Donauworth: After 4 years, we have made it back to the Danube.

August 23, 2015

Let me start with the comment that we love camping... and it is good that we do as it allows us to travel for a long time. However, we do enjoy mixing it up once in a while with a stay at a Guesthouse. Yesterday we had dawdled along the route and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - so this means we were late in to Nordlingen and didn't feel like cycling an additional 7 km out of town to camp, So we stayed in a Hotel. We enjoyed the comforts and the breakfast provided - especially the unending service of coffee to our table. The Hotel was full of cyclists - German and Italian.
But now it is back to reality and we will camp tonight just south of Donauworth.
Once again we had a beautiful ride. We rode up and over many hills but we are feeling stronger and are doing much better with these challenges.
A highlight was stopping for a picnic lunch by the river at Harburg. We made a bit of a mistake approaching the town and missed the flatter route. We climbed and climbed until we were near the castle and then we plummeted down to the river valley where we could appreciate the rocky cliffs that we had come from and the beauty of the Wornitz River. This is indeed a beautiful spot and worth the work to get here. Many local families were out enjoying Sunday in the village and alongside the river feeding the ducks.
In no time we were in Donauworth. After riding in relative solitude along the Tauber and Wornitz Rivers, we were surprised by the number of cyclists we saw who must be riding the Danube route. We enjoyed seeing places we remembered from 4 years ago, had some Italian ice cream and then headed out to our campground, Donau-Lech near Eggestellen.

Hotel Goldene Rose - a nice place for us to stay and a good change of pace.

This shows the quality of the riding we have been enjoying.

In this farming village, the roofs of every house and barn were covered in solar panels.

The castle at Harburg atop a very steep hill.

Magnificent cliffs in this area along the Wornitz.

Very old bridge for pedestrians across the Wornitz in Harburg.

Coloured eggs (cooked) that we saved from breakfast for lunch. We have often seen these for sale in the grocery store and finally figured out that they are coloured to signify that they have been cooked.

The castle offered free admission as it is Sunday, but it meant we had to do more climbing and a 300 metre tunnel.

All modes of transport on our cycle path today.

A wee opening to a long and huge tunnel on our way in to Donauworth.

The tunnel starts out narrow and then it opens up.

Our first glimpse of a Via Claudia Augusta sign.

A tandem with a third child on the rear - all independent pedalling. It was hot and humid and the father looked tired.

This little girl and her younger sister amused us as they rode around on their push bikes and were very interested in our "odd" bike. Here she and her mom are enjoying their ice cream.

Oh yes, Italian eis in Donauworth - really good choice of flavours including limoncello.

Crossing the mighty Danube on our way to our campground.

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 466 km (289 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0