Danube Cycle Tour, May 27 to June 1, 2016

Friday, 27 May     Riniken - Waldshut - Ulm - Lauingen Photos

We met Georg at 09:20 at the Hasel Zoo restaurant to cycle to Waldshut to catch the train to Ulm. For a change, and because it was recommended by Google Maps, we crossed the Aare at Beznau. It's a good way of getting to the border crossing at Koblenz. We stopped for a coffee before crossing the border, and bought a sandwich for lunch on the train before boarding.

The train left at 10:14, had no changes, and cost a mere EUR 17 each, including the bicycles. We were in Ulm for about 14:00, travelling via Lake Constance. In Ulm, we threaded our way through the tourists and shoppers in nice warm sunshine past the cathedral and onto the Danube cycle track.

We made good easy progress. After about 40 km, we climbed the hill into the centre of the Günzberg old town for a well-earned beer and to decide a goal for the night. We chose Hotel Kastanienhof in Lauingen. This was still another 25 km away, and the weather had turned thundery very suddenly during our stop.

We chose the slightly more hilly variation of the cycle trail for a few km, before joining the main trail again. We also decided to stay on a rather busy main road to make progress through Gundelfingen because of the threatening storm.

We were incredibly lucky, just missing a storm with huge hailstones. People were out inspecting their cars for hail damage. We reached the hotel in the dry. We didn't take too much care when choosing a restaurant. It turned out to be rather posh, with food cooked to order. Accordingly it took ages to arrive.

Day's distance: 73 km. Hotel Eur 84 for double room. Evening meal Eur 33 per person.

Saturday 28 May     Lauingen - Marxheim Photos

We were rather surprised in the night by a thunder storm. The clouds had dispersed during the evening, and it looked as though the morning was going to be fine.

After a good breakfast and the already decided modest goal of Marxheim for the day, we started off by climbing the Schimmelturm (White Horse Tower) to enjoy the excellent view over the river plain around the town. It was cloudy after the storm, but dry.

We tootled along to Dillingen for morning coffee, along a gravel trail made dirty by the rain. After the coffee, we therefore chose a tarmac route to Höchstädt. We had a bit of trouble getting onto the right road out of Dillingen because of steep banks left by meanderings of the river through the ages and a closed-off military area. We made it in the end, of course.

We made good easy progress through Höchstädt and on to Donauwörth, stopping for a nice picnic in Gremheim. From there to Donauwörth was very countryfied, so we just pedalled away until we got there and had a very welcome ice cream. The weather had turned quite hot and sunny. It was necessary to find an ice cream parlour in the shade.

The remaining 15 km to Marxheim turned quite hilly, but we were there anyway for 15:15 after 58 km. We decided to call it a day, despite the early hour, since the next hotel, 6 km further on, had no room for us, and after that it would have been another 10 km to the next possible guest house. We filled the time by visiting a gravel pit to go for a bathe.

Day's distance: 58 km. Hotel Eur 60 for double room. Evening meal, incl drinks, Eur 20 per person.

Sunday 29 May     Marxheim - Bad Abbach Photos

We sat outside the hotel last night to eat our evening meal and had a very pleasant time as all the thunder clouds had dispersed. But during the night they came back again, and it must have rained quite heavily because the bridle tracks were quite muddy in places.

The goal for the day was to get through the Donau Durchbruch (Danube Gorge) with a boat ride from Weltenburg to Kelheim. So there wasn't much time for sightseeing.

We stopped for a coffee and coissant at a café on the river bank at Neuburg after about 20 km - the climb up into the old town was too daunting, but looked as though it might well have been worth it. The hunting palace at Grünau, some 6 km beyond Neuburg, seems to have changed into an ecology centre since I last cycled by, but it was still not open to the public. In retrospect that was probably just as well, otherwise we might have missed the last boat from Weltenburg.

We stopped for a shandy in the nice beer garden in Weichering, and had a picnic lunch on the river bank on our way out of Ingolstadt. It was then a question of ticking off the km as far as the cable ferry at Eining, which was followed by another beer garden shandy. We had to peddle hard from there to do the last few km to Weltenburg in time for the last boat. It turned out that we had ample time. We had been told the wrong time for the last boat when we asked at the beer garden.

It was a pleasant, sunny, 25-30 minute boat ride through the gorge to Kelheim. After the rest on the boat, we felt refreshed enough to tootle on the remaining 20 km to Bad Abbach, so that it would be a short trip into Regensburg in the morning.

After some discussion as to which hotel we should try first, we opted for the Gasthaus Wastlwirt with its attached beer garden. This is a short climb up from the town centre. Whilst we were having our evening meal in the beer garden, the thunder storm, which had been threatening since about 16:00 finally broke, and it poured down in torrents. Fortunately the beer garden had some shelter but, on account of the storm, it was an early night.

Day's distance: 106 km. Hotel Eur 67 for double room. Evening meal, incl drinks, Eur 18 per person.

Monday 30 May     Bad Abbach - Regensburg - Loham (nr. Bogen) Photos

After last night's heavy rain, it seemed imperative that we try to stay on tarmac today, if at all possible. As a result, we intended to take the direct, short (12 km), hilly route to Regensburg, rather than following the long (20 km) official cycle track along the Danube. As it turned out, we sailed down the hill from the hotel and ended up on the river bank. It turned out to be tarmac anyway, with a tail wind, so all was OK.

We cruised into Regensburg, looked at the cathedral, and threaded our way out again on the trail towards Worth. Shortly after leaving the town, we climbed up a hill in Tegerheim to have a look at the Walhalla monolith with its splendid view over the Danube valley. We didn't bother looking inside. We could see from the door that it simply contained lots of busts, apparently of significant German personalities.

From there it was an easy ride, more or less along the river, stopping in Worth for a huge and very good lunch. It rained whilst we were in the restaurant.

The goal for the day was to continue on past Staubing to Bogen for the night, making it about 70 km for the day. Alas, all the hotels and B&Bs in the Bogen area were full, so we ended up doing another 20 km or so until we found a vacant 3-person room here in Loham. Fortunately we didn't have to exceed 100 km for the day. Now it's just 75 km to Passau.

Day's distance: 94 km. Hotel Eur 58 for two. Evening meal, incl drinks, Eur 15 per person.

Tuesday 31 May     Loham - Deggendorf - Passau Photos

We woke up to rain. By the time that we had finished breakfast it was raining hard. We packed slowly, put on rain wear, but with just sandals and no socks on our feet, and set off eventually anyway.

The trail was mainly tarmac, thank goodness, but still hard work since there was no desire to stop for rests since we were so wet. We had a coffee in Winzer, dripping water all over the floor of a baker's shop. We stopped agin in the restaurant of the big Hotel Golden Anchor in Windorf. From there, Passau was only another 25 km or so away to finish the tour.

Because of the rain, we had a little mishap on going into Passau where we climbed a big hill unnecesssarily. Even though we thought that we had gone wrong, it was too wet to get out maps to sort thngs out. We just continued to the next big road junction at the top of the hill. In any case, we were at Passau main station by about 15:15 and soon had our ticket to Waldshut for tomorrow. It's over 8 hours on regional trains, but only costs EUR 26 each, including bicycles. We have to change in Landshut, Munich and Ulm.

The Tourist Information Office found us nice rooms in the old town at Pension Rössner near the confluence of the Danube and Inn. It remained for us to cycle along the waterfront to the hotel, dry out, and find somewhere to eat. We decided to find a Chinese restaurant to have a break from the rather heavy German cuisine. The Danube is very high, and seems to be rising. There's a water level guage across the river from the hotel, so we can see if the level changes tonight.

Day's distance: 77 km. Hotel Eur 70 for double room. Evening meal (Chinese), incl drinks, Eur 18 per person.

Wednesday 1 June     Passau - Munich - Waldshut - Riniken

We had a leisurely breakfast and cycle ride to the station for the 10:25 train to Landshut. It turned out that we should have been able to travel more conveniently, and with more time to change trains, than turned out to be the case because of work on the track. Despite late arrivals of the trains, we just about managed to make the connections. We eventually arrived in Waldshut at 10:40 to find it raining again.

We donned our rain wear for the 20 km cycle ride to Riniken. After an evening meal in the Tannegg restaurant, we gave Georg a lift home, and had a very welcome shower. The bikes will need a good clean and oil tomorrow.

Total distance cycled for the day: 22 km.

End of trip! Total distance cycled = 430 km