Saturday 5 June 2010 Ulm to Passa

Saturday 5 June 2010 Ulm to Passau 300km

OK 300km is obviously a bit much to ride in one day, we cant lie we had a days rest and were a bit bored of riding on the river so we caught the train.  Do we feel bad about this, a little.  Are we glad we did it, you bet.  The thing is the scenery was getting pretty mundane and it was starting to do my head in.

The hotel we stayed at in Passau was the oldest one in the town and lets just say the orginal castle was started in the 1200s.  Getting to our room was like trying to complete a 3D maze.  Stairs going this was, then hallways going that, then take another set of stairs.  It was crazy but very cool.

Passau was great, it's a typical old town with streets and alleyways that go in every direction and as they are so narrow most of the centre of town is closed to cars.  It was a bit of a pity the river had flooded, and was still coming up some of the laneways but it was still great.

We had a yummy dinner in a nice restaurant and then back to the room to fall asleep.

Thursday 3 June 2010 Riedlingen to Munderkingen

Thursday 3 June 2010 Riedlingen to Munderkingen 30km
By the time we had cooked dinner and got in the tent the rain had really set in.  When we awoke in the morning things had not changed, it was 10degC and the rain was coming down.  Sure it wasnt a tropical downpour but it was still a steady rain that any farmer would be dancing over but all cycle tourists would lament.

Despite the dreary start to the day we made our breakfast and a cup of tea and hoped for the best.  We packed the sodden tent and  mounted up.  We rode in the rain and despite our investment in Goretex products cycling in the rain is still depressing and it wasnt long into our journey we both agreed that a day spent cold and wet should be swapped for a day in a B&B so after 30km that's what we did.

We found a lovely Cafe/Pension run by a very nice couple who must have felt sorry for the two drowned rats that walked through the door and after putting our bikes in a locked shed showed us a room, fed us a huge meal and then gave us free Internet.

All forecasts show that tomorrow will be about 20degC.  This is hard to believe given today's 10deg but we live in hope.

A building near our B&B

Wednesday 2 June 2010 Tuttlingen to Riedlingen

Wednesday 2 June 2010  Tuttlingen to Riedlingen 85km

Wow!!  We didnt really have any expectations when we hit the Danube River but it was absolutely stunning.  During the first 25km of today the river carved it's way through hills, the scenery was right out of a story book, I just hope the photos do it justice.  We had a marvellous ride and with sore necks from looking around we arrived at our planned destination with some reserve energy.

Once we left the hilly area the countryside settled back down to standard lovely Europe, river, meadows filled with flowers and yellow canola fields.

The northern summer is still not here, 12degC today and 4 or 5 times we had to stop to put our wet weather gear on. The bloke at the campground here assures us that by Friday things will improve, we hope so.

Tuesday 1 Juney 2010 Böhringen (near Radolfzell) to Tuttlingen

Tuesday 1 June 2010 Böhringen (near Radolfzell) to Tuttlingen 45km

Yah summer is here except it's 10degC, cloudy and generally very un-summer like.

We left the campground, which wasn't on the EuroVelo 6 path and after looking at a little cycle route brochure we saw a path that would cut off a few km and met up with the cycle path after about 20km so we took it.  We headed off and into a wooded area and came to a fork in the road, naturally I took the wrong fork and we slipped and pushed our way through a muddy little track.  Once we met a dead-end at another lake we back tracked and went the right way.  Zipping through the wood we got onto a traffic free path our little adventure was over and we headed toward then next town.

At Stielingen we bought some bread and then continued onto Eigeltingen and despite thinking we had miles to go before we met the 'real' EuroVelo 6 path, we saw a sign so we shrugged our shoulders and off we went.

A field of poppies

Today saw our biggest ascent, we climbed to 797m but we did it through the most beautiful forest and the gradient wasn't so tough that we suffered, just slowly rode up in first and second gears.  This explains our low daily km but there is also another reason, my knees are a bit sore and the cold weather makes then worse so we called it quits at a little pension (B&B).

In Tuttlingen we went into a restaurant and had a very yummy lunch while we debated if we push on to the next campground (30km).

Tuttlingen is also were we met the Danube River for the first time.  We will be riding downstream until Vienna so theoretically it should be downhill, but I doubt it :)

Monday 31 May 2010 Flaach to Böhringen (near Radolfzell)

Monday 31 May 2010 Flaach to Böhringen (near Radolfzell) 70km

It wasnt raining but it was still chilly and grey when we woke up, it's hard to believe that it's going to be summer tomorrow but I guess we're not in Darwin now.

We said farewell to Daphne (the girl who got her bike thrown on her tent) as she was off to the nearest large town to buy a new tent and send her broken one home for repair.

The next attraction for the day was Schaffhausen which was an old town with lots of building with murals on them.  We had a cup of tea in a cafe and wandered the streets for a bit.  We rode past Rhein Falls which as supposed to be spectacular but we both dont get into the whole tourist crowd thing and we've seen lots of waterfalls.

After Schaffhausen the path took us through some wonderful forests and trails you just wouldnt find unless you were following the cycle route.  We had lunch on a picnic table deep in the forest and the most gorgeous setting.

After Schaffhausen we headed toward a big lake (name slips my mind at the moment) and things started to get a bit, not so touristy but holiday maker if that makes sense.  Lots of fancy houses with flash cars and some nice sailing boats.  Not really our cup of tea as we rode through.  Sandy and I both like the rustic, down to earth Europe rather than the glitzy modern places.  It was on the lake that we forwent the last marked campground in favour of finding something a little more wholesome.  The next town we came to had a campground sign and it turned out to be basic and friendly.  They also served very yummy black forest cake.

We're in Germany now, actually we did about five border crossings as the path meandered it's way up the river.  Haven't noticed much change yet as most people in Switzerland spoke German and the scenery hasn't changed much.  Tomorrow might be different as we are heading north.

Border crossing on the cycle path

Tomorrow we head north toward the Danube river and then we dont leave the Danube untilw e get to Vienna in Austria but thats a couple of weeks away.

The campground