Day 2

August 28, 2019

Nürnberg to Kinding to Solnhofen

My morning started with a 7:45am alarm. The train to Kinding an der Altmühl left at 9:05 or so and I needed time to repack and eat breakfast. Getting to the train station was quick and easy. It took a bit to figure out where the trains were. I wasn’t totally clear on how my train was classified (strassenbahn, nahverkehr, etc.) Once I found the track I then had to carry my bike up the stairs to the platform because Nürnberg doesn’t appear to have elevators to each platform. Then once I reached the train I had 2 more steps to negotiate. Then in the train you’re supposed to mount your front wheel in this holder thing, but my front wheel is tiny at 20” and has a disc brake and never fits in those things. That means I have to lean it against the wall which is always dicey. The bike and I did survive the train ride intact though. It was a quick one thankfully because I ended up having to stand the whole time after the conductor kicked me out of the sitting area with the bikes. All the other seats were taken. Except for one. Next to a large man. In lederhosen. Sitting in the aisle seat and clearly looking like he had no intention of moving for anyone. Rude.

Also along the topic of the train, Germany has a huge problem with handicap accessibility. I saw that firsthand on the train today. A gentleman in a wheelchair needed to get on the train. But there are steps. Narrow steps. He had to get himself up the stairs and then his buddy had to help him get his wheelchair up too. Then the conductor tried to tell him he was in the wrong area and would block people trying to get off and on. *facepalm* Had he needed to go to the bathroom, that at least was handicap accessible. That’s assuming he had gotten on the train at the other end of the car where he apparently was supposed to have entered. Poor guy.

Once arriving in Kinding I needed to load my bags on the bike and adjust the rear brake since it was rubbing again. The brake was a fairly quick fix. The bags took some doing. It appears my racktop bag has gained some width. That or I’ve just forgotten how wide it is. You have to load the ortlieb bags on the side of the rack before you can attach the racktop bag. By then my old Garmin (came with the bike when I bought it used six years ago) had loaded the route in gps. The train station connects quickly with the Radweg, and my bicycle trip was finally underway.

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The Altmühltal is fairly narrow and steep around Kinding. The weather around 10:30am was relatively muggy. Presumably sunny, but the dampness in the air kind of buried the sun. The first three towns had nothing of note. Kipfenberg had a castle, but there wasn’t a particularly clear view of it anywhere and it’s privately owned so it didn’t seem logical to bike up there to see it better. Just past the castle up on the bluff is also the geographical center of Bavaria. Interesting, but not interesting enough to get me to hike up to it. There were some castle ruins overlooking Arnsberg and I saw some bits of the Roman camp that’s been rebuilt overlooking Pfünz.

Eichstätt was much more interesting and warranted an extended stop. Eichstätt has a catholic university and multiple churches. Some of them were really over the top types with lots of gold leaf and stuff. The buildings are all baroque style/era and the style reminds me of Vienna and Salzburg more than Bavaria. I also located a bakery with an excellent fruit schnitte with raspberries and blueberries in the gelatin layer. Then the next shop over had ice cream followed by a small supermarket where I picked up some emergency food supplies.

From there it was back to the Radweg. Across the river from Eichstätt is a massive castle up on a hill. Apparently there is a big museum up there with info about the stone formations in the area. I debated paying a visit, but I wasn’t clear on the route up to it aside from knowing it would be a steep up hill.

The rest of the towns beyond Eichstätt are small communities with not much to see. Dollnstein has some city wall left, but that’s it. The landscape is interesting though. Lots of limestone cliffs overlooking the valley. There were also a lot of people on the river canoeing and kayaking. Some of them were actually entertaining. There were also a high volume of cyclists on the Radweg. Clearly the Altmühltal is a popular cycling destination. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many cyclists on a Radweg. Also refreshing was that no one tried to run me over. My map book lists the route as being mainly on roads, but I only saw a couple cars at most. In one spot my map book and the signed route disagreed on which way to go. I chose to go by the map guide and ended riding some terrible gravel path. The scenery also changed up enough to keep things interesting unlike the Main Radweg which is repetitive and boring. The route, despite being in a river valley, is not flat. There are a few short climbs here and there. On one climb I passed a woman pushing her bike. Her comment? It’s a river route. It should be flat....

Mw y stop for tonight was Solnhofen, a tiny town sitting on the side of a big hill. The only reason I picked Solnhofen is because it was the right distance from my original plan of starting in Beilngries. I debated today calling to cancel my room and continue on to Pappenheim but thought it was probably rude to cancel this late. Once I arrived in Solnhofen I discovered that the room I had arranged for was up the hill. After riding 40 miles, finishing your day with a long 5-6% grade hill really feels amazing. Or not.

I arrived at my accommodations around 5:30pm which was earlier than I was intending. The gentleman that rents the rooms clearly was not expecting me that early because his wife greeted me at the door and informed me I would need to wait until he finished his shower. Once he finished he informed me that he and his wife needed to attend to a family emergency so he had arranged for me to stay at a different place down the hill and just across the river. The alternative accommodations are an interesting situation. It does not appear that anyone else will be staying there. Maybe not anytime soon. It’s clean more or less, but the vibe is weird and there’s not a good place to keep the bike. As I was searching for supper options I discovered I was staying at the very hotel I had wanted to avoid. The google reviews say the same thing I’m seeing: very dated, weird vibe, very cheap, clean enough. The proximity to the surprisingly busy train tracks will give me a chance to become intimately familiar with the local train schedule. I always pack earplugs just in case.... I have not yet checked to see if the WiFi mentioned actually exists and works. The door lock on the outside of the door definitely does not work. It can be locked only from the inside. Shouldn’t matter. There does not appear to be anyone else in the building.

For supper I got to walk up a different part of the big hill to what appears to be the only restaurant in town. I thought the hill to my intended accommodations was tough, but it is nothing compared to the grade of the hill to the restaurant. I’m not sure how Germans can get their cars up and down these hills in winter. Awkwardly, the man from my original accommodations is also at the restaurant. Maybe his wife didn’t want to have to cook before attending to the family emergency? The pizza was good.

Post supper it’s back down the hill to the room to wash up my sweaty clothes and charge my batteries. Then tomorrow back to biking. The weather could include some thunderstorms so I’ll have to make sure my rain gear is handy.

I apologize that the entry for today isn’t more exciting. No bike drama, no bad weather. It’s how touring cyclists prefer things go. Rarely does it work out well though, so check back in tomorrow to see what might go wrong. I hear there could be some thunderstorms. Better find my rain gear. I’m also falling asleep writing this and editing it so sorry, you get what you’re getting right now. I want to get to sleep before the next train runs through town.

Proof that I actually do have my bike now

Rocks. They call them the Jura cliffs. As in jurrasic park. They’ve found some supposedly important fossil thingies here.

Rocks, but in the woods this time with hiking trails

Inside one of the big churches in Eichstätt

Some pretty elaborate murals on the church ceiling

Square in front of the church in Eichstätt

Some fancy building presumably still in Eichstätt

Main square in Eichstätt. Two bakeries, two ice cream shops. Quality lineup.

St Wallburg Church and I think monastery or cloister

Burg Willibald. Has a museum. Up a big hill.

Dolenfelsen. If I recall correctly it’s a popular place to climb.

Part of the old city wall still left in Dollnstein. Aside from that the only other memories I have of Dollnstein is that I took a wrong turn despite my gps when I got distracted by a bunch of kids in their early 20’s who were partially blocking the road, and there was a portapotty down by the river that had no hand sanitizer.

The twelve apostles. No idea why they named it that.

A very steep street that I had to walk up and then back down to get some supper

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 51 miles (82 km)

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