After a rousing swim in the Regnitz river at Bamberg enjoyed by Maureen and myself - you climb in one end of the wooden platform and swim 100 metres to the end where you clamber out again, any further and you'd be swept down the river - we were ready for the penultimate stage. Little did we know that after a pleasant 40kms or so we would spend the remainder of the day on gravel, goat tracks and roads climbing up and down, up and down, up and down, until we finally found our hotel after 6pm. A LONG day in the saddle, and a good one to have over.
Amberg to Regensburg was a smooth day and we were fortunate enough to book ourselves into an oasis right in the heart of the old town. We cooked dinner and enjoyed lazing round on comfy couches and even watched some of the last bits of the Vuelta. Umm, we thought we were doing it tough!
It was good to glimpse the Donau again, not seen by me since 2014 briefly in Serbia sitting on the high banks in a park, and ridden along from Donaueschingen to Bratislava in 2008, remembered fondly but alas, not accurately. Riding into Ulm we rode along the river for a good part of the day, but prior to then, the river was only seen in major towns.
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The stone bridge across the Donau at Regensburg
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We entertained ourselves on this stretch in many ways: cooking dinner; watching villagers erect a 'Maypole'; spotting swans; enjoying picnic lunches; and trying not to think too much about hill climbing.
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| Maureen cooking up a storm in our Regensburg apartment. |
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| Erecting the pole using ropes and props. |
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| One of the many locks. |
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| A glimpse of the Danube. |
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| Janice and Sally riding forth. |
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| Janice attempting to escape from another youth hostel. |
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| Being watched over as we crossed a bridge. |
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| There are many variations of the free book swap house in many villages and cities. |
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| Graeme meets a goat. |
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| An impressive woodstack and bird house. |
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| Donauworth from our youth hostel window. |
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| A small farm farmer getting on with business. |
One of our interesting encounters on the ride into Ulm was meeting two blokes who were paddling down the Danube to Budapest. They had just purchased a 'new' second-hand canoe after theirs was smashed in half in rapids the previous day.
It was also a day for wildlife spotting, two swan families and a black squirrel providing the highlights.
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| A four cygnet swan family on the Donau. |
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| The Ulm Munster at night. |
And so we have five more riding days left until we roll back into Nierstein to conclude our 42 days on the road. And guess what? There's more hills in store. Oh goody!
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| Kids at play. |
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| Des extracting the car from the Regensburg oasis. |
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| Laundromats are such fun! |
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| The ladies of the laundromat left to their own devices. |
More stats for those so inclined to emulate this ride:
26 August: Bamberg to Amberg; 126kms; 775 uphill meters; long and hot - guess that's why they're called 'Bergs'
27 August: Amberg to Regensburg; 70km; more climbing
28 August: Regensburg to Dietfurt; 71kms; more climbing
29 August: Dietfurt to Eichstatt; 64kms; more climbing
30 August: Eichstatt to Donauworth:70kms; lots of climbing
31 August: Donaworth to Ulm; 87kms - only a little climbing
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