Cycling the Danube -
2004
Part 1 -
Donaueschingen to Passau
The Donauradweg is one of the most popular cycle touring routes in Europe.
Thousands of people ride on the bike paths along the Danube each year. Even
grandparents and young school children do it. So popular is the Austrian section
of the route that during the summer holiday period, Austrian railways run
special bicycle trains to carry people to and from the start and end of their
ride.
So why would we want to join the crowds and cycle from Donaueschingen to
Vienna?
The answer is simple. This is one of the most pleasant and enjoyable cycle
rides anywhere. Picturesque old towns and villages, dramatic castles dominating
the skyline, spectacular gorges, delightful forests and a beautiful river. All
of these combine to make this a cycle tour to remember.
But where does the Danube start?
Well, officially it starts as a small spring, the Donauquelle, in the grounds
of the Fürstenberg Schloss in the pleasant town of Donaueschingen
on the edge of the Black Forest.
It then flows through a drain which empties into the much larger Brigach River
and on the outskirts of the town it joins the equally large Breg River. From
that point on, the combined rivers are known as the Donau, or as English
speakers know it, the Danube. The people who live at the sources of the Breg and
Brigach Rivers obviously don't like the idea that the small drain that flows
into the Brigach is the official source of the mighty Danube, one of the great
rivers of Europe. They continue to campaign that their particular spring, the
Brigachquelle or the Bregquelle is the one and only true source of the Danube.
The mighty Danube flowing into the larger Brigach River
Does it all matter?
Well not really, but we started our journey along the Danube in
Donaueschingen. Seven of us met at the campground just outside of town - David
O' arrived after riding the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Alan and Mary
cycled along the Rhine and the Neckar Rivers to get there while Raelene, Martin,
Noelene and David arrived by train after flying in to Frankfurt from Australia.
The ride!
It was the middle of May when we arrived in Donaueschingen and the weather
was still quite cold. Europe was experiencing a late and rather wet spring but
the sun did shine brightly for our arrival.
Day 1 - Donaueschingen to Hausen im Tal - 69km
It had been another very cold night last
night and was still quite chilly when we left the campground on the outskirts of
Donaueschingen. The day warmed up quickly and it wasn’t
long before we had taken off our jackets and were riding in shirt sleeves.
It was easy riding through flat countryside. The brilliant yellow of rape in
flower contrasted strongly with the deep, dark green of the forests on the
hillsides. The route consisted mainly of a
series of sealed farm tracks which had been linked together by shorter sections
of bike path. There was very little traffic, only the occasional farm vehicle or
car heading to one of the farms.
At Immenndingen we
stopped for a long morning tea while some of the group attended to mundane
domestic chores such as phone calls, buying
stamps, food, etc. After walking through the old town and passed the castle we
rejoined the bike paths by the river. A few kilometres later we stopped to
visit the Donauversinkung. Some years the Donau stops flowing at this
point.
The water disappears into its limestone bed and becomes a series of underground streams only to re-surface
several kilometres later. Some of the water from the Donau actually finds it way into the waters of
the Rhine River to flow into the North Sea giving some pundits a chance to argue
that the Danube is actually the source of the Rhine. Unfortunately, there was
too much water flowing down the river and all we could notice was that the river
was noticeably narrower and shallower than it had been earlier.
When we reached the small industrial
town of Tuttlingen, we started
looking for a supermarket where some of us could buy what was needed for a
picnic lunch.
Shortly afterwards we found a pleasant spot by the river with some seats but not
much shade and stopped for a longish lunch.
In Fridingen, we left the sign posted
route and walked into the old town centre. There was a small market and we
stocked up on apples, bread and pastries. The Altstadt was really very
attractive with large numbers of old half-timbered buildings lining the narrow
cobbled streets. The buildings seemed to be leaning in all sorts of directions
but had obviously stood that way for many years.
Picturesque half timbered buildings in
Fridingen
About three kilometres out of town, the
countryside changed. The river entered a series of spectacular limestone gorges.
The bike route, no longer sealed, climbed steeply up and down through the
forests of beech and birch trees. It was a lovely ride with great views of the
limestone pinnacles and the river rushing onwards. After 8.5km of fairly
hard, steep up and down riding, we arrived at Beuron. This small town is
dominated by the huge Benedictine monastery and the church is famous for its
Baroque interior. Unfortunately, we had spent so much time during the
day that we only had time for a short visit. This was a disappointment as there
was just so much to see in this magnificent building.
Five kilometres and more ups and downs
and we finally reached the pretty town of Hausen im Tal and the very attractive
campground by the river. This was a lovely spot to stay as there
are spectacular limestone cliffs on the opposite bank of the river with a ruined
castle high up on the top. We had been on the road for eight and a half
hours but only three and three quarter hours had been spent actually riding our
bikes. The rest had been spent shopping and eating.
Dramatic limestone cliffs opposite the
campground at Hausen im Tal
Day 2 – Hausen im Tal to Riedlingen - 62km
It was another fine morning and it was
quite delightful to sit by the river and have a relaxing breakfast.
We had more rugged limestone gorges to
ride through this morning with a number of short steep climbs. The day warmed up
quickly and we were soon taking our jackets off. It was an enjoyable morning’s
ride with lots of nice views of the river, the gorges and the forests with a few
ruined castles thrown in for good measure. There was a very long and steep climb
(30 per cent gradient at the steepest part) which forced everyone, other than
Martin, to walk up to the monastery at Inzigkofen. We stopped for a short break
at the top of the climb, before a long, fast run down into Sigmaringen where we
stopped for morning tea.
It was in the castle here that the collaborationist Vichy French government of
Marshall Pétain and his Prime Minister Pierre
Lavall sought refuge as they fled with the retreating German
army near the end of World War 2. After a walk through the old town and past the schloss, we had a 13km
ride through undulating country past the Grafenschloss at Scheer to our
lunch stop at the old town of Mengen.
From Mengen it was flat and easy riding
through farming country to Riedlingen. When we arrived at Riedlingen, we had
trouble finding the campground shown on our map and which was
advertised at the un-manned tourist information booth we came to on the
outskirts of town. After asking several people, we were told about a delightful
little campground a couple of kilometres out of town at Vöhringer Hof.
The campground is a small field on the
opposite side of the road from a large farmhouse with the showers and toilets
under the farmhouse. We were the only people there and it was quite pleasant.
There was a large supermarket a kilometre down the road where we shopped for
dinner.
Because we hadn’t seen anything of
Riedlingen on our way through this afternoon, we rode back into town to do some
sightseeing. After wandering around the town and admiring the attractive old
buildings, we stopped at a café for coffee and milkshakes made from real fruit.
It was a pleasant way to end the day.
Day 3 – Riedlingen to Ersingen
- 50km
It was another sunny morning which
developed into a hot day. The day started with some easy riding for about ten
kilometres to Zwiefaltendorf. Not long after we crossed the river on leaving the
town, the hills started again. There was a very steep 20 per cent climb to
Datthausen. We rode steeply up and down through Obermarchtal and Untermarchtal.
Just before Untermarchtal we were forced to wait on the side of the narrow farm
road for a religious procession. It was making its way to the nearby Calvary as part of
a “Stations of the Cross” ceremony which was visiting the Calvaries
of the district. We began to wonder if today were a religious holiday. From Untermarchtal we had a long steady climb as we rode along the bike path beside
the main road. Then it was a steep downhill before we crossed the river and
wound our way into Munderkingen. All the shops in town were closed and only one
or two of the cafes were open. It was indeed a public holiday – Ascension Day.
We stopped in a small park near the river for morning tea.
Not long after we rode through
Rottenacker (yesterday we rode through Nickoff – they do have some funny place
names around here!), we saw a café and decided to stop for an ice cream. It was
nearly full of cyclists who had ridden out into the country to have lunch. The
food looked good so we decided to stop for lunch also. That way we avoided the
problem of trying to find a shop open on a public holiday where we could buy
food for dinner. It was a very pleasant lunch on a large deck overlooking a
small man made lake. Most of us had schweinebraten with nudeln and
salad but Noelene and Raelene had bratwurst and salad.
In the large town of Ehingen a number of
the bike route signs were missing and we had trouble finding our way through the
town. After asking a number of people and taking a short detour we found our way
back onto the route with another long steep climb followed by a fast downhill to
the river.
From here it was a flat ride into
Ersingen. As we rode into town, we stopped at a gasthaus where the large
sunny courtyard was packed with cyclists. Bicycles of all shapes and sizes were
parked everywhere.
Because of Ascension Day which the German’s celebrate as fathers’ day, all the
men were given a glass of fruit schnapps to go with their beer. The
schnapps was made on the premises and was very pleasant.
The campground was on the other side of
the town by a large lake which was thronged with picnic makers. It was quite
tiny but pleasant under the shade of large birch trees. The only problem was
that there was something wrong with the hot water system and the showers were
cold.
Day 4 – Ersingen to
Günzburg -
53km
We had a short and light thunder storm
as went to bed but no further rain during the night. As it became light, the
thunder started again and continued to grow louder and louder. The sky became
very dark. We quickly packed up everything except the tent. Under the veranda in
front of the café, we sheltered from the rain and had breakfast at the large
tables. When the storm was over we packed up the tent and set off. The day
remained fine but it was quite cloudy at times.
We had a pleasant, flat ride into the
large city of Ulm which we reached about 10.15. It is amazing how the bike paths
take us in and out of cities and large towns without us having to worry very
much about traffic and roads. It is civilised and very pleasant.
Emperor Charles IV laid siege to Ulm in
1376, preventing the population from reaching their church was situated outside
the town walls. The residents decided to build themselves a new church within
the town. The result, finally completed in 1860, was the spectacular Gotisches Munster which has
the highest church tower in the world at 161.6 metres. It dominates the Altstadt
(old town). Nearby, the richly
decorated 14th century Rathaus stands in sharp juxtaposition to the
modern glass pyramid of the Stadthaus, a building you either like or
dislike. It was in the square in front of the town hall on 18 October 1944, that
the people of Ulm gathered to pay their respects to Field Marshall Rommel after
he committed suicide following the unsuccessful assassination attempt on
Hitler's life. Such was his popularity that the German people were told that he
had died of injuries received in battle and given a state funeral.
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm and a
major exhibition of his achievements was on display near the Munster.
We rode off along
the river bank to find somewhere pleasant to stop for lunch. After a couple of
kilometres we stopped at some seats in a delightful shady spot near the
university. The University is named after two students, brother and sister, Hans
and Sophie Scholl who were executed in 1943 for speaking out against Hitler's
regime. It was very pleasant sitting by the river. After a relaxing lunch we
had a quiet ride to Unterelchingen. From there we rode along
beautiful forest tracks in the Donauwald to Günzburg.
Cycling through the Donauwald near
Günzburg
There was a bit of confusion as we came into town and the
route signs disappeared but we soon found our way to the Altstadt with
some help from friendly local cyclists. The Markt Platz was very
attractive with lots of old gabled buildings surrounding it. We stopped at one
of the many cafés for a coffee. It was quite hot sitting in the sun but suddenly
dark clouds swept in and the temperature plummeted in the strong cold wind.
We made our way to the Naturfreundehaus and set up
camp in the adjacent campground and had just finished dinner when the rain
started.
Cycling and cycle touring seems to attract some strange
people at times. (Naturally, we are exceptions!). Just as we were preparing our
dinner, a German cyclist arrived. He was riding an old ladies bike with his
luggage in a mix of plastic bags held together with elastic straps. He joined us
for a cup of tea and used his watch to time how long the tea was brewing. The
tea bag had to remain in the water for exactly four minutes before being removed. His
dinner consisted of bread several days old and cold meat he had been carrying
for a couple of days. His tent was old, over 30 years old according to his
reckonings and leaked badly. He had been cycling for a week and was on his way
to visit a woman he had met a year before but she didn’t know he was coming. The
next morning he packed up all his very wet gear and cycled away without trying
to pay for his night’s accommodation. He seemed quite surprised that we were
going to pay and commented that the price was very expensive.
Day 5 –
Günzburg
– Rest Day
There were tiny patches of blue sky in
amongst the dark ominous clouds and it was quite cold with a strong wind
blowing. At least the rain stayed away for most of the day.
We walked into the town, stopping off at
the bike shop on the way. David bought a new set of Ortleib panniers to replace
his old ones which were starting to show ominous signs of wear after many long
trips. His old ones were posted back to Australia for use on his shopping trips
to the Adelaide markets.
For lunch we went to one of the many
restaurants in the main square and had a very pleasant lunch of salmon, chips
and salad followed by ice cream. All that food meant that we needed to do some
exercise and the narrow little lanes with their attractive old buildings
provided an ideal environment for a walk.
Günzburg is the birthplace of Josef Mengele, the notorious
doctor of Auschwitz. After the war he was given sanctuary in the monastery where
he hid until he escaped to Paraguay in 1949. Not surprisingly, the tourist
office does not promote its association with this infamous citizen.
Day 6
– Günzburg to Donauwörth -
74km
It was a cold morning and a strong wind
was blowing. When the clouds blocked out the sun, the wind was very cold indeed.
Where was the late spring warmth?
Not far from the campground, we turned onto a bike
path beside a main road and before long we were riding through beautiful forests
on smooth tracks. It was sheltered from the wind and very pleasant riding with
the forest on one side and river on the other. The river was now much larger
than the clear babbling stream it had been in Donaueschingen. The water was a dark, deep brown and the current flowed strongly.
It had been so pleasant riding by the river that when the
main Donau-Radweg turned away from the river near Offingen, we followed a
track along the levee bank. It was a bit rough at times but the cycling was most
enjoyable.
At Faimingen, we stopped for a
snack on the seats in front of the church. It was a
pleasant but sometimes hilly ride through old towns of Lauingen and Dillingen where we again
decided to follow the longer route along the river rather then the hillier route
along the main road. We planned on having lunch at a restaurant but we were too
early for those in Höchstadt. As we left Blindheim we saw signs to a restaurant
at the local sports club and headed there. We were the only diners but had
a pleasant schnitzel and pommes (chips) while watching the local football team
play. It was then an easy 22km ride through open farming country into Donauwörth.
The facilities at the canoe
club/campground were very basic with the smelliest toilets imaginable but the view
over the river to the old town and the cathedral was delightful.
After setting up camp, we rode into town for a little quiet sightseeing and a most
enjoyable cup of coffee. It is a very attractive city and the main street is
lined with a number of pretty, gabled buildings.
After a light meal of soup and bread, we
went for a walk by the river and found an easy route out of town which avoided
the main streets.
Day 7 – Donauwörth
to Walting -
80km
It was very cold this morning. We woke
to find a heavy frost covering the tents and the grass. Everyone was complaining
of cold feet and hands as they ate their breakfasts in the weak rays of the
early morning sun. Noelene and David won the prize for the worst tent site as
their
tent was still in the shade of the trees and covered by frost at 8.00. We ended
up moving the tent into the sun to try to get it dry before packing it.
We knew that it was going to be a long
day so we planned to set off on our detour along the Altmühl
River about 8.30 instead of our normal nine o’clock.
It was a lovely ride out of Donauwörth
along the route we had found the previous evening. According to the signs, this
was part of the famous Romantische Strasse. After we left the town behind us, we
had a fairly hilly ride through to Rennertshofen where we stopped for morning
tea and to do some food shopping. While we were enjoying our delicious pastries,
David discovered that he had made a mistake in calculating the distance to our
planned destination of Beilngries. The small English guide book we were using in
conjunction with the excellent German language Bikeline guidebook, had showed
the cumulative distances of all the towns and villages along the route. For some
towns, it also showed the altitude. He had mistakenly used the altitude figure
instead of the distance figure when calculating the day’s distance. It was going
to be a much longer day than we thought.
The railway line from Rennertshofen to
Dollnstein in the Altmühl Valley used to run steam trains and we had always had the thought in the
back of our minds that we might be able to catch one for this part of the
journey. Sadly, the line had been pulled up and was in the process of being
converted into a bike path.
It was a very picturesque ride up the
gentle valley with steep, tree clad, limestone walls. Ruined castles stood on
impossible rock pinnacles. The scenery was similar to that we had experienced on
the first couple of days riding. At first we followed the road but later we rode
on the new cycle path as the route climbed gently towards the valley of the
Altmühl. We stopped for lunch in a small park in Dollnstein. The sun was shining
and we were all happy and relaxed. All was well with the world except that we
did not know where we would be sleeping that night. There were no campgrounds
before the one at Beilngries and we were not going to reach there that day.
The ride down the Altmühl valley was
very pretty and one of the nicest rides we’ve had in Europe. It was quite
delightful with pretty villages lining the fast flowing river. As we neared the
university city of Eichstätt, the huge castle of
Willibaldburg dominated the skyline. We stopped in Eichstätt for coffee
and large luscious ice creams at a café in the main square before spending some
time wandering around the old town.
After leaving Eichstätt, we had an easy 15km before
reaching Walting. By this stage we had ridden 80km and thought that was enough
for the day. There were signs to the Landgasthaus Moier Hof so we followed them
to a glorious 16th century hotel. It was more expensive than we would
normally consider but, well, we were on holidays and a bit of luxury wouldn’t go
astray. A comfortable bed in a nice warm room with our own shower and toilet was
rather nice and not hard to accept. We turned the heating up and draped our
laundry around the room to dry. That night we had one of the best meals any of
us have had in Germany.
The 16th
century Landgasthaus Moier Hof
Beilngries, our planned destination for the day was still
30km away. Our two day detour along the Altmühl and then to
Regensburg had became a three day detour.
Day 8 – Walting to Riedenburg
- 60km
After an excellent German breakfast at
which we ate our fill, we set off just after nine. It was another day of
glorious cycling. There were lots of pleasant scenery, castles, forests and
limestone crags.
We stopped for a short time in
Kipfenberg. The imposing castle totally dominates the town. Everywhere you look,
the castle is there overlooking everything.
The signposting at the approach to
Kinding was a bit vague, but we weren’t delayed for long. We stopped for morning
tea on a bench in the town centre. We reached Beilingries for lunch. This was
our planned destination for yesterday and we had passed the campground just
before entering the town. There was no way that we would have reached Bielngries
yesterday. The Altstadt, dominated by the magnificent church, would have
been very pleasant to spend some time in but nearly all the roads have been dug
up and jack hammers destroyed the tranquillity of the town. The workers were
busy rebuilding all the cobbled streets in the old town.
After lunch, it was another very
pleasant 37km through pretty villages and towns to the campground at Riedenburg.
As we neared the town, we stopped at a map on the side of the path to check just
where the campground was in relation to the town. While we were looking at the
map, a couple of English speaking German cyclists stopped and asked if they
could help us. They had been to Australia on holidays a couple of times and we
spent quite some time chatting with them. After setting up camp, we had a short
walk into town to look at the old buildings and do our shopping.
Day 9 – Riedenburg to Regensburg
-
55km
A few kilometres out of Riedenburg we
stopped to look at the impossible castle at Prunn. Perched high on a sheer
pinnacle of rock, it made us wonder at how they could have built such a large
castle in such a difficult situation. How many men must have died falling from
the cliff face during its construction?
It was a quick ride into Kelheim where
we rode straight to the ferry wharf. There were some free bike lockers nearby.
There were only two empty ones so we partly dismantled the bikes by removing the
handlebars and taking off some of the panniers. In that way we were able to fit
two Bike Fridays in each locker. With the bikes safely locked and secured, we
made our way to catch the ferry to the monastery at Weltenburg.
The boat travelled slowly up the river
against the very strong current. The Befreiungshalle, another of Ludwig's
follies erected to celebrate the liberation of German soil from Napoleon's
France, dominated the skyline. The river was flowing through a spectacular,
narrow opening in the range of hills known as the Donaudurchbruch or
Danube breakthrough. On the side of the river we could see cyclists riding along
the bike path to the point just before the narrow opening where the path ended.
Cyclists had a choice of taking the large tourist boat that we had taken or the
small but cheaper cyclists only ferry that operated through the
Donaudurchbruch to the monastery.
At Weltenburg, we visited the baroque
monastery church. What we could see of the paintings and carvings were quite
magnificent but much of the inside and outside of the church was covered in
scaffolding. Major restoration work was being undertaken. In 1999 when we were cycling down the River Inn, and in 2002, major floods caused
extensive damage to the monastery. We walked into the village looking for
somewhere to get a drink. The only place open was fairly full and we sat at one
of the few empty tables. The waitress was running around trying to serve
everyone but after waiting for about ten minutes without being served, we left
and made our way back to the monastery and the large crowds at the café there.
At least they had the staff numbers to cope with the crowd of people wanting to be
served. We sat under the shade of the huge oak trees and had a dunkel
(dark) beer made at the monastery brewery, supposedly one of the oldest
breweries in the world and some pommes (chips).
After a fast trip down river to Kelheim,
we loaded the bikes and headed through town. We stopped on the banks of the
river near a marina for a late lunch. We finally reached the pleasant campground
on the western outskirts of Regensburg at about 4.30.
Day 10 – Regensburg - Rest Day -
15km
We spent a very quiet and relaxing day. We visited
a large bike shop to see if we
could find a different bike stand for David’s bike. His bike is very unstable
and often falls over when he uses the existing stand. We wondered if a different
type of stand might work better but we couldn’t find a suitable one. We then
rode into the old town and spent a pleasant day sightseeing in the Altstadt.
It is a very pleasant city with noble houses and churches lining attractive
narrow streets. The view from the left bank of the Danube over the old stone
bridge to the Dom and the old town is delightful.
The Steinerne Brücke
and Dom at Regensburg
Day 11
– Regensburg to Straubing -
58km
It was a crisp morning and we started
out together but soon decided to split up for the day as some of the group
wanted to ride at a faster pace.
Just beyond Donaustauf, Alan, Mary,
Noelene and David stopped for a look at the Parthenon look-a-like of Walhalla.
This is one of Ludwig of Bavaria’s many architectural follies and contains busts
of his selection of the most important people in history. Of course, it is very
German oriented and the few English luminaries include the Venerable Bede but
not Shakespeare. We didn’t bother making the effort to ride up the steep hill
for a closer look but the energetic others did.
After 22km, we stopped at a small café
at Frengkofen for coffee. We detoured from the main route at Kiefenholz and
took a slightly shorter route through the pleasant open farm country. This meant
that we would avoid the long gravel sections of pathway on the river levee
banks. The huge schloss at Wörth, another of
Ludwig’s buildings, dominated the skyline. It is now an aged care facility. It was
at the top of another very steep climb.
The weather looked increasingly
threatening and we had a light shower of rain as we neared Pittrich. The route
signs were a bit vague here and we almost headed in the wrong direction but
stopped after a couple of hundred metres.
We arrived at the campground in
Straubing, pitched our tents in bright sunshine and made coffee and tea to go
with the cake and biscuits that we purchased earlier. We had just finished our drinks when the
rain started. After about three quarters of an hour of quite heavy rain, the sky
cleared. The campground is quite new and is probably the best campground we have
stayed at in Germany. The facilities in the amenities block were excellent and
the layout of the grounds very attractive with high hedges and trees creating a
series of small sections.
We rode into the city to do our shopping and to have a look at the many
attractive old buildings around the Markt Platz. Skikaneder, the man who
wrote the libretto for Mozart's Magic Flute was born here.
Alan leg seemed to be bothering him
today. The continual cold weather appears to be the problem.
It rained on and off throughout the
night.
Day 12 – Straubing to Osterhofen - 57km
We had a choice today of riding to
Passau in one long day or breaking it into two shorter days. Raelene, Martin and
David O’ decided to do the ride in one day while Alan, Mary, Noelene and David
thought that two days would be more enjoyable. It was a lovely sunny warm day and we
enjoyed as we pottered along the river bank. In Bogen, we passed the others as
they were finishing their shopping at the supermarket. After a few kilometres,
they sped passed us but not long after, we passed them again as they
stopped for morning tea near Zeitdorf. They generally ride faster than we do
but spend much more time than stopping for drinks and snacks. As a result,
their overall average speed is often not very different from ours. It was a
classic case of the tortoise and the hare.
We stopped in Deggendorf to do our
shopping for the weekend. The main square in the town was being totally rebuilt
to incorporate an underground car park and everything was a bit of a mess.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed sitting in the sun at one of the cafés while we had
good coffee and ice creams. It was interesting that the quality of the coffee
improved dramatically as soon as we crossed from Schwabia into Bavaria at Ulm.
At Niederalteich, we had lunch on the
banks of the river and then caught our first ferry. These small boats are designed
to carry local pedestrians and cyclists across the river as there are no bridges
for long sections.
We bypassed Osterhofen and headed
straight for the campground near the hamlet of Rossfelden. It was poorly
signposted and spread over several small fields of a farm. Eventually, we found
the main section where the amenities block was and pitched our tents in the
shade of a couple of large apple trees. The campground was quite full as it was
a long weekend, another religious holiday on Monday, and everyone was taking
advantage of the fine warm weather to have a short break in the country.
Day
13 – Osterhofen to Passau - 45km
We had a leisurely breakfast and enjoyed
the lovely warm morning. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as we cycled along
quiet roads through the tiny villages. On a small lake, there was a pair of
nesting swans – one on the nest while the other was kept busy keeping everything
else away from their home.
In the old town of Vilshofen, we stopped
for coffee and then walked around the centre of the town. Just as we crossed
over the river, we met Martin who was out for a day’s ride of a hundred
something kilometres. The riverboat from Deggendorf was just arriving so we
watched it dock before continuing. It was a pleasant ride until we reached the
outskirts of Passau. The route crossed the river at the locks a few kilometres
before the city and then took us on a rough track through industrial suburbs. In
retrospect, we would probably have found it easier if we had followed the main
road on the other side of the river.
We set up camp at the cyclists and
walkers camp on the banks of the River Ilz. After lunch we wandered into the
city for some sightseeing.
Day
14 – Passau - Rest Day
Passau is one of the most pleasant cities along the Danube.
It's history goes back before the Romans to a Celtic settlement of Batavis. The
city's bishopric is referred to in that great German medieval epic poem "The
Song of the Niebelungs" on which Wagner based his famous "Ring Cycle".
The Dom houses the largest church organ
in the world and public concerts are held most days during the summer months. It
is worth paying the small admission price to hear the mighty sound produced by
this instrument when it is played with all stops out. Because it was a religious holiday,
the concerts were cancelled. There were
church services virtually non stop all day. We spent a pleasant day wandering
around town sightseeing.
We walked back via the Veste Oberhaus,
another of Ludwig’s castles, so that we could look at the view over the
confluence of the three rivers, the Danube, the Inn and the tiny Ilz on whose
banks we were camped. The Inn is the largest of these three rivers in width,
depth and water flow, so shouldn't the Danube be considered to be a tributary of
the Inn instead of the other way round?
The confluence of the three rivers, the
Danube, Inn and Ilz
Cyclists visiting Passau
may care to visit the Denk Bike & Outdoor shop at Ludwigstrasse 22.
This is one of the best bike shops we came across on our trip down the Danube.
The owner is friendly and very helpful and he speaks very good English. Website
is http://www.sport-denk.de
Part 2 -
Passau to Vienna
