An interactive map of the Donau Radweg is at http://www.adfc-tourenportal.de/viewtrackobject.php?trackObjectID=8083 We left Donaueschingen through a wide valley, but it was apparent where the river was going. We could see that it would enter a much narrower valley, the Oberen Donautal. The farmland was quite interesting to ride through as were the small towns and villages. We stopped for the night in Tuettlingen at a very non-descript gasthof in the city and had another pasta dinner. (ODO=52 km)
The next morning, the first of October, we left in the rain and a low temperature. The highlight of the day was stopping at the monastery in Beuron, which was definitely worth the stop. In that town we met a couple who suggested that we stay the night in Gutenstein at a small hotel they recommended. During the day we met a Frenchman who was traveling the opposite direction on the radweg. He had started in Bucharest, had been biking for a month, and had covered 2,700 km so far. He was pulling a small trailer with all his camping gear. The most amazing thing though was that he was heading for his home in Brittany on the Atlantic coast of France--over another 1,000 km! We were impressed, to say the least.
The ride was gorgeous--through a deep valley with many rock spires rising out of forests and little villages every few kilometers. We arrived in Gutenstein at 4 pm to find that the hotel we planned to stay at was closed. It didn't open until 5 pm. (This is often the case with hotels in smaller towns.) There was no way to contact the owners so we thought we could pass the hour having a beer at another small hotel we passed on the way into town. When we got back there we found that the whole hotel had been rented for the weekend by a group that was holding a college class reunion. They invited us to stay with them for dinner and the night. It was quite an evening! (ODO = 45 km)
The next morning we snuck out of the reunion trying not to wake anyone up. They had partied late into the night. We rode into Sigmaringen for an early lunch and then toured the Hohenzollern family castle. It was very interesting even though the tour was in German and we could only follow along with a printed guide in English.
That afternoon we rode to Mengen where we found a nice three-star hotel--the Rebstock. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was excellent. It is recommended by Michelin! The chef fixed a delicious vegetarian Maltauschen dish which we really enjoyed along with a bountiful green salad. (Germany has wonderful salads!) (ODO = 29 km)
The next morning before getting on the road we went over to see a Roman museum to learn about the early Roman presence there. Very interesting, but again, all description were in German and this time no equivalent English translation available. We started riding about noon
and rode until 5 pm, stopping in Obermachtal to visit a monastery. That area was very beautiful. The monastery was on a very high escarpment and provided great views of the valley below. We rode into Munderkingen for the night. Stayed at the small, but nice Hotel garni Knebel. Had pizza and salad for dinner. (As you can tell by now, after the huge schnitzel dinner in Bretten the night we left Heidelberg, we pretty much avoided the heavy German meat dishes.) (ODO = 48 km)
We left late the next morning for Ulm. The countryside opened up considerably with lots of farms and cities. The radweg was near highways a lot and so was not as pleasant as earlier. We threaded our way through much urban traffic, but finally as we came into Ulm alongside the Donau. That was particularly beautiful. We found the turn-off for the city center, took it and ended up at the Rathaus where we celebrated our arrival with a beer, sitting outside in the sun, but bundled up against a cold wind. We found a very nice
small Hotel Weinstube Bauemle that was just around the corner from the cathedral in the center of Ulm. In fact, we could see the cathedral spire from our hotel window. (ODO = 47 km, cumulative = 490 km)
The next day we walked around the old town and hiked to a laundromat to wash a lot of dirty clothes. My knee had become progressively more sore as each day passed so we took it real easy and mostly just hung out. We bought dinner at a store, ate in our room, and played some cribbage.
The next morning Linda wanted to climb to the top of the cathedral spire. My knee was still sore so I skipped the climb. But Linda did it and took
some beautiful pictures. (I sat in the square and had a beer!). In the afternoon we took the train to Dillingen, found a place to stay, bought dinner at a nearby supermarket and ate it in the room. Played some more cribbage. (ODO = 5 km)
The next day, October 7, we struck out for Donauwoerth. The weather was cloudy, cold, and windy athough not raining at least. We missed a turn and ended up on a muddy farm road that just coated our bikes and shoes with mud. (We traveled an extra 15 km for this treat.) In Donauwoerth we found a very nice hotel in a really neat part of town--an island in the Woernitz River where it flows into the Donau. The hotel was the least expensive one we stayed in for the whole trip, but it was clean and the room was very decent and quiet. We found an excellent Italian restaurant for dinner on the island. (ODO = 50 km, cumulative = 543 km)
At breakfast the next morning we met a German cyclist who had come all the way from Ulm the previous day. His bike was white and immaculate! We asked how it could be so clean since he took the same route we had. Then we found out about hand washers at gas stations. Most stations have a hand wand with pressurized water that you can use to clean your bikes for not even one euro--what a deal, especially considering we were probably carting about five pounds of mud each!
We left the Donau Radweg that day for Noerdlingen via the Romantisches Radweg. This radweg runs all way from Fuessen in the foothills of the Alps north through Augsburg, Donauwoerth, Noerdlingen, Dinkelsbuehl, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and ends in Wuerzburg, passing through many old walled medieval cities. We were headed for Noerdlingen. The signage was very confusing, but a local resident directed us to a small town where we re-joined the radweg. The countryside was just beautiful--very rural. We stopped in Harburg and toured an exceptional
castle high over the town. (We pushed our bikes up there.) The tour was really good, partly because there was a Canadian couple who helped translate some of the tourguides terms, but even the guide spoke passble English. We learned that it is possible to stay at the castle for a very reasonable sum although it was too early for us to stop. We rode into Noerdlingen through beautiful farmland alongside a straight highway that got us there very fast. We found the neat Hotel Sonne, parts of which are 700 years old, in the center of the old city. The old city is one of the few remaining completely walled cities in Germany. (ODO = 36 km).
We spent an extra day in Noerdlingen. Our hotel was right next to the church. The bells of the church were beautiful and chimed throughout the day and evening. In the morning about 6:30 they ring continuously for about five minutes to make sure everyone is up and out of bed! We
climbed the church tower and had a wonderful view of the wall circling the city and of the surrounding countryside which is actually the remnants of huge crater formed from a meteor strike thousands of years ago. You can actually see the hills surrounding the crater. We walked around the town and bought food for our dinner at a Saturday farmer's market in the square. We found a very good wine store where we bought a good spaet burgunder red wine (actually a pinot noir grown in the Rhine River valley). It is a well-guarded secret that Germany produces some very good red wines!
The next morning, the first of October, we left in the rain and a low temperature. The highlight of the day was stopping at the monastery in Beuron, which was definitely worth the stop. In that town we met a couple who suggested that we stay the night in Gutenstein at a small hotel they recommended. During the day we met a Frenchman who was traveling the opposite direction on the radweg. He had started in Bucharest, had been biking for a month, and had covered 2,700 km so far. He was pulling a small trailer with all his camping gear. The most amazing thing though was that he was heading for his home in Brittany on the Atlantic coast of France--over another 1,000 km! We were impressed, to say the least.
The ride was gorgeous--through a deep valley with many rock spires rising out of forests and little villages every few kilometers. We arrived in Gutenstein at 4 pm to find that the hotel we planned to stay at was closed. It didn't open until 5 pm. (This is often the case with hotels in smaller towns.) There was no way to contact the owners so we thought we could pass the hour having a beer at another small hotel we passed on the way into town. When we got back there we found that the whole hotel had been rented for the weekend by a group that was holding a college class reunion. They invited us to stay with them for dinner and the night. It was quite an evening! (ODO = 45 km)
The next morning we snuck out of the reunion trying not to wake anyone up. They had partied late into the night. We rode into Sigmaringen for an early lunch and then toured the Hohenzollern family castle. It was very interesting even though the tour was in German and we could only follow along with a printed guide in English.
That afternoon we rode to Mengen where we found a nice three-star hotel--the Rebstock. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was excellent. It is recommended by Michelin! The chef fixed a delicious vegetarian Maltauschen dish which we really enjoyed along with a bountiful green salad. (Germany has wonderful salads!) (ODO = 29 km)
The next morning before getting on the road we went over to see a Roman museum to learn about the early Roman presence there. Very interesting, but again, all description were in German and this time no equivalent English translation available. We started riding about noon
and rode until 5 pm, stopping in Obermachtal to visit a monastery. That area was very beautiful. The monastery was on a very high escarpment and provided great views of the valley below. We rode into Munderkingen for the night. Stayed at the small, but nice Hotel garni Knebel. Had pizza and salad for dinner. (As you can tell by now, after the huge schnitzel dinner in Bretten the night we left Heidelberg, we pretty much avoided the heavy German meat dishes.) (ODO = 48 km)We left late the next morning for Ulm. The countryside opened up considerably with lots of farms and cities. The radweg was near highways a lot and so was not as pleasant as earlier. We threaded our way through much urban traffic, but finally as we came into Ulm alongside the Donau. That was particularly beautiful. We found the turn-off for the city center, took it and ended up at the Rathaus where we celebrated our arrival with a beer, sitting outside in the sun, but bundled up against a cold wind. We found a very nice
small Hotel Weinstube Bauemle that was just around the corner from the cathedral in the center of Ulm. In fact, we could see the cathedral spire from our hotel window. (ODO = 47 km, cumulative = 490 km)The next day we walked around the old town and hiked to a laundromat to wash a lot of dirty clothes. My knee had become progressively more sore as each day passed so we took it real easy and mostly just hung out. We bought dinner at a store, ate in our room, and played some cribbage.
The next morning Linda wanted to climb to the top of the cathedral spire. My knee was still sore so I skipped the climb. But Linda did it and took
some beautiful pictures. (I sat in the square and had a beer!). In the afternoon we took the train to Dillingen, found a place to stay, bought dinner at a nearby supermarket and ate it in the room. Played some more cribbage. (ODO = 5 km)The next day, October 7, we struck out for Donauwoerth. The weather was cloudy, cold, and windy athough not raining at least. We missed a turn and ended up on a muddy farm road that just coated our bikes and shoes with mud. (We traveled an extra 15 km for this treat.) In Donauwoerth we found a very nice hotel in a really neat part of town--an island in the Woernitz River where it flows into the Donau. The hotel was the least expensive one we stayed in for the whole trip, but it was clean and the room was very decent and quiet. We found an excellent Italian restaurant for dinner on the island. (ODO = 50 km, cumulative = 543 km)
At breakfast the next morning we met a German cyclist who had come all the way from Ulm the previous day. His bike was white and immaculate! We asked how it could be so clean since he took the same route we had. Then we found out about hand washers at gas stations. Most stations have a hand wand with pressurized water that you can use to clean your bikes for not even one euro--what a deal, especially considering we were probably carting about five pounds of mud each!
We left the Donau Radweg that day for Noerdlingen via the Romantisches Radweg. This radweg runs all way from Fuessen in the foothills of the Alps north through Augsburg, Donauwoerth, Noerdlingen, Dinkelsbuehl, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and ends in Wuerzburg, passing through many old walled medieval cities. We were headed for Noerdlingen. The signage was very confusing, but a local resident directed us to a small town where we re-joined the radweg. The countryside was just beautiful--very rural. We stopped in Harburg and toured an exceptional
castle high over the town. (We pushed our bikes up there.) The tour was really good, partly because there was a Canadian couple who helped translate some of the tourguides terms, but even the guide spoke passble English. We learned that it is possible to stay at the castle for a very reasonable sum although it was too early for us to stop. We rode into Noerdlingen through beautiful farmland alongside a straight highway that got us there very fast. We found the neat Hotel Sonne, parts of which are 700 years old, in the center of the old city. The old city is one of the few remaining completely walled cities in Germany. (ODO = 36 km).We spent an extra day in Noerdlingen. Our hotel was right next to the church. The bells of the church were beautiful and chimed throughout the day and evening. In the morning about 6:30 they ring continuously for about five minutes to make sure everyone is up and out of bed! We
climbed the church tower and had a wonderful view of the wall circling the city and of the surrounding countryside which is actually the remnants of huge crater formed from a meteor strike thousands of years ago. You can actually see the hills surrounding the crater. We walked around the town and bought food for our dinner at a Saturday farmer's market in the square. We found a very good wine store where we bought a good spaet burgunder red wine (actually a pinot noir grown in the Rhine River valley). It is a well-guarded secret that Germany produces some very good red wines!
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