Day 3: Ulm to Donauwörth

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 became navigable (it’s basically stagnant ponds west of Ulm) although it did remind me that the full length of the Danube is 2772km — easy to remember because it’s palindromic number. Well, easy for me to remember.

The first 10 or 15km were mostly like this.

Very pleasant cycling

We were cycling along the Danube and through an area called the Donaumoos which was originally part of the flood plain of the Danube although now it’s an area of low lying fenland and peaty bogs. It’s home to Biber (beaver) and many different types of birds and orchids. None of which we saw obviously.

The buttery-smooth tarmac cycle paths couldn’t last for ever and, they stopped pretty soon and we were thrown onto the gravel paths on the top of dykes which I suspect will be a major part of this route.

More tricky than it looks

Wrestling the bikes through the gravel is tiring work and so we stopped in Günzberg which, although beautiful, historic and quaint, is at the top of a rather steep hill.

The cobbles were a bit trying after the gravel.

Suitably fortified with iced water (Dr T) and peach flavoured iced tea (my addiction has come back strongly) we headed back out onto the gravel paths beside the river. Günzberg was lovely and, it turns out, is the home to Legoland Deutschland! No time to stop there though.

Another 25km of gravel paths followed as we crossed and recrossed the Danube, avoided trains and generally headed east. The heat was starting to build and we were both starting to wilt. By 50km in, we had to stop in a lovely bakery in Lauingen for a sandwich which Dr T said was the best she had ever eaten, more water and, in my case, even more peach flavoured iced tea. The bakery had a toilet protected from unauthorised use by an extended code and, somewhat strangely, had a full bank vault with safe deposit boxes in the basement.

Not what one expects in the basement of a bakery

The little towns along the Danube all seem to have a very quaint central square surrounded by some quite stunning architecture.

1478. Probably rebuilt a few times since then though.

We did some on-the-fly changes to the route mainly by following the absolutely superb German bike signage. I’m embarrassed to think about the somewhat pathetic Sustrans stickers which are stuck on random lamp posts around the UK.

Now thisis high quality bike signage.

As you can see from the sign Donauwörth was 42km away and these were some very tough kilometres. The temperature maxed out at 39C and the sun shone down mercilessly. Dr T said she felt like a rotisserie  chicken.

The farm roads lacked shade and wound slowly through the maize fields.

You might thinkthis is just some random field under a hot baking sun…

The photo above is just west of Blindheim where the Battle of Blindheim was fought on the 13th of August 1704. It was between about 50,000 French and Bavarian troops and 51,000 English, Dutch, Prussian and Savoyard troops commanded by the Duke of Marlborough. The two armies met about where this picture is taken and it was a rout for the French who lost over 30,000 men (killed and wounded) as well as all their artillery and stores. There were 20,000 bodies on the fields and 300 years later, farmers are still unearthing remains. Why do you care? Well, in English Blindheim is translated as Blenheim and Blenheim Palace exists because Queen Anne rewarded Marlborough with the stately home named after the battle.

The short excursion into 18th century history didn’t really get us much further on. It was brutal in the heat. We stopped at a farm in the middle of the fields which had a fridge with water and iced tea and an honesty box. We were so grateful we were extra honest.

An honesty box fridge and a giant chair…

At one point before we got to Donauwörth I was so hot that we had to stop in the shade of a tree and I took off my cycling shoes and poured an entire bottle of lukewarm water over my head.  That was a bit of a low point.

Eventually we reached the outskirts of Donauwörth which, it appears, was one of the main trigger points of tensions between Protestants and Catholics which started the 30 Years War. 8 million people died. I bet Donauwörth tourist board doesn’t put that on the front of their brochures.

 

I had booked the Park Hotel Donauwörth which seemed like a nice place with a spa, pool and nice restaurant overlooking the town. The operative word there is “overlooking”. It was at the top of a very steep hill which Dr T and I walked the walk of shame up to the hotel.

And the Park Hotel Donauwörth is right in that uncanny valley of four star hotels. Very nicely appointed but, as it turned out at 6pm, without any catering whatsoever until 7am the following day. This is definitely not what a couple of tired and hungry cyclists want to hear. However, some charm with the very old yet helpful receptionist got us a taxi into Donauwörth central.

It’s a beautiful and charming little town.

Despite not being authentically historical, this is really nice.

We walked onto the Reid island in the middle where there were lots of restaurants but sadly almost all of them were closed due to it being…Monday. However, there was one open which, as we strolled by assaulted our nostrils with the smell of home.

Cheesy decorations, flock wallpaper…it’s got to be Indian,

And indeed it was Indian. Dr T and I were definitely suffering from spice withdrawal symptoms because when the food arrived, it was outstanding.

Chicken Jalfrezi and a Chicken Biriani. Indian cuisine is everywhere.

So we sat amidst the local tourists eating what is basically banquet food which has travelled from India via the Raj to the UK and to the rest of the world. It was exactly what we needed.

So, a difficult day — discounting an Indian food feast at the end — and it looks like tomorrow will be even hotter. Frequent peach iced tea stops are called for otherwise we could be in serious trouble.

The stats:

• Distance: 90km 🙂. Well within our grasp day after day
• Climbing: 285m 😬. Almost nothing but in 39C heat, it feels a lot more
• Average Speed: 18.5km/h ☹️. All that gravel and riding through towns drops the average a lot.
• Soft tissues: 😐. Still holding up. More neck, hands and ankle twinges and some very strange tan lines but holding up.

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