A day off in Biberach, Germany
What a couple of snoozers. As our hosts went off to the jobs early in the morning, we slept until 10:30. By the time we had done some chores, Joerg and Giovanna were home. Again Giovanna made us a huge lunch with pork chops, 2 different kinds of sausages and potato salad. Then we and Joerg walked into town to get some needed bike parts. Joerg gave us a tour of the town and acted as our interpreter at the bike shop to help us get what we needed.
Upon arriving home a little after 6:00 we enjoyed pastries and coffee. Later John worked on the bikes and discovered that he wasn't able to get the replacement brake pads he bought onto the bikes. This meant a trip back to the bike store tomorrow.
At 10:00 we ate sandwiches. This was our first experience with the European eating schedule that we had read about, a large lunch with cake and coffee in the late afternoon and a light dinner in the late evening. Very interesting!
Again we spent the night talking. However, tonight we had an added guest. Our hosts had asked their neighbor if we could use his telephone to send our logs home since our hosts had only a cell phone. He brought his cordless phone up to the flat. We tried sending, but it didn't work. He stayed until about 2:00 A.M. as some thunderstorms rolled in and we talked about politics (mostly Mr. George Bush) and many other things. It was enjoyable for us and the neighbor, but poor Joerg had to spend the whole evening translating for both parties.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
19 June 2007
Leipheim, Germany to Biberach, Germany
The plan for today was to get an early start because we had a big day ahead of us. We pulled it off and enjoyed a fairly uneventful 20 kms into Ulm, arriving at 10:00. Since our warm showers hosts said they would be home after 6:00, we planned a leisurely 4 hours to see the sights in Ulm. This time went fairly quickly. The main attraction here is the Ulm cathedral which has the world's tallest church spire at 181 meters. We took the opportunity to climb the 768 step spiral staircase up to the top for a wonderful view of the surrounding area including a glimpse of the Alps way off on the horizon. By the time we got down all of those stairs we were pretty dizzy. It was lunchtime, so we sat down and shared an overpriced, mediocre plate of kase spatzel and a small salad. Then we walked around the old town enjoying all of the classic half timber buildings that most Americans probably picture when thinking of a German town. Marie commented that the town looked like a movi!
e set for an oldtime German movie.
We left at 2:00 after looking at some maps in a bookstore to try to find a bike route down to Biberach. We followed the Danube a few kms and managed to find the signed bikeway we were looking for. There were a few problem spots where the signs were not as clear as we needed, but by about 6:00 we landed in Biberach. We followed the signs to the train station as Joerg, our host, suggested. He told us to call him from there. We had his address and, with the help of a stranger, located a city map with a street index, found their house, drew ourselves a rough map and headed up the biggest hills we had ridden in a week.
As we turned down their street, we saw Joerg and his wife, Giovanna from Peru, sitting on the porch of their second floor flat watching for us. They greeted us and pointed the way into the back yard. We unloaded the bikes, locked them in the cellar and settled in. Our wonderful hosts gave us a tour of their place, showed us how everything worked and where to find the food, glasses, cutlery, pots and pans, etc. This is truly the sign of a good host.
Later on as we enjoyed the huge, wonderful dinner that Giovanna prepared for us, we learned that we were their first warm showers visitors and they had bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate. So we sipped the bubbly and talked the night away, exchanging travel stories and much more.
Kms 64.39
Time 4:19:50
Avg 14.8
Max ?
Total 2126.6
The plan for today was to get an early start because we had a big day ahead of us. We pulled it off and enjoyed a fairly uneventful 20 kms into Ulm, arriving at 10:00. Since our warm showers hosts said they would be home after 6:00, we planned a leisurely 4 hours to see the sights in Ulm. This time went fairly quickly. The main attraction here is the Ulm cathedral which has the world's tallest church spire at 181 meters. We took the opportunity to climb the 768 step spiral staircase up to the top for a wonderful view of the surrounding area including a glimpse of the Alps way off on the horizon. By the time we got down all of those stairs we were pretty dizzy. It was lunchtime, so we sat down and shared an overpriced, mediocre plate of kase spatzel and a small salad. Then we walked around the old town enjoying all of the classic half timber buildings that most Americans probably picture when thinking of a German town. Marie commented that the town looked like a movi!
e set for an oldtime German movie.
We left at 2:00 after looking at some maps in a bookstore to try to find a bike route down to Biberach. We followed the Danube a few kms and managed to find the signed bikeway we were looking for. There were a few problem spots where the signs were not as clear as we needed, but by about 6:00 we landed in Biberach. We followed the signs to the train station as Joerg, our host, suggested. He told us to call him from there. We had his address and, with the help of a stranger, located a city map with a street index, found their house, drew ourselves a rough map and headed up the biggest hills we had ridden in a week.
As we turned down their street, we saw Joerg and his wife, Giovanna from Peru, sitting on the porch of their second floor flat watching for us. They greeted us and pointed the way into the back yard. We unloaded the bikes, locked them in the cellar and settled in. Our wonderful hosts gave us a tour of their place, showed us how everything worked and where to find the food, glasses, cutlery, pots and pans, etc. This is truly the sign of a good host.
Later on as we enjoyed the huge, wonderful dinner that Giovanna prepared for us, we learned that we were their first warm showers visitors and they had bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate. So we sipped the bubbly and talked the night away, exchanging travel stories and much more.
Kms 64.39
Time 4:19:50
Avg 14.8
Max ?
Total 2126.6
18 June 2007
Dillingen, Germany to Leipheim, Germany
The rain began shortly after we went to sleep last night and continued for a while, but by the time we awoke on this leisurely morning, the sun was popping out through the clouds and the clearing was on its way. We rode directly to the internet cafe in town that we scoped out last night. The sign said it opened at 9:30. It was 9:50 and the door was locked, but by the time we got back from a trip to the bankomat (Tyme machine) the internet woman and her cute dog were there to open up shop. We took care of business as much as possible and finally headed out of town at around 11:00. Within 5 minutes we were lost and didn't know where the bikeway was, but eventually it appeared and we were on our way.
We planned a short ride today, going as far as possible toward the town of Ulm. Ulm has no campgrounds and we want to spend some time there, so we decided to camp near the town of Gunzburg tonight, ride the 20+ kms to Ulm tomorrow, check out the sights and then ride the 25+ kms south out of Ulm to our warm showers hosts in Biberach.
After a brief lunch break, we arrived in Gunzberg a little after 2:00. We went through our usual struggle to find the visitor info center. A man in a bakery finally escorted us there after a lengthy discussion with some women to figure out where it was. Unfortunately, the woman working there was not too knowledgable. After a lot of prodding, however, we thought we had the information we needed and struck off. Of course, a rain shower began just then and we took cover under a storefront awning. After a few minutes, the shop owner automatically rolled up the awning from the inside. Apparently they didn't like us standing there, so we hid under a big umbrella by a restaurant. It stopped after 10 minutes so we rode to the Frauenkirche, a beautiful church from the 18th century. We stayed on the south side of the river and rode to Leipheim where we picked up some groceries and then crossed the river heading toward Riedheim. The campground that we picked, which is the cl!
osest one this side of Ulm, was supposed to be between Leipheim and Riedheim. We were thinking the worst since we didn't really know how far it was, but it turned out to be only about one km over the river. This was a good thing since we could see a heavy rain shower off in the distance in the direction we were heading.
It began to rain lightly as we pulled in. John scrambled to get the tent set up before the ground got too wet and Marie grabbed all the bags and ran for shelter. John finished the tent just as the rain came pouring down. The shower lasted about 20 minutes. Afterwards the sun came out and the rest of the evening was pleasant.
Kms 36.88
Time 2:51:10
Avg 12.8
Max 38.6
Total 2060.7
The rain began shortly after we went to sleep last night and continued for a while, but by the time we awoke on this leisurely morning, the sun was popping out through the clouds and the clearing was on its way. We rode directly to the internet cafe in town that we scoped out last night. The sign said it opened at 9:30. It was 9:50 and the door was locked, but by the time we got back from a trip to the bankomat (Tyme machine) the internet woman and her cute dog were there to open up shop. We took care of business as much as possible and finally headed out of town at around 11:00. Within 5 minutes we were lost and didn't know where the bikeway was, but eventually it appeared and we were on our way.
We planned a short ride today, going as far as possible toward the town of Ulm. Ulm has no campgrounds and we want to spend some time there, so we decided to camp near the town of Gunzburg tonight, ride the 20+ kms to Ulm tomorrow, check out the sights and then ride the 25+ kms south out of Ulm to our warm showers hosts in Biberach.
After a brief lunch break, we arrived in Gunzberg a little after 2:00. We went through our usual struggle to find the visitor info center. A man in a bakery finally escorted us there after a lengthy discussion with some women to figure out where it was. Unfortunately, the woman working there was not too knowledgable. After a lot of prodding, however, we thought we had the information we needed and struck off. Of course, a rain shower began just then and we took cover under a storefront awning. After a few minutes, the shop owner automatically rolled up the awning from the inside. Apparently they didn't like us standing there, so we hid under a big umbrella by a restaurant. It stopped after 10 minutes so we rode to the Frauenkirche, a beautiful church from the 18th century. We stayed on the south side of the river and rode to Leipheim where we picked up some groceries and then crossed the river heading toward Riedheim. The campground that we picked, which is the cl!
osest one this side of Ulm, was supposed to be between Leipheim and Riedheim. We were thinking the worst since we didn't really know how far it was, but it turned out to be only about one km over the river. This was a good thing since we could see a heavy rain shower off in the distance in the direction we were heading.
It began to rain lightly as we pulled in. John scrambled to get the tent set up before the ground got too wet and Marie grabbed all the bags and ran for shelter. John finished the tent just as the rain came pouring down. The shower lasted about 20 minutes. Afterwards the sun came out and the rest of the evening was pleasant.
Kms 36.88
Time 2:51:10
Avg 12.8
Max 38.6
Total 2060.7
17 June 2007
Neuburg, Germany to Dillingen, Germany
It was raining lightly as we awoke. We dawdled a little and as we were packing up the sun came out and the sky cleared. Leaving Neuberg we got onto a dirt track that followed the river and thought that was where we were supposed to be but weren't sure. We knew we had to cross the river. There was another dirt track that branched off toward the river, so we checked it out. It was a sort of dam which we could cross on. We looked upriver and didn't see anywhere else to cross, so we went over with the hope of picking up the bikeway on the other side. Well, there were no bikeway signs and we had given up, heading back to town to take the road that we had taken in yesterday. Then, low and behold, there was the bikeway. We just don't understand the way they have this thing signed!
At noon we were in Donauworth, a sizable town where we wanted to check our email for information from our warm showers hosts a few days down the road. There was a huge car show going on there with new cars and their adjoining salespeople lining the main streets of town. We asked a waitress about an internet cafe and she directed us, but it was closed on Sundays like everything else in Germany. So we tried to continue on and couldn't make sense of the bikeway signs again. They didn't seem to jive with what our map showed. We asked some biker dudes sitting down for a coffee and they told us which way to go in a bit of a cocky fashion. John was convinced they were wrong since we had just come back from going the way they said to go. So we went the way John thought was correct and almost immediately found the bikeway. I guess you can't always trust the locals for directions.
The weather turned out to be just beautiful today, quite warm forcing us to stop for ice cream in the late afternoon at a gas station which was a pretty happening place since it was the only thing open in town. We arrived in Dillingen and found the campground easily due to excellent signage. There was a couple there already set up from Stuttgart riding some of the Danube. We talked briefly, did our chores and then walked into town for dinner. On the way we did some routefinding work for tomorrow. We followed the bikeway signs through the old town area, found the tourist info office and looked around a bit. We tried calling our warm showers host in Biberach but weren't able to figure out how to dial his cell phone number. We enjoyed a calzone and some big ice cream cones before returning to camp and chatting with the other cyclists. They were very friendly and extremely helpful. We were asking them about camping for tomorrow night since we were heading toward the are!
a they came through today. They weren't sure about camping in Ulm, which we were particularly interested in, so the woman got a campground directory from the campground host and looked it up for us. We also asked about dialing the cell phone number that we had tried and before we knew it, the man had his cell phone out and dialed the number for us. This saved us a ton of trouble. The woman also found out where a supermarket was in town for tomorrow morning. It was like they were just there to serve us. What nice folks!
Kms 71.83
Time 4:56:32
Avg 14.5
Max 52.6
Total 2023.8
It was raining lightly as we awoke. We dawdled a little and as we were packing up the sun came out and the sky cleared. Leaving Neuberg we got onto a dirt track that followed the river and thought that was where we were supposed to be but weren't sure. We knew we had to cross the river. There was another dirt track that branched off toward the river, so we checked it out. It was a sort of dam which we could cross on. We looked upriver and didn't see anywhere else to cross, so we went over with the hope of picking up the bikeway on the other side. Well, there were no bikeway signs and we had given up, heading back to town to take the road that we had taken in yesterday. Then, low and behold, there was the bikeway. We just don't understand the way they have this thing signed!
At noon we were in Donauworth, a sizable town where we wanted to check our email for information from our warm showers hosts a few days down the road. There was a huge car show going on there with new cars and their adjoining salespeople lining the main streets of town. We asked a waitress about an internet cafe and she directed us, but it was closed on Sundays like everything else in Germany. So we tried to continue on and couldn't make sense of the bikeway signs again. They didn't seem to jive with what our map showed. We asked some biker dudes sitting down for a coffee and they told us which way to go in a bit of a cocky fashion. John was convinced they were wrong since we had just come back from going the way they said to go. So we went the way John thought was correct and almost immediately found the bikeway. I guess you can't always trust the locals for directions.
The weather turned out to be just beautiful today, quite warm forcing us to stop for ice cream in the late afternoon at a gas station which was a pretty happening place since it was the only thing open in town. We arrived in Dillingen and found the campground easily due to excellent signage. There was a couple there already set up from Stuttgart riding some of the Danube. We talked briefly, did our chores and then walked into town for dinner. On the way we did some routefinding work for tomorrow. We followed the bikeway signs through the old town area, found the tourist info office and looked around a bit. We tried calling our warm showers host in Biberach but weren't able to figure out how to dial his cell phone number. We enjoyed a calzone and some big ice cream cones before returning to camp and chatting with the other cyclists. They were very friendly and extremely helpful. We were asking them about camping for tomorrow night since we were heading toward the are!
a they came through today. They weren't sure about camping in Ulm, which we were particularly interested in, so the woman got a campground directory from the campground host and looked it up for us. We also asked about dialing the cell phone number that we had tried and before we knew it, the man had his cell phone out and dialed the number for us. This saved us a ton of trouble. The woman also found out where a supermarket was in town for tomorrow morning. It was like they were just there to serve us. What nice folks!
Kms 71.83
Time 4:56:32
Avg 14.5
Max 52.6
Total 2023.8
16 June 2007
Beilngries, Germany to Neuburg, Germany
The rain lasted until about midnight or so and things were pretty damp this morning. In our haste to get into the tent last night we failed to securely close the BOB bag so things were a bit wet in there, also. The sun was out, though, to help dry things out. Today's riding was much like yesterday and the scenery as well. We were rolling along pretty good to our lunch stop in Eichstatt. Here we bought food for today and tomorrow and ate lunch on a table next to the river. Following the trail signs was a bit easier today. Once again the sky wasn't looking too friendly but we pressed on. When the trail took a turn directly into the storm clouds, we followed it for about 200 meters before seeing lightening. That caused us to do a 180 degree turn and head for cover in Wasserzell. A heavy shower came down as we enjoyed a hot chocolate and a cappacino. A half hour later we were back on the trail with a sunny sky. In Dollnstein we said goodbye to the Altmuhl and headed south for th!
e good old Danube. In Wellheim we decided to get off the hard packed limestone trail and take the road instead. As we approached Rennertshofen we could see a veil of rain ahead with clear sky behind it. The wind picked up in our face which made this stretch a bit of a struggle. We took a break and thought the rain had moved east of us, but we got caught in a refreshing light shower. Our book showed camping in Rennertshofen but neither one of the two maps did and after asking 3 different people we were convinced that there was none here. We thought about getting a room but it was looking like a nice evening so we decided to go 10 km's east to Neuburg to camp. When we pulled in there was only one other couple there from France traveling by bike to Africa!! Soon, though, there were 2 more cycling couples and a couple of kayaking groups. We walked into town with Jens and Werner, 2 of the kayakers, and found our way to a little street festival and enjoyed a dinner of pig's knuck!
le while trading stories.
Kms 92.74
Time 5:43:02
Avg 16.2
Max 46.2
Total 1952.0
The rain lasted until about midnight or so and things were pretty damp this morning. In our haste to get into the tent last night we failed to securely close the BOB bag so things were a bit wet in there, also. The sun was out, though, to help dry things out. Today's riding was much like yesterday and the scenery as well. We were rolling along pretty good to our lunch stop in Eichstatt. Here we bought food for today and tomorrow and ate lunch on a table next to the river. Following the trail signs was a bit easier today. Once again the sky wasn't looking too friendly but we pressed on. When the trail took a turn directly into the storm clouds, we followed it for about 200 meters before seeing lightening. That caused us to do a 180 degree turn and head for cover in Wasserzell. A heavy shower came down as we enjoyed a hot chocolate and a cappacino. A half hour later we were back on the trail with a sunny sky. In Dollnstein we said goodbye to the Altmuhl and headed south for th!
e good old Danube. In Wellheim we decided to get off the hard packed limestone trail and take the road instead. As we approached Rennertshofen we could see a veil of rain ahead with clear sky behind it. The wind picked up in our face which made this stretch a bit of a struggle. We took a break and thought the rain had moved east of us, but we got caught in a refreshing light shower. Our book showed camping in Rennertshofen but neither one of the two maps did and after asking 3 different people we were convinced that there was none here. We thought about getting a room but it was looking like a nice evening so we decided to go 10 km's east to Neuburg to camp. When we pulled in there was only one other couple there from France traveling by bike to Africa!! Soon, though, there were 2 more cycling couples and a couple of kayaking groups. We walked into town with Jens and Werner, 2 of the kayakers, and found our way to a little street festival and enjoyed a dinner of pig's knuck!
le while trading stories.
Kms 92.74
Time 5:43:02
Avg 16.2
Max 46.2
Total 1952.0
15 June 2007
Neustadt, Germany to Beilngries, Germany
Some thunderstorms came rockin' through camp in the wee hours of the morning -- not too much rain but a lot of wind, thunder and lightening. But the sky was partly sunny as we dined on scrambled eggs that John cooked up for breakfast. They come in cartons of 10 and our camping neighbor, a teenaged cyclist from Germany, didn't want any, so we each had 5!
John requested that we start getting up a little earlier, so it was rise and shine at 7:00. We were on the road by 8:30 and backtracked on our route from yesterday to the monastery where we were planning on taking the 20 minute scenic boat trip down the Danube back to Kelheim which saves a big hill climb. Unfortunately, when we left this place yesterday we didn't study the boat schedule because we weren't planning on returning. It was 9:00 and the first boat didn't sail until 10:15. So much for an early start. So we changed our shoes and took the walk up some stairs and past the stations of the cross to the small chapel on the hill and had a look inside. There was also a nice lookout over the Danube but the mosquitoes were so bad up there we only had a short look.
After a few games of cribbage, the boat eventually came and we enjoyed the short trip narrated in German only. We stopped at an internet cafe in Kelheim to take care of some business and split a kabob before finally cruising along the Altmuhl River at about 1:00. Kabobs are the greatest (we each had one here yesterday, too). They are very similar to gyros but better.
We did a much better job of navigating the trail today. It was sunny and quite warm and the trail was full of people mostly going the opposite way. The riding was quite flat and the scenery was much like that of the Danube and even more beautiful in some places where the river valley widened out. There are also many limestone cliffs that add to the scenery.
Even with the kabob for lunch, we still took several breaks for snacks. In one spot we picked cherries and sat under a shelter on some comfortable benches and just about fell asleep.
We were kind of struggling along with about 15 kms to go. After another snack stop at a grocery store, we picked the pace up a bit. As we approached our destination for the day, Beilngries, we saw a very dark sky ahead and heard some thunder. This has been the weather pattern for quite some time now. Anyway, this really motivated us to turn on the burners. We made a quick stop in Kottingworth to see the inside of the church of St. Vitus and then flew into camp. We set up and went into the biergarten as it began to rain. We waited it out, the rain stopped and we made a dash for the grocery store on our bikes for dinner supplies. We were even able to get our showers in and get our sandwiches made before the rain began again and forced us into the tent with our dinner.
Kms 61.39
Time 3:44:45
Avg 16.3
Max 39.3
Total 1859.2
Some thunderstorms came rockin' through camp in the wee hours of the morning -- not too much rain but a lot of wind, thunder and lightening. But the sky was partly sunny as we dined on scrambled eggs that John cooked up for breakfast. They come in cartons of 10 and our camping neighbor, a teenaged cyclist from Germany, didn't want any, so we each had 5!
John requested that we start getting up a little earlier, so it was rise and shine at 7:00. We were on the road by 8:30 and backtracked on our route from yesterday to the monastery where we were planning on taking the 20 minute scenic boat trip down the Danube back to Kelheim which saves a big hill climb. Unfortunately, when we left this place yesterday we didn't study the boat schedule because we weren't planning on returning. It was 9:00 and the first boat didn't sail until 10:15. So much for an early start. So we changed our shoes and took the walk up some stairs and past the stations of the cross to the small chapel on the hill and had a look inside. There was also a nice lookout over the Danube but the mosquitoes were so bad up there we only had a short look.
After a few games of cribbage, the boat eventually came and we enjoyed the short trip narrated in German only. We stopped at an internet cafe in Kelheim to take care of some business and split a kabob before finally cruising along the Altmuhl River at about 1:00. Kabobs are the greatest (we each had one here yesterday, too). They are very similar to gyros but better.
We did a much better job of navigating the trail today. It was sunny and quite warm and the trail was full of people mostly going the opposite way. The riding was quite flat and the scenery was much like that of the Danube and even more beautiful in some places where the river valley widened out. There are also many limestone cliffs that add to the scenery.
Even with the kabob for lunch, we still took several breaks for snacks. In one spot we picked cherries and sat under a shelter on some comfortable benches and just about fell asleep.
We were kind of struggling along with about 15 kms to go. After another snack stop at a grocery store, we picked the pace up a bit. As we approached our destination for the day, Beilngries, we saw a very dark sky ahead and heard some thunder. This has been the weather pattern for quite some time now. Anyway, this really motivated us to turn on the burners. We made a quick stop in Kottingworth to see the inside of the church of St. Vitus and then flew into camp. We set up and went into the biergarten as it began to rain. We waited it out, the rain stopped and we made a dash for the grocery store on our bikes for dinner supplies. We were even able to get our showers in and get our sandwiches made before the rain began again and forced us into the tent with our dinner.
Kms 61.39
Time 3:44:45
Avg 16.3
Max 39.3
Total 1859.2
14 June 2007
Regensburg, Germany to Neustadt, Germany
We tried an experiment with the sleeping arangements last night. It seems the Gortext shell doesn't breath all that well even when we have all the doors open except for the screens. This causes moisture to form on the inside walls and ceiling of the tent. We have been putting our panniers at the head of our tent but we switched them to the foot. It seemed to work so we will try it again tonite.
Today could be summed up as frustrating. Trying to follow the tiny bikeway signs and reading our book backwards sure threw a wrench in the day. We made it to Kelheim and decided to take lunch because we thought there were a few steep climbs ahead. It turned out that we went the wrong way twice making some long climbs before finding the correct way. The right way was up a hill to Befreiungs Hall and then up and down an undulating dirt track to a small ferry that took us across the river on a guy wire/pulley system (no motor needed - just one big oar). Most people take a boat for this section because of the hill climbing. The reason we took the wrong turns was figured out when we finally made it to Weltenburg and were having a beer at the oldest Monastic brewery in the world, founded in 1058. The book we are sort of using for a guide gets off the Danube and goes up to the Altmuhl River. We didn't read that far back before having the beer. Marie's was mixed with lemonade and wa!
s quite tasty. The problem now was that we didn't have any info on the Danube for the next 140 km's. Throwing caution to the wind we headed down the cycle way to parts unknown. The path turned into a double track, rough gravel road which we soon got tired of and hopped on a road leading to Neustadt. In the town of Bad Godding we stopped at a gas station/car dealership to see if we could find a map that would help us out. The cashier told us that the next stretch of the river was really boring and suggested we follow the Altmuhl instead (as our book does) and that there was camping just down the road. After searching through the assortment of maps we found one that would be of use no matter which way we took. Once in camp and satiated with food we looked over the situation and decided to follow the Altmuhl for a while. This means backtracking to Weltenburg tomorrow (another beer?), then taking the boat to Kelheim and getting back on the bikeway at one of the wrong turns we t!
ook today. It is a good thing we have lots of time for this trip. We a
re traveling in a north and south pattern to go west. From Budapest to Kelheim it is about 850 km's and we have gone over almost 1800 km's. Tonight was the first night that mosquitoes forced us into the tent at 9:00.
Kms 67.12
Time 4:30:10
Avg 14.8
Max 52.0
Total 1797.8
We tried an experiment with the sleeping arangements last night. It seems the Gortext shell doesn't breath all that well even when we have all the doors open except for the screens. This causes moisture to form on the inside walls and ceiling of the tent. We have been putting our panniers at the head of our tent but we switched them to the foot. It seemed to work so we will try it again tonite.
Today could be summed up as frustrating. Trying to follow the tiny bikeway signs and reading our book backwards sure threw a wrench in the day. We made it to Kelheim and decided to take lunch because we thought there were a few steep climbs ahead. It turned out that we went the wrong way twice making some long climbs before finding the correct way. The right way was up a hill to Befreiungs Hall and then up and down an undulating dirt track to a small ferry that took us across the river on a guy wire/pulley system (no motor needed - just one big oar). Most people take a boat for this section because of the hill climbing. The reason we took the wrong turns was figured out when we finally made it to Weltenburg and were having a beer at the oldest Monastic brewery in the world, founded in 1058. The book we are sort of using for a guide gets off the Danube and goes up to the Altmuhl River. We didn't read that far back before having the beer. Marie's was mixed with lemonade and wa!
s quite tasty. The problem now was that we didn't have any info on the Danube for the next 140 km's. Throwing caution to the wind we headed down the cycle way to parts unknown. The path turned into a double track, rough gravel road which we soon got tired of and hopped on a road leading to Neustadt. In the town of Bad Godding we stopped at a gas station/car dealership to see if we could find a map that would help us out. The cashier told us that the next stretch of the river was really boring and suggested we follow the Altmuhl instead (as our book does) and that there was camping just down the road. After searching through the assortment of maps we found one that would be of use no matter which way we took. Once in camp and satiated with food we looked over the situation and decided to follow the Altmuhl for a while. This means backtracking to Weltenburg tomorrow (another beer?), then taking the boat to Kelheim and getting back on the bikeway at one of the wrong turns we t!
ook today. It is a good thing we have lots of time for this trip. We a
re traveling in a north and south pattern to go west. From Budapest to Kelheim it is about 850 km's and we have gone over almost 1800 km's. Tonight was the first night that mosquitoes forced us into the tent at 9:00.
Kms 67.12
Time 4:30:10
Avg 14.8
Max 52.0
Total 1797.8
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