August 28th Stage 30 Regensburg to Nesslbach

August  28^th  Stage 30 Regensburg to Nesslbach    110 kms

After a splendid early breakfast in the 14^th century dining room of our hotel overlooking the façade of the cathedral we were ready for a long day. Our first meeting place was to be Sulzbach under the curiously anachronistic copy of the Parthenon, Walhalla, perched on the wooded hillside above the river. We decided we didn’t have time to climb up to it and then later regretted our decision as, apparently, it contains a tablet commemorating the three signatories of the Rutli agreement, effectively the founding of Switzerland, which we would have liked to have seen.

But I was already making good progress along the floodplain of the Danube on excellently paved cycle paths and minor roads which, though, unfortunately, tended a lot of the time to be below the levee of the river thus obscuring the view. Because by now the Danube is impressively wide. I would stop every so often to watch the enormous barges plying the river, and wonder how long it would take them to get wherever they were going. It was extremely pleasant, even relaxing, to be able to move at more or less a constantly good speed, through the prosperous villages and the Bavarian countryside as manicured as in Switzerland. In one such village a young mother shot past me in the opposite direction on her roller blades, pushing the pram, and greeting me with that cheerful “haallo” which is ubiquitous and so friendly. I caught up with a man my own age from Stuttgart and we chatted for five minutes or so. Everything seemed quiet and as it should be. The old lady at the bus stop told me politely that the village I was looking for was still another three kilometres. I thanked her and cycled on. I felt as if I could go on for ever.

During  lunch with Katherine at Kussnacht I called my nephew from Ireland who by a nice coincidence is in Munich. We can meet tomorrow at Passau; all the more reason for putting a few more kilometres under my belt.

Bypassing Straubing by the Beggergraben levee where the cycle track deteriorates somewhat Riebersdorf and Bogen were easily reached along excellent cycle paths. In Pfelling I missed an excellent  opportunity for conversation with a middle-aged man with an artificial leg, carrying a heavy rucksack and a stick. I would really have liked to know where he was going but he seemed not to be in the mood for chatting. Doubtless he had other things to think about and in any case my German is very poor. Protected from the wind by the Danube levee the ride from Pfelling to the wonderfully named Mariaposching where I had arranged to meet Katherine was effortless.. The traffic free road wound in and out of small woods with every so often views of the ever-widening river through breaks in the protective dyke. Katherine was waiting at Mariaposching, watching the old wooden ferry as it skilfully negotiated the swift currents and I accepted the invitation of a fellow cyclist, to try out his low-slung, very sleek tricycle. I envied him his marvellously comfortable seat and believed him when he told me he could ride 200 kilometres a day quite easily, but lying back and pedalling with your feet in the air, not to mention the vulnerability in traffic would take some getting used to. If they were as good as he claimed why isn’t everyone riding them. This one was only the second I had seen since Galway.

After refreshment in the simple gasthaus in Mariaposching, it was no distance into Deggendorf, first along the grass and shingle of the river bank with the locals enjoying the sun, then through the very busy town  and out along an adequate cycle path past the old port, looking a little sad these days, and back into the countryside again where a cheerful old farmer on his tractor virtually pulled me along in his wake for a good few kilometres.

Passing the 100 kilometre mark I still felt strong, so strong in fact that momentarily I was regretting not having decided to continue all the way to Passau. But Katherine had found an excellent campsite at Nesslbach where I arrived with a very friendly local chap who insisted on showing me the way for the final few kilometres; a very appropriate ending to an unspectacular but thoroughly satisfying day out on the bike.

110 kms Total from Schaffhausen 547 kms Total from Galway 2453 kms

August 24th Stage 26 Riedlingen to Gunzburg

August 24^th Stage 26  Riedlingen to Gunzburg  95 kms

Another fierce storm during the night and another fairly early start.  Before 9 o clock we had left the cosy campsite in Riedlingen  and were heading off across the fields towards Bechingen, Zell and  Zweifaltendorf where a very obliging landlord in the “Golden Horse” Gasthaus provided us with my essential early morning coffee.

The excellently signposted route posed no problems except to give the impression that we were riding further than we actually were. The endless twists and turns in the well-maintained but contrived cycle paths began to grow a little tedious (especially as I still have some two thousand or more kilometres to go) and it was with some relief  and, on my part, not a little tiredness that we spotted Katherine with lunch at Donaustetten. 11 more kilometres and we were enjoying the wonderful cycle piste along the riverside in Ulm, the first major city since Basle. We ducked under the ramparts and paid our respects to the highest steeple in Christendom before continuing along good cycle paths and then the long, straight, gravel forest road of the Weissinger Holzle to Gunzburg. Torrential rain drove us into a small hotel on the very handsome Markt Platz.

95 kms  Total since Schaffhausen 230 kms.  Total since Galway 213

It was good to be packed up and on our way but the tents were saturated so when the lunch meeting place was reached, a bridge over the Danube by Donaustetten (what would I do without bridges to use as marker points?) Magali and I got them out and spent an hour acting as a human clothes- line. The breeze filled the fly sheets so that at times we felt we were flying kites, lots of hilarity and amusement both for us and passing cyclists, canoeists and hikers.  Thank goodness though for a dry night last night, everything recharged, no pounding rain could be heard and the chance to get on the internet and post the first 3 blogs. Katherine

August 23rd Stage 25 Iznang to Riedlingen

August 23^rd  Stage 25 Iznang to Riedlingen  94 kms

fter a ferocious storm last night some of our group were up very early, tent down and eager to leave. First stop was Radolfzell, an attractive town with its black and white timbered houses and a magnificent church, for breakfast and more decisions about the route. By chance we chose what turned out to be the continuation of Eurovelo 6 which took us easily to Stockau alongside the main road on an excellent wide cycle piste. 

Unfortunately, in Stockau, in accepting the kind help of a passing stranger, we also lost the Eurovelo route. Instead we followed the 323 main road with cycle tracks in places and patient, courteous drivers where we were obliged to take to the main carriageway to Messkirche. It was here that, at last, after a long steady but easy climb, we crossed the east-west watershed and headed down into the Danube river system. After 51 kms, Messkirche, strangely quiet in this end of season holiday period, was a welcome coffee stop before we braved the 311 road to Mengen, which required the utmost vigilance if we were to avoid being crushed by the huge trucks. But another milestone (or should I say kilometrestone?) was crossed here: 2000 kilometres from Galway! I was excited to reach the Danube, after the Shannon, the Loire, the Saone/Doubs,and the Rhine, the fifth major river system of the trip. However, at Riedlingen the Danube is still rather small and unassuming. It will be exciting to follow its growth. We moved very quickly at the end of the day, along the manicured, gravel bicycle routes some distance from the river, to the intimate, garden campsite which Katherine had found in Riedlingen. I was surprised to find we had covered more than 90 kilometres, the more so as it had included a couple of longish climbs. I hope this augurs well for the long journey ahead of us.

94 kms. Total from Schaffhausen 133 kms. Total from Galway 2039 kms.    

August 22nd Stage 24 Schaffhausen to Izmang

August 22^nd  Stage 24  Schaffhausen to Izmang (Lake Constance) 39 kms

After a break of nearly two and a half very busy summer months, when there was time for only about 500 kilometres of training, it was very good  to be continuing the ride to the Black Sea.  After a long stressful drive in heavy traffic to Schaffhausen I got back on the bike in the exact place I dismounted on June 3^rd, at the entrance to the Hauptbahnhof. There was, however, an immediate change of plan. Instead of crossing the watershed immediately to Hausen and the Danube we decided to continue along the Rhine, through Stein am Rhein to Lake Constance and then tomorrow make our way up to Sigmaringen where we will meet the Danube. I am joined for the first six days by Vicky, and Magali is a companion for Katherine in the “support vehicle.” Although the vehicle itself is more likely to need support than I am!

The decision to change the route was a good one. Today was an easy, uneventful afternoon ride of 39 kilometres along the banks of the Rhine, full of holiday makers and very animated. The minor roads and tracks on the north side of the river wander in and out of Germany as far as Stein and are delightful. A surprise after the heavy traffic between Basle and Schaffhausen in June. I had also forgotten just how beautiful Stein am Rhein is. We pushed the bikes under the arch at the west end of the town, had a brief conversation with a gallery owner lounging outside his shop, and admired the magnificent painted facades. Maybe Stein really is the most beautiful town in Switzerland. Even the side streets are worth exploring. Now, though, at the end of the summer holidays, it was very crowded, and we were not unreluctant to leave the town and follow the road and tracks hugging the spur of the lake as far as Izmang where Katherine found a delightful and surprisingly uncrowded simple campsite by the side of the lake, although later in the evening the mosquitoes became very troublesome indeed.   

An easy first stage of the second half of the journey, in very hot weather. The shady wooded sections were very welcome indeed.

39kms   Total from Schaffhausen 39 kms. Total from Galway 1945 kms.