Augsburg to Hurlach: Euro Bike challenges continue...
We got up early, enjoyed breakfast in the dining room and headed out with the plan of getting to a campsite at Landsberg am Lech. We were hoping to find a bike shop along they way to help us instal our Rohloff sprocket. As we were cycling south of Augsburg, Cora came to our rescue with an urgent email - she had found a bike shop in Augsburg that was WILLING to work on our bike. So we turned around and got there. before lunch ( small shops typically close for a few hours for this break). After a bit of discussion, the owner and the mechanic got busy. When we rode away, we were very pleased with the difference the sprocket has made. With this bit of success, we are now obsessed with continuing our quest to improve our granny gear by adding a new chainring to make the 17 tooth Rohloff sprocket even more efficient. So, thus began a day of detours off the route searching for a 5 bolt 42 (or 40) tooth chainring. We did find a chainring but the mechanic wouldn't instal it - and the reason is - yes, he is off to the Euro Bike too. So we bought it, and we are determined to find someone who will and can help us. Once we realized that we couldn't make our destination, we knew that there were no campgrounds and we started looking for accommodation.. A hotel at 110€ quickly became 90€ when we said it was beyond our budget. This was still too high, so we continued on. A Rasthaus in Hurlach was just a few km off the route and we decided to stay. - 56€ for a newly remodelled room including breakfast. As well, we had a delicious house made rouladen dinner for a very reasonable price. It was a good thing. But fans of the British series, Fawlty Towers, will understand us when we say that that things were quirky and we found ourselves looking over our shoulder for Basil to appear. The final straw that tickled our funny bone was a worker who pitched in to serve us our beer and his mannerisms were a ringer for "Manuel from Barcelona". All in all, we really enjoyed staying here.
Staying at Augsburg Youth Hostel gave us the opportunity to meet interesting people. This father and his daughters are from Denmark and are touring the sights by bike with the girls in a trailer. Visiting with them reminded us how much we loved travelling in Denmark.
There are many bikes shops in Augsburg but only this shop was willing to work on our bike (thanks to Cora for tracking them down). In anticipation of the Alps, we are grateful to have the 17 tooth Rohloff sprocket installed to improve our granny gear.
We took a wrong turn and ended up in the beautiful and popular area by the dam. I turned around to find Barry and he had been stopped again by a friendly local who welcomed him and had many questions about our bike and travel plans.
Close to the dam is the 1972 Olympic white water rafting venue and official training centre. We spent some time watching a kayaker training in the rapids. This was also the site of the 2009 World Championships.
Rasthaus Hurlach - a surprising find off the beaten path. Mostly truckers and workers eat here and surprisingly we were the only ones who used the delightful dining room. Maybe it is because we don't smoke.
