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Day 4: Donauwörth to Bad Gögging

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There was a lot of punishing grinding along gravel tracks in 41C heat today. Some really lovely towns and a lot of peach iced tea. Dusty, baking hot and a long way to go. A dream holiday… The Park Hotel in Donauwörth had air conditioning and a balcony and so while we slept reasonably well, our washed bike kit could dry in the night time heat. Breakfast was once again a “stamp it out of the machine which makes four star German breakfasts” affair. The coffee machine was strangely gated behind the bar and when I asked for my third coffee I received a skeptical raised eyebrow from the waitress. I was probably eating into their profit margin by having surplus coffees beyond the regulation amount. After managing to pack the bikes without getting smeared with the increasingly filthy combination of oil and dust which is caking the drivetrain of the bikes, we set off at 7:50 and we whizzed down the hill that we had so painfully walked up at the end of yesterday. ...
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Day 3: Ulm to Donauwörth

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Although some nifty navigation knocked 5km off the route today, it was a hard day with temperatures nearly reaching 40C. The day started early with an excellent breakfast at the Hotel Goldenes Rad. And then we were on the cycle paths along the side of the Danube in the cool morning breezes. This would not last. The Danube has got a lot bigger all of a sudden. Actually, that wasn’t the first thing we did. The first thing we did was pack the bikes and oil the chains and once again, I got a chain tattoo before we’d even started. Nobody wants this as the link photo of the blog… More washing to do at the end of the day. One would think that after over 60 days of doing this, I would learn to stand on the other side of the bike when I’m packing the bean… The paths were beautiful and soon we started seeing these navigation signs. The distance to the mouth of the Danube These only started appearing as the Danube becam...
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Day 2: Sigmaringendorf to Ulm

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Another good day although maybe a bit too long.  We were travelling through the land of storks. There were a lot of these giant multi-coloured storks along the way. Another hot night. Although the Beim Rindvert lacked air conditioning or a heated towel rail, it did have a superb breakfast buffet including made to order scrambled eggs and unlimited coffee. Like literally everybody we have met so far in Germany, the hotel owner was charming, friendly and engaging. It was a lovely start to the day. We rolled away from the hotel before 8am to take advantage of the early morning coolness and soon we were back on the EV6 Donauradweg. Early morning mist and the traditional easy gravel. The first 20 or 30 km were very easy. We stopped for further coffee in Reidlingen — a lovely town full of half timbered buildings and a giant stork.   Slightly creepy when they rear above you like this… One sees storks everywhere in the fields and on the ...
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Day 1: Donaueshingen to Sigmaringendorf

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 That was maybe the nicest 100km of riding we have ever done. Lots of this The wide open plain of the Baar plateau  And quite a lot of this The gravel paths through the Schwartzwald And even time for some of this. Endless opportunities for Apfelkuchen. But before all that fun, we had an incredibly hot and sweaty night — but not in a good way.  On previous trips hotel stays have been conditioned on whether or not there was a heated towel rail to dry one’s washing on, it appears that for the next 12 days it’s mostly going to be about whether or not the hotel has air conditioning.  The Hotel Linde does not.  However, Donaueshingen does have a sizeable population of people who own cars without silencers and who like to drive around at 2am shouting a lot.  It was a challenging evening. Breakfast was the usual 3 star fare but seated amid some…eclectic…decoration which seemed to be a fusion of Far Eastern influences and a 1950s East German apartment.  We didn...
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