment in 15 minutes. Ralf being arrested for public vandalism was avoided and the phone gave him his E1.00 change.

We cycled back to the apartment, Wolfgang arrived 15 minutes later and showed me the apartment. We have a lovely place to stay for the next three nights. We decided to stay an extra night to enjoy Salzburg.

We settled in, showered and headed out to the main Train Station where there is a Spar open 7 days a week. We got supplies – beer, wine and even some rum! Oh and some food for dinner, then back to the apartment. We got the washing out of the way. Another translation issue, I put too much money into the machine – E1.50, I had enough for two washes and possibly another wash.   It was 10 cents for 20 minutes of washing – one wash was 1 hour and 10 minutes. My brain wasn’t working to do the math and I thought E1.50 was really cheap. Maybe there will still be credits on Tuesday night and I can do another wash before we leave.

I spotted two windmills – one I happened to turn around and there it was in the garden, the second Ralf was trying to find the route and I spotted the second – all is fair in love and windmill spotting. Running Total is Ralf 15 Jacky 8

July 7, 2018

We were awake at 6:30 and out of bed by 7:00. We tried to be as quiet as possible not to wake the rest of the apartment, but it is very difficult with old wooden floors. We ate breakfast and tidied up and we were away by 8:15 a.m. No-one else was awake. I left a note thanking all of them and inviting them to stay with us in Canada if they get the chance. I will definitely leave a good recommendation on the warmshowers website.

We crossed the Inn River and followed the R3 Radweg.

Again the route was mixed gravel and a few paved roads. I am getting really fed up with gravel paths, it is hard on the hands, shoulders and butt. We are both hoping that crossing the Alps will be on paved roads otherwise I have told Ralf I am catching a train. The other thing today that really annoyed me is that we are heading south – we should have tail winds. The last 20 kilometres we were struggling against a head wind.

We met up with another cyclist today – Alberto from Italy. He asked if he could join us. It was early on in the route and we were still on paved roads. Ralf told him our average speed and we liked to stop to take photos. He was happy with that and told us he had been on the road for 3 weeks from Denmark down the Elba, through the Czech Republic and into Germany. I think he needed some company.

Cloisters Along the Route

We chatted for a while and then we hit the gravel paths and we had to concentrate on the soft gravel. With all the rain yesterday the gravel paths were really soft in places.  

I helped Ralf push his bike up these stairs, Alberto helped me and Ralf helped Alberto – Team work.

Alberto stayed with us for about an hour and then dropped off the back and we didn’t see him again.

There were some hills to climb today which is fine it is good practice for the Alps to come. However, climbing a hill that is soft gravel is a real pain – I did say some bad words today.

We crossed into Austria within a kilometre of crossing the river from Passau.

As we cycled through the few villages we noticed that all of the stores were closed – Closed on a Saturday – Yes, at noon all of the stores were closed in the small Towns.

We were in this Town and all of the houses were a different colour.  It was decreed (way back when) that because most of the inhabitants were illiterate, the colour of the house would denote what the business was i.e. – butcher, baker, pharmacist, etc.  We were going to stop for lunch, however, the cafes were preparing full lunches of bratwurst and potatoes.  That is a little heavy when you have some more miles to do.

Fortunately, around 2:00 we were in Brennau am Inn – the end of the day for us (or so we thought). The bigger chain supermarkets were still open. I popped in to buy our evening supplies and something to eat for a late lunch.

Then everything went pear-shaped! The first camp-site was obviously closed. The second “camp site” was for camper vans only and looked very sketchy. The Youth Hostel had disappeared off the face of the earth. I was about to throw a temper tantrum as we had no place to stay and everything ached from riding on gravel for 90% of the day. Then an older guy in a red car stopped in the middle of the intersection and asked if we needed help. He pulled up on the side walk (as you would). We told him we were looking for the Youth Hostel or a camp site. No idea about a youth hostel, but he did direct us to the campsite that I had found on the internet last night – Gasthoff Pruster with five tent places. It was another two kilometres. He gave us directions and then asked if we understood him and gave them to us again.  Thank you kind Sir.

When we arrived at the Gasthoff we saw the camper vans on gravel sites. Ralf went into the gasthoff and the owner came out and showed us a sloping grassed area. I was ready to lose it completely. However, we set up our tent on the only flat spot and after showering in a clean and new shower block we headed to the restaurant for a beer, to relax. We noticed one couple eating this lovely bratwurst with roast potatoes and sauerkraut. We got the menu – E5.50 – that was a no-brainer. We would eat dinner in the restaurant and watch the footie at the same time – England won! The camp-site was E12.50 – Ralf paid for dinner including four beers and the camp-site for less than E40. 

This cheeky little sparrow was hoping for some scraps.  He wasn\’t going to get anything from two hungry cyclists.

The day started off well, and finished well but the middle bit left a lot to be desired.

Brannau am Inn is the birthplace of Adolf Hitler- surprisingly there is no statue of him, no plaque on the Rathaus that says “Hitler was Here”. However, ironically there is a centre for Muslim relations, a centre to help refugees integrate, and a large muslim population. I think Hitler would be turning in his grave (lol).

It is 7:05 Ralf is gently snoring in the tent and I am relaxed, at last.

Although we got totally turned around in Brannau am Inn, we are 5 kms further along the route and the radweg continues about 500 metres from the camp-site. Absolutely no idea how that happened. Tomorrow should have been a 75 km day, now it should be 70 kms. Ralf has plotted two routes – one along the path and one along a road that may or may not have a cycle path running next to the road, but the road route will be paved.

This flower is for my next door neighbour, Diane, who is not a gardener, but is looking after our house and house plants for us while we are away.  Maybe we could \”plant\” these in our front gardens.

July 5 and July 6, 2018

We knew we had a long ride today, and decided to get an early start. We were up at 6:00 a.m. and on the road by 8:00 a.m.

A long, hot and quite a boring ride today. The route was flat and along the Danube, that we couldn’t see because we were on the farm roads and not on the berm. The temperature was at one point 32 degrees and we were guzzling water to stay hydrated.

There was an Umleitung which cut off a big part of the route. However, Ralf wanted to follow the proper route and not take a short cut. We took a ferry across the river. The river was very fast flowing and the skipper had to negotiate a large sandbank.

We cycled through farm fields for about 10 kms. We arrived in the small village of Osterhofen at about 12:30, it seemed as if we had been on the road forever. We were hungry and hot, we stopped for lunch at the small metzgerei (deli) which made sandwiches.

Then we were away again towards Vilshofen. Vilshofen was a very pretty Town. We stopped to take a photo of the Entrance Gate and I spotted a sign for a W.C. That is when we discovered the lovely Town behind the “Entrance Tower”. The Rathaus/Tourist Information Centre had tunnels running underneath the building. There was also a cycle route you could take through the Town’s alley ways. Not much room with the panniers on, but would be fun unloaded.

We texted our warmshowers host and told him we were about two hours away from Passau. I thought we were only about 1.5 hours but it is a real pain texting on the “not very smart” phone.  After we had crossed the river, we spotted a small runway,  the planes tooks off above the radweg!

However, it did take us two hours to get to David’s place in Passau. The route had been on paved roads, until Vilshofen.

The last 25 kms was on gravel and some small hills.  We crossed the Danube again and a large dam before finding the Train Station and David\’s apartment

 David was waiting for us at his apartment as we arrived. Just our luck he lives on the top floor of a 4 storey building with no elevator!! David helped us carry our bags to the apartment which he shares with five other students. Yep, we are in student accommodation. He apologized for the mess, we didn’t care, we had a roof over our head and a bed. We chatted to David for a while, he then went back to work until 8:00 p.m.

First Impressions of the flat.  Why is there a large pink flamingo in one of the rooms.  A couple of weeks ago they rented a party boat.  These boats are hired for corporate parties and leave from Passau and have bands and run up and down the river for a couple of hours.  David and his friends organized a \”communal\” party boat and invited 500 of their closest friends.  The flamingo and a ball pit were created for a \”rest area\”.

We settled in, showered and made our beds, then headed out into the small downtown area. We had dinner at a classic Bavarian restaurant with a very local menu. The portions were huge, but I was hungry and I ate the three small pork loins served in a pepper sauce and a huge portions of fries. I didn’t have enough room for the salad!

Room with a View

We got back to the apartment and tried to find somewhere to stay in Salzburg for Saturday and Sunday. The prices were horrendous over $200 per night.

Both of us were tired and a little disappointed in both the Rhine route and the Danube route. We were even considering calling it a day and flying home. I think we were frustrated not being able to find accommodation in Salzburg and very tired. Ralf asked David if we could stay another night as the prices in Salzburg are cheaper on a week-night. He had to check with his room-mates.

We went to bed early 9:30 with thunder rolling around the City and pouring with rain. So glad we had a roof over our head.

Rest Day in Passau – Walk 4.32 kms

Friday July 6, 2018

Yes we can stay an extra night at the apartment. We immediately went on-line to find somewhere to stay in Salzburg. We are staying in near the Bahnhoff (Train Station), with most attractions within walking distance.

We had a very relaxing morning. We chatted to Pauline (one of the room-mates) while we were eating breakfast. Pauline is taking Policy and Local Governance as her B.A and history as her major. She told us that before applying to University, you have to know what you want to study. In Germany you do not take a year of General Studies and then decide what you want to study. You have to decide what you want to study and then apply at the Universities that offer those courses. When the German tax-payer is footing the bill, it doesn’t want you to switch courses half-way through because you don’t like the course. However, she did tell us that in Germany there is a Grade 13, which is a general study course and allows you to decide what to study. The cost for her studies are E70 per semester – she gets a E20 bus pass included in that and we surmised that the remaining E50 is for administration fees. Students from poorer background also get assistance with the cost of accommodation up to E800 per month. However, she told us that the forms the parents have to fill-in for this assistance is very in-depth. “Do you have two cars, what did your mother/father do for the last 30 years etc.!” On graduation, the student has to pay 50% of the subsidy back to the government.

The University in Passau is a small University, 13,000 students. The City’s population is 50,000 including students.

At about 12:30 we headed into the old Town of Passau to be tourists.

Once again the old cities of Germany are beautiful. We went into the Protestant church and the Catholic Cathedral (Dom). Amazing architecture in both of them, but they left me a little cold. As Ralf asked, “would He have approved of all of this?” I don’t think so. I remember sitting on the side of the hill, in Israel, where He was supposed to have performed the miracle of the fishes and bread, and thinking – I could see Jesus standing there preaching to the poor and rich alike. I cannot quite get my head around these ornate churches and compare them to that scene over Lake Galillee.

As we walked through the little alleyways, a fella emerged from an archway with a Brompton. We are considering getting folding bikes for our next tours (credit card tours) not sure whether to get a Brompton or a Bike Friday. I said to Ralf “oh a Brompton” The cyclist responded “Yes it is” – in English with an English accent. We chatted to him for a while, it turns out he is from Nottingham! He “collects” folding bikes and prefers the Bike Friday for longer tours, the handling and the way it rides, far more comfortable. I am guessing our next bikes will be Bike Fridays.

We got caught in a thunder-storm during our walkabout and arrived back at the apartment – wet as drowned rats. I am so pleased David allowed us to stay an extra night. It is no fun cycling or camping in the rain. Although the new rule is no camping in the rain.

We were going to go out for dinner with David, but he informed us because of the weather they are making lasagna at home and we would be welcome to join them. Ralf went back out in the rain and bought some wine for dinner. – 4 bottles shared between 7 people

What a great afternoon and evening. I helped prepare dinner – cut up red peppers for the lasagna. We had a mix of vegetarian and meat lasagna. However it was all cooked as it was prepared in the same lasagna dish. Pauline’s attitude was “she won’t die if she gets a bit of meat in the vege dish and meat eaters won’t die if they get too many vegetables” When it was served no one complained. It was a lovely meal. We were also served apricot dumplings for dessert. OMG they were delicious – Again I assisted:) the dumpling was flour, melted butter, egg, and quark cheese. The filling was an apricot. You mix the dumpling mix, de-stone the apricot and replace the stone with a cube of sugar. You wrap the dumpling dough around the apricot and then place in boiling water for about 10 minutes, then you cut it open sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and melted butter –enjoy. It was good but I should not have had the second helping of lasagna.

After dinner we polished off the 4 bottles of wine Ralf bought and chatted about the education system in Germany. I think it is very tough on the students or maybe I am getting soft in my old age.

I really enjoy staying with warmshowers hosts. I find when we stay with young people we have really interesting conversations. We learn a lot.

We said our good-nights to our hosts and our thank-yous as we are not sure if we will see them in the morning. It is 1:00 a.m. now and we want to get up at our usual time of 7:00 a.m. and on the road by 8:30-9:00.

July 4, 2018

A lovely flat ride today, just what I like. Actually, I don’t mind a few hills so long as they are about 5% not 16 – 18%.

We were late starting today. I heard our canoeing neighbours leave around 6:00 and decided I would have an extra half an hour, I woke up again at 7:35! Although we didn’t rush through breakfast and packing up the tent we were on the road by 9:00. We had decided on a short route today, so that we could get some brake pads for Ralf and I could get the washing done and maybe the bikes cleaned.

The route took us through the old city of Regensburg, which was another Roman City. Although the route the bike path took us along was very convoluted. At one point I felt I was playing that kids game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” We were turned around so many times I didn’t know which direction we were heading.

We saw the Danube a couple of times today and it looked very nice. Today’s route was on paved roads all the way into Straubing. There was one route we could have taken which would have been along the Danube, but it was gravel so we decided to stick to the farm roads.

There were some odd buildings today. This is part of the Romantic Road through Bayern and the wine routes. We saw one building that looked like a copy of the acropolis.

We don’t see as many castles in this area as the Germans didn’t have to fight the French as much in this area. We did see this lovely old castle.

When we arrived in Straubing we knew there were two campsites – another Kanu Club and one other one. There were directions to the second campsite. We decided to check it out as we need a washing machine, power and internet. Luck would have it, this is a municipally run campsite. The tent site is large and grassed. The showers are clean and hot. The washing machine was E3.50 which is a very good price and we are close to an Aldi. The internet is provided by the City and is free, although a little sporadic at the site, it works really well in the laundry room. All of this for the great price of E18.00.

The reception was closed for lunch when we arrived (12:30). We headed the 500 metres to the Aldi and had lunch.

On the way back we noticed a very large bike shop. We met Frank who was very pleased that we were fully loaded and \”no motor\”.  He had cycled from Passau to Salzburg and around three small lakes.  He asked a lot of questions about our trip.  He said he only cycled in Europe as he was afraid of flying.  I told him I was afraid as well but, I had to fly to be able to visit other countries.  He asked us if he could take our photo and assured us it was for him – no posting to the internet.  – We could have been \”bike porn\”.

We went in to the bike shop and it was huge. The store sold everything from motorbikes, motor scooters, ebikes and regular bikes.  However, I saw one lonely road bike.

Ralf got his brakes fixed and we put air in the tires. Because it was a rush job they charged Ralf double the price for labour! Almost everywhere else we have been as touring cyclists, we were not charged for labour. In Australia the owner asked us our favorite places we had visited and why – that was the charge for labour! However, in this region, because of the popularity of touring – even though they might be on e-bikes or credit card touring you pay double if you need the job done quickly.

While the washing was getting done, I looked for warmshowers hosts in Passau and Salzburg. We finally have a warmshowers host in Passau for tomorrow night. Tomorrow is going to be a long ride but it should be flat and paved.

At the moment I am sitting near the tent while Ralf has gone back to Aldi to get dinner. There is thunder rumbling around and the forecast for tonight and tomorrow is for thunderstorms. One of the other cyclists showed Ralf a \”Thunderstorm Warning\” on his cell phone. I hope it passes over and we don’t get wet. 

I didn’t get the bikes cleaned but that is o.k. if we are going to get wet anyway, I might as well wait until we get to Salzburg.

I can hardly believe we have finished the Rhine and almost finished this section of the Danube and we are not even a month in to the three months.

Windmills. Running Total is Ralf 14 Jacky 6

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

July 2, 2018

We packed the tent and decided to have McDonalds for breakfast. It wasn’t very good my eggs were cooked in an oily buttery concoction, Ralf enjoyed his breakfast. We followed the route back into Town and spotted two posties on electric trikes delivering the mail.

We went back through the downtown and out of the walled gate

A tough day of riding for me, the first 40 kilometres were hills ranging from a steady 5% to an 18%. Ralf was like a man possessed, he loved the hills and passed several other cyclists who were not as loaded as he is, my mountain goat is back.

I, of course, struggled up the hills. Most of the hills were paved, but occasionally they were through forest paths and were dirt or gravel, which made it more difficult. I wasn’t the only one getting off the bike to push. We saw several other touring cyclists today.  A couple on road bikes wearing backpacks and a small bag attached to the back of their bikes were struggling.  The fella kept looking for alternative routes on his garmin.

After 40 kms the route was finally through farm fields and along wooded tracks.

We saw the Donau three times today! Once when we were leaving Donauworth, again somewhere in the middle of the day and finally arriving in Ingoldstadt.

We arrived in Ingoldstadt about 3:00, we asked a lady for directions. She told us not to cross the Donau, stay on this side. I am glad we didn\’t have to use this bridge!

\”Ride slowly as it is very pretty\”.

Once we were on the right road we found the campsite very easily, there were signs almost all the way from the Donau route. After setting up the tent Ralf headed straight out to the Aldi for groceries tonight. I showered and started to write the blog.

This campsite is nothing to write home about, a patch of grass, the bugs are free. The showers are push button but hot and clean. As is often the case the bikers get the worst site. However the camper vans are also crammed in like sardines.

The campsite is called the Azur and has “Wine barrels” to sleep in and camping tents on stilts. The “wine barrels” are E59.00 per night with electricity and heat. Our camp site was E28.00.

One of the things we have noticed about the biker sites in Germany is that everyone keeps to themselves. When we were camping in N.Z., Australia, U.K. and the U.S. everyone chatted to each other – where are you going, how many ks do you do a day etc. Even though we are all touring cyclists, cycling the Danube, no-one chats.

We were the first to arrive today, and as the biker site started to fill up I would say a cheery Guten Tag. I would get a response then every one went about their business.

Ralf returned from his shopping trip with a recumbent tandem in tow. The English couple had taken the long route to the Aldi, and asked Ralf if there was a short route back. He guided them back, a quick wave to me and then they hid themselves away in their camper van. They are doing day trips.

It is very strange to me that touring cyclists don’t share “notes” on the route ahead etc.

The weather was really good today apart from that bloody wind. Yesterday one of the guys told us if the weather is good the wind comes from the north or east, if the weather is bad it comes from the south or west. Do I wish for bad weather so we can have tail winds or good weather and fight the wind. I think I will fight the wind.

Windmills. Ralf spotted two windmills today, one doesn’t count as I was so far behind him climbing the hill, it was obvious he would see it before me. The second one was definitely one for him. Running Total is Ralf 14 Jacky 6

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!

June 30, 2018

What an amazing Rest Day in Ulm. How I managed to pick only 35 pictures out of the 195 pictures that Ralf took today, I am not sure.

Ulm is a large busy City, it is actually two cities Ulm and New Ulm which is located across the River Danube. There are lots of opportunities for shopping (which we did) and sightseeing which we also did.

The Ulm Munster (Minster) has the tallest steeple in the world and is the largest church in Europe, it is absolutely stunning. Evangelical/Lutheran is equivalent to the Anglican Church in England, I think. The construction of the church began in 1377, it was consecrated in 1405. However work was continued until 1543. A three hundred year break and the work was restarted in 1844 and the final steeple was finished in 1899. There was a rivalry between the Ulm Munster and Koln Cathedral – Ulm won by 1.5 metres! The church is 161 metres high (530 feet). The final building was 10 metres taller than the original medieval plans.

When we arrived in the Munster square, the Saturday market was in full swing and the weather was very warm.

We entered the Munster to be told that there was a choir happening at noon and we would have to pay for the “concert”. However, we could climb the stairs of the steeple if we wanted to. We had to pay to climb the steeple E10.00 for the two of us. It was worth every penny.

At the second level we met J.J. (Joachim) his week-end job is the \”steeple keeper\”. The Steeple Keeper ensures that the place is kept clean and the tourists are well behaved as it is part of the church and respect should be shown in this area as in other parts of the church. He also gives information about the bells and a little bit of the history of the building of the church.

We were above the bells and there was a basket hanging over a large cover. I asked J.J. what the basket was for, he told me “It is used to lower little children to the bottom, if they were too tired to walk down all the stairs! That was a joke”, however, it is used to carry supplies to the Keepers accommodation.

J.J. spends 11 hours a day maintaining order and ensuring that if there are medical emergencies he can assist. Considering he is training to be a Doctor he is well qualified to assist in any medical emergencies. There are three prerequisites for the job as \”Steeple Keeper\” – physically fit, first aid training and to be a member of the church or at the very least be interested in the Munster. He spoke very good English and we had a great conversation with him not only about the Munster but also about his training to be a Doctor. The average wait to get into medical school, in Germany, is over 6 years – he told us he was lucky he only had to wait 6 years. The studies for G.P. are for six years and then depending on specialty another 4 to 6 years. The German tax-payer pays for his education. To be a Doctor costs approximately E180,000.00.

We chatted about the renovations that were started in 2007.  There are 23 craftsmen that work at the Minster full-time and they have apprentice stonemasons and wood-workers to replace the older craftsmen.  The Church requires 3 million Euro per year for its maintenance, that does not include any renovations that is needed.  The stone is quarried near Stuttgart.  Some of the stone is limestone and other is the softer sandstone.  They still have most of the original plans from the 15th Century.

After we had finished our conversation with JJ we headed up the final 120 steps to the very top of the steeple, and then returned down the 768 stairs where we met J.J. again on the ground floor.

We got a quick personal tour of the church.

The church survived World War 2 bombings relatively unscathed. They had removed some of the stained glass windows for protection, the remainder were shattered and replaced with brown or grey coloured glass. He also told us that the original plan was for one large nave and two smaller naves however a new builder in 1477 took over and made changes to the plans of the Munster but especially to the main tower and in doing so caused the church\’s first major structural problem the heavy vaults of the wide aisles and high nave burdened the columns with too much lateral force. Another master builder, replaced them with vaults of half widths, which afforded rows of additional columns dividing each of the aisles in two.

We exchanged emails and we hope to meet Joachim (J.J.) again.

After our two hour visit to the Munster, we carried on exploring the older part of the City and had lunch. 

We visited a sports store, I needed some more clothes washing concentrate, should have cost about E5.00, – 150 Euro later Ralf had bought a new windbreaker and we bought two new sleeping bag liners. I had bought a new windbreaker before leaving Canada. Ralf spotted the one that he had wanted to buy but couldn’t find it in Brockville, with zip off arms, his old jacket was over ten years old and rather raggedy.

We are eating dinner and breakfast in the room – Budgeting!!

Often it is the people we meet that make our day. J.J. was one of those people that made our day. When I gave him our email which includes the year 1985 – he very astutely said that is the year you were married. I laughed and said “I thought you would think it was the year I was born.” He laughed and said “I was born in 1986!” Yes there was an exclamation point in his comment.

Windmills. Still no more windmills. Running Total is Ralf 13 Jacky 6

These windmills do not count. 

June 29, 2018

 Awake early and on the road by 8:45. We ate breakfast in the room and Ralf made coffee in the Jetboil.

It had rained overnight, and the skies were grey and cool this morning, it did warm up a little and by the time we arrived in Ulm at 12:30 the temperature had warmed up, at least enough to take off the wind breakers. A very dull and cold start to the day. The wind again was coming from the north-east, but not as strong as the past few days.  

Maybe the weather had a little to do with our moods. Neither of us are very enthralled with the Danube Route. I had read that it was a lovely route, to follow. Today we cycled on farm roads past more wheat, barley and rye. I think we crossed the Danube about 6 times but we didn’t follow the Danube.

We made one mistake today in Ehingen which was a nice Town.

Partly, our fault and partly the municipality’s fault. We followed the signs out of the town up a hill and then took the cycle route through the park as directed by the Municipal signs (to stay off the road). We came out of the other side of the park and there were no signs. We made one large circle of the Town. (Note the circle on the map!) At the bottom of the hill that we had already been up once, Ralf asked an older gentleman where the route went as there were no signs at the top of the hill. Yes, he told us there were definitely signs at the top of the hill for the Danube Weg. \”Don’t go into the park\”. Off we went back up the hill and yes at the crest of the hill there were very large signs indicating the left turn to follow the Danube weg. If you were in the park you could not see these signs. My suggestion to the municipality is put the signs in the park as well as on the road.

When we crested the hill (for the second time) we hurtled down the other side – 30 kms speed limit that I broke all the way down the hill – top speed of 48.6 kph.

This area (Baden-Wurtemburg) is very religious, lots of churches but also lots of crosses in fields. Almost every farm has a cross on it praying for good harvests. I think this is a throw-back to paganism where there would be an alter to the god of fertility ensuring a good harvest. When catholicism came to the area they replaced the pagan alters with the cross.

Our first sighting of the Ulm Minister was on the outskirts of the City.  We think this might be the best picture we can get of the Minister.  As we got closer to the City it is surrounded by other buildings and has scaffolding around.

We arrived in Ulm at 12:30 and found the hotel pretty quickly as it is next to the Main Train Station. However, although we could see the sign to the hotel we had to negotiate a very large hole in the ground before we could get to the main entrance. The City has a new infrastructure plan with parking garages, trams, buses and the trains all connecting at this point. A lot of roads are ripped up to accommodate all of this new infrastructure.

The rooms were not ready, so we left our bikes in the luggage room and went to a Burger King for lunch!! By the time we returned from lunch, the rooms were ready. This afternoon we got the boring stuff done – washing, shopping etc.

We found a laundromat about 1.5 kms from the hotel and a very nice lady told us how to use the machines.

The scenery out of the hotel room is one large building site. Fortunately the workers finished at 5:00 and will not be back until Monday.

Interesting in most hotels in North America there is a bible in the bedside table. Although as I mentioned earlier this area is very religious, this hotel has a New Testament and the Teachings of Buddha. First for everything.