Day 24 - Regensburg to Vilshofen an der Donau (75 miles)

As I was cycling this morning alongside roads and through nondescript suburbia I thought the only thing that would be memorable about today would be the wind. But then the afternoon happened.

Late morning I passed through Straubing, from a distance a city that revealed itself by a number of spires pushing skywards. As I cycled up the wide, cobbled high street I sensed it was a city worthy of more investigation; there seemed to be a lot of beautiful old medieval buildings about. But I needed to press on and had decided to stop at Deggendorf, the next big town, so I continued pedalling and headed out of the city.

Straubing 

For an hour I cycled by or on the Danube levee, enjoying the sun if not the headwind. And then it started. Roadworks digging the bejesus out of the cycle path area stop me in my tracks. I carefully climb down off the steep-sided levee with my bike and, in the absence of any obvious alternate routes or detour signs, I push my bike through the roadworks and around the diggers. No one stops me. The works are extensive so I have to pick up a different road on the other side, end up on an uncomfortably fast and busy highway, but manage to leave it eventually for a quieter road to Deggendorf where, tired from the heat and the frustration, I stop at a picnic area to rest and eat.

I leave Deggendorf into more roadwork issues, less problematic but the cycleway is still inaccessible and more time is wasted navigating my way around them to reach my next objective, a tiny foot passenger ferry to take me across to the opposite side of the Danube to continue the route. When I eventually get there I find the ferry is broken and not running.

Kapput 

I work out an alternative route along my side of the river only to hit more roadworks. Cross country then, to a road bridge to join the route on the other side. An hour later and I get to the bridge. It too is closed. By now the constant headwind that I have been facing all day, the afternoon heat and all the time wasting frustration are really getting to me. Unlike yesterday when the miles slipped by, today I seem to be working hard for every one of them and still seem to be making little progress.

I pick a small road that will take me directly to my destination through a number of small villages: I have wasted enough time. But this narrow road is also busy with lorries and coaches as well as cars, a consequence I guess from the miles of roadworks so I need to get off. And then things finally improve as I pick up cycle paths that are signed to those villages on my route. After a few miles I am back alongside the Danube - albeit not the side I expected - and cycling towards the bridge at Vilshofen an der Donau that I can see in the distance. 

Back on the Danube

I still have to get through packed commuter traffic, across a fast road with, unusually, no cycle lanes or lights and then up a long hill. But some ten hours after setting out I arrive at my accommodation. It turns out to be another converted monastery - spacious, charming and comfortable - attached to an imposing church. It is good to have arrived.

Day 23 - Ingolstadt to Regensburg (65 miles)

Sometimes this route gives: flat and solid paths, peace and solitude, distracting scenery. Sometimes she takes away: leg punishing hills, busy roads, grim weather. Today she mostly gave, with fine weather and a mostly flat route.

The morning took me thirty-five miles via road, riverside track, wood and fields of hops and pasture to the town of Kelheim. The sun shone and the route lent itself to steady cycling: firm and flat. With one exception. There was a particularly long climb to end the morning before I dropped down into Kelheim but I had expected it; it was a very obvious spike on an otherwise flat profile. But the previous three hours had been easy on the body, my mind was prepared and the path itself was mostly through shaded woodland; to call it a pleasure to ride would be overstating it dramatically but I tackled it with a positive attitude.

At Kelheim I sat in the main square and relaxed with a milkshake and some unusual coffee with whipped cream and pistachios before tackling the twenty-seven miles or so to Regensburg, a city with a medieval centre that had been declared a World Heritage Site. My plan was to get there in good time to wander around before heading on to my out of town hotel. It was a beautiful ride, almost entirely along the Danube curving gracefully through its wood covered valley, the occasional grey cliff taking me back to a much younger river upstream three days ago. I was also reminded that this is a working river with the periodic appearance of a massive barge churning its way up river as I cycled down.

I arrived at Regensburg mid afternoon, plenty of time to wander its maze of streets, some wide and overtaken by the trappings of tourism and some narrow and silent. But they were all colourful and they all oozed age. I worked my way randomly through the medieval centre pushing my bike while admiring the simple and the extravagant, the small and the large. I had been tempted to park it up but the many bike racks around the city - and the lampposts and street corners - were so overloaded with bicycles it was like an infestation. By the time I reached the Domplatz to see the twin towered Gothic cathedral - sadly largely under cover as there seems to be a fair bit of renovation taking place - it was time to head east again.

Within half an hour I was at my motel accommodation just outside the city, a soulless box of a building but perfectly situated right on the route and not at an exploitative tourist price like those in the heart of Regensburg a few miles back. I finished the day at a nearby Italian restaurant a few minutes away on foot, walking past a supermarket where young and old were loading their bicycles with shopping; unlike home it seems here the bicycle has as much a role in the daily routine as a car. 

Tomorrow I have a full day again but it will put me only a short ride away from Passau on the Austrian border and my next rest day.

Day 22 - Höchstädt an der Donau to Ingolstadt (59 miles)

Within five minutes of leaving the hotel this morning I was off the main road passing through Höchstädt and in the small lanes of the surrounding countryside. Everything was Sunday-silent save for the birds and the occasional toll of a bell from a church tower somewhere across the flat. The route took me through small villages, one of which was Blendhiem, site of the battle where the Duke of Marlborough beat the Austrians and earned himself Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. By all accounts it was a bloody day with 20,000 killed and they say that today local farmers still turn up the bones of some of the fallen.

By mid morning I was in Donauwörth, another town centre of delightful multicoloured buildings and cobbled streets. I still had over forty miles to go to Ingolstadt but made time for coffee. The rest of the morning was a throwback to three days ago with an undulating and hilly ride through the countryside. Not as bad as the cycle to Mühlheim by any stretch but still a reminder that challenging terrain has a big impact on my speed and my energy.

Donauwörth 

The afternoon however was my reward, with hardly a road or hill to be seen. Long, flat stretches on a levee by or near the Danube - reminiscent of my days by the Loire - made up for my morning efforts; the rhythm of my legs, the crunch of the gravel beneath my tyres and a focused mind coming together to have the miles slip away. The river sections were separated by long stretches through woodland tracks where again the combination of relative flat, the smell of wild garlic and the abundance of nature provided distraction enough for the miles to pass by largely unnoticed. 

I entered Ingolstadt through an old city gate which was impressive enough but was then immediately faced with the immensity of the town's biggest church, a Gothic monster with cavernous interior and two strangely angled square towers framing the entrance.  Ingolstadt is where Mary Shelley set the novel Frankenstein and although nowadays it might be better known for more modern practices like engineering and oil refining, the city centre still feels very traditional. 

Today may have been a shorter day but once again the miles are catching up with me and I feel a weariness in mind and body. So, after exploring the town on foot and enjoying a well earned beer I took the easy option and headed back to my hotel in the heart of the city to eat and relax. I have just over two days more before I reach Passau on the Austrian border, the end of this stage and a city which I hear is beautiful and where I will spend a day resting and exploring.

Today's Episode is Delayed due to Technical Difficulties. Normal Service will be Resumed Shortly

 

Stage 4 Overview - Ulm to Passau (253 miles)

As I passed through Ulm late in the morning I finished Stage 3 of the EV6 and began the next. Stage 3 has taken me through Switzerland (a couple of times due to the small Swiss enclaves on the German side of the Rhine) and on through Germany. I will end this next leg at Passau on the border with Austria in about three days time.

My first thirty miles into Bavarian have not yet been any different to the rest of Germany but according to the stage notes I will now follow the Danube and pass through medieval town centres and beautiful river valleys.  Weltenburg Monastery and Regensberg's Gothic cathedral gets particular mention so I am hoping I can fit them seamlessly into my daily plans for this stage.

Day 21 - Obermarchtal to Höchstädt an der Donau (73 miles)

This morning, as I looked into the mirror at the drawn and baggy-eyed face staring back, I wondered which part of regular daily exercise is meant to be good for me. On the bright side though, today's forecast was for blue skies and sun which bode well for my relatively long day.

I spent the best part of the morning getting to Ulm, the 'gateway to Bavaria' and birthplace of Albert Einstein. After an initial stretch along the Danube I saw little of the river. Instead, stretches of woodland and long sections across a patchwork of green, brown and yellow fields on the river plain were strung together with sections on cycle paths alongside busy roads. I passed through the town of Munderkingen, its beautiful medieval centre full of timber framed buildings in a variety of colours, and cobblestone streets that made for slow and uncomfortable riding. By late morning I had reached Ulm.

In Ulm, Saturday morning Germany was in full swing with families making the most of the river and the sunshine. I had originally intended to go in search of a fountain in the city commemorating Einstein but it was a little off the route and also uphill. I still had a fair way to go and I am mindful that over the course of a day my overall speed is not that high; it only takes some rough track or a hill or two to bring down my average considerably. So instead, for half an hour I sat by the Danube, enjoyed the sun and ate from the food I carried before heading off along the river once again.

Ulm from the Danube

The afternoon was spent almost entirely on tracks, either through woodland or along the riverside. It was an enjoyable and relaxed cycle away from roads and in the sunshine. The river here is now noticeably wider and less meandering than the stretch from Mühlheim; a wiser, calmer version of the erratic youth I cycled alongside only yesterday.  I often wondered at this difference in such a short time but I am now over 130 miles further downstream, a lot I guess in the life of a river. 

I am now in what seems to be a traditional Bavarian guest house in the town of Höchstädt an der Donau, a small but seemingly more modern place than some of the medieval gems I have passed through in the last few days. This, and the fact that my day of cycling seems to be catching up with me, makes me disinclined to explore so I am now showered, fed on traditional local fare and relaxed and although it is not late I think decisions about tomorrow might now get left until morning.

Day 20 - Mühlheim am Donau to Obermarchtal (61 miles)

May is only a few days away and yet when I look ahead at the forecast I see more rain than sun and even snow. Today followed the trend with grey skies and light showers not long after I set off but despite that the morning was everything I could have asked for. 

The Danube here is small, barely more than a wide stream, and it flows through the narrow, flat flood plain of a steep sided valley, carved out by nature millennia ago. Sheer grey cliffs hem in and act as a backdrop to the river as it twists and turns and switchbacks as only a small river can.  And my route just tags along beside. It was beautiful, even in the rain. In the sunshine it would be stunning. 

For over an hour I cycled the track, not rushing and having no need to share it with anyone, it was mine alone to enjoy. Around every turn was another photograph, another potential jigsaw box lid. I stopped at a random bench and sat and ate breakfast with a view: a bank of green dotted with yellow, sloping down to the narrow river and framed by two solid grey cliffs that trapped it in a loop. The sound of light rain spattering on the leaves of the trees that clung to the side of the steep valley behind me only added to the charm rather than detracted from it.

By midday I had reached the small village of Beuron. The track became road, the flood plain much wider and the surrounding valley sides far off and less sheer and dramatic, everything a toned down version of the morning. I cycled roads and lanes near or by the Danube across this landscape, towns a mile or so away visible across the wide, flat expanse. The fingerprint of man's interference was also now visible in the distance too - pylons, industrial units, roads - and they got ever closer as the afternoon wore on. Occasionally though it was just me, woods and hills on the horizon, and a narrow lane cutting through green pasture, heavy with the yellow of buttercups and dandelions, and nothing but that between me and a small village in the distance.

When in Germany…

Fate had one last treat for me. In the small town of Obermarchtal I was having trouble finding my accommodation; I knew I was in the right area but I could not find the address on the map. A friendly German pointed me through an imposing archway near to where I was standing that led to the grounds of a beautiful old Baroque church. I am now in a well-appointed room off the cloister of what was once a monastery. I had no idea that this is what I had booked, it was simply in the right place at the right price with a photograph showing what appeared to be a generic looking room. But it is a real gem of a place and for whatever reason, as I walked around the grounds earlier, I knew I had a big grin across my face.

Day 19 - Jestetten to Mühlheim am Donau (69 miles)

Today was definitely a day of two halves. The morning was relatively flat and easy with highlights of the Rhine Falls, the beautiful Swiss town of Stein am Rhein and cycling around a stretch of Lake Constance. The afternoon was sweat and pain.

Within thirty minutes of leaving this morning I was back in Switzerland and admiring the strength of the Rhine Falls, the most powerful waterfalls in Europe, although at only 75 feet high not exactly Niagara.  Nevertheless, they were very impressive to experience: the roar as masses of white, foaming water poured over rocks at the high point and dropped into the river below. Another two hours of mostly road cycling by the river saw me to 

Stein am Rhein, a medieval town of half-timbered houses with beautifully painted frontages and very close to Lake Constance, a body of water fed by the Rhine and bordering Austria, Switzerland and Germany. My route took me for fifteen miles around the German shore to Radolfzell, although more often than not I was slightly inland tackling the high ground surrounding the lake rather than on the shoreline with its cafes, hotels and activity centres, mostly closed and awaiting the season. A short stop in Radolfzell for coffee and a bite to eat and then it was time to embrace the challenge of the afternoon.

Stein am Rhein

Lake Constance

That challenge was attaining the highest point on this trip. To date I have generally been ascending, following the Loire and the Rhine upstream but from tomorrow I will be generally be descending, following the Danube downstream to the Black Sea (although sadly not downhill all the way). I knew from the profile that today would involve a lot of climbing but it seemed relentless and I felt every metre. Not that it was overly steep, I have tackled steeper hills in higher gears than I managed today, but the inclines seemed continuous. I would start a climb enthusiastically but my legs would tire quickly and I would crank down the gears. Whether it was the extra weight, the cumulative effect of days of cycling or the headwind I don’t know but the usual mind games that get me up steeper hills were not working as well today. There were downhill sections, short and steep, but they never made up for the effort required to achieve them and I actually felt cheated knowing that the highest point of my climb was still ahead of me and here I was having to give up hard earned height.

Amid all the effort it didn’t help that I got off route. I had been following some EV6 signs that had appeared in the day and after a long downhill stretch I stopped to assess my progress only to find that, whatever EV6 route I was following, it now wasn’t the one in my phone. I seemed to be diverging from the route I had expected and the one around which I had planned my night's accommodation. I could see no obvious way of them coming together and I concluded that the most sensible thing was for me to cycle back the three miles to where they had diverged. Interestingly that three mile stretch, going gently uphill with the wind behind me, seemed quicker and easier than it had been coming down into the wind. I can only conclude the wind was playing a bigger part in the afternoon's hardship than I had realised.

After a long and slow afternoon I eventually reached that high point, stopping briefly to celebrate. Not that it was all downhill from there and a couple of steep hills were timely reminders that I couldn’t relax. But a mental hurdle had been crossed and mind and body worked better together from that point. I soon reached Tuttlingen, the town where I joined the Danube and I then followed it to the tiny hilltop village of Mühlheim am der Donau where I have a room above an Italian restaurant. A main course of spaghetti and a large pizza have been devoured in an effort to replenish the fuel tank and a good night's sleep will no doubt have a recuperative effect on the body.

As High as I Get

Danube This Evening

Day 18 - Basel to Jestetten (65 miles)

It's been a fragmented day.

Laufenburg

Firstly it was fragmented in terms of the countries I visited. I started in Basel but within half an hour I was in Germany. Later in the day I stopped for coffee at the beautiful Rhine village of Laufenburg, crossed the stone bridge to get to the cafe and inadvertently found myself in Switzerland once again. Back over the bridge, and again back in Germany, I continued following the Rhine and this time, another twenty five miles on, the route took me back into Switzerland. I am now again back in Germany for the evening although not far from a Swiss border which I will be passing through again tomorrow.

It has also been a fragmented day in terms of progress. From the outset I was grateful that I had downloaded the route to my phone because today it got used a lot; the signage in Basel was either well hidden or non existent and I seemed to be stopping every few hundred yards to check my route or cross a busy commuter-packed road. It took its toll on progress. Once in Germany, signage went from one extreme to the other: a number of signs would appear on a post, pointing in all directions to small towns and in such small writing you were forced to stop to read them. None were EV6 specific so the app continued to earn its keep. Occasionally I would find myself on a stretch where I could pedal with confidence but in general the morning was defined by an inability to get any momentum going for any length of time.

The scenery was also a fragmented mix. The route paralleled the Rhine, dropping down alongside it for some beautiful stretches where I would follow the curve of the tree lined river, its blue-green waters flowing gently past. But these moments were few and far between and linked by long stretches alongside roads- often fast and with heavy traffic - and separated from the river by fields and woodland. Even when alongside the Rhine, as I rounded the curve of an unspoilt stretch of river I would wonder whether I was about to see more of the same, an old Rhine town of sloped roofs and small shuttered windows or a concrete and steel industrial eyesore sitting incongruously upon the wood lined bank. Industry won out more often than not.

The Rhine

I arrived at my hotel in Jestetten late afternoon and at first thought I was going to re-live my first day: the door was locked and nobody answered to my knocking. After a long day on the road it was something I would rather not have to deal with, particular as accommodation in this small town appeared limited and I was keen to eat and to rest. It turned out I was trying a door which was part of the adjacent Chinese restaurant, the hotel and restaurant having the same owner and being part of the same building. Happily I am now settled into my comfortable room and with all likelihood a Chinese meal to look forward to.

I have to say that after my experiences in France, today's introduction to Germany has been disappointing. 'Must try harder' would be my assessment; the isolation of the route, its beauty and the ease with which it can be followed have not compared well with my experiences of the last two weeks. And with its intermittent effectiveness I have also realised just how reliant I am on my phone - navigation, translation, accommodation, communication - working as it does with a German provider but not with a Swiss one, and in this confused region for both countries I can never be sure which it has linked to. 

Let's hope tomorrow is an improvement.