September 8, 2014
Saarbrucken - Donaueschingen- Fridingen.: Rail transfer to the Danube Bike Route.
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An unaccustomed early start for us today, our train was due to leave at 9-15am. That is to say, the first of our trains, to Kaiserslautern, change there for Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse and again for Karlsruhe, then onto the picturesque Black Forest line to Donaueschingen. It all went well, apart from a malfunctioning lift at Karlsruhe station, which, in spite of its name [Charles's Peace], was chaotic. We arrived in Donaueschingen on time at 2-17pm.
We'd just missed a heavy rain shower and for a few minutes watched the progress of the clouds above, to see if we were due for more. They were drifting away, so we set off eastwards along the Donauradweg, a storm rumbling in the hills. The sun came out and the valley, opening out into bright green fields still damp from the rain, looked gorgeous. We just followed the signing, which is extensive, but still managed a few wrong turns. We managed to miss altogether the Danube sink, where the river disappears into the ground for about 12 km. We were not carrying the guides to the route, although a friend had lent me the three editions we would have needed to get to Budapest. We didn't carry them for fear of returning them in tatters. I scanned through them and used them partially to plot GPX tracks, but not that much stuck in my mind. I'm a very bad tourist, really just here for the bike ride. The weather remained fine and warm, it was a real pleasure to be on that bike ride.
After Tüttlingen we started to look for somewhere to stay. At Nendingen Barbara did not fancy the Gasthaus/pizza restaurant, so we moved on and up to the old town at Mülheim-an-der-Donau. It was quite a climb, partly on cobbled streets, which are no pleasure to ride on at any time, even less so when the riding turns out to be futile. There was no room at any of the inns.
Back in the valley, I spoke to an elderly man on the trail, while I was waiting for Barbara to catch up.“Where are you going?” he asked.“To the next Gasthaus.”“There's one near the station at Fridingen, then there's die Sonne and two more there. Die Sonne is the best, I think. From here to Fridingen it's ziemlich flach [quite flat]”
The sun was on its way down, and die Mücken [mosquitoes] were out and after me. It was still a very attractive piece of countryside, the valley having narrowed here with cliffs and mossie-harbouring woods on both sides of the trail.
On the edge of Fridingen, we searched for the hotel near the station, to no avail, so rode into the centre and enquired at the Hotel Sonne. It was pretty busy, but there was room. We ate in the restaurant and I chose what turned out to be liver and onions. Very good too, as was, as you'd expect in Germany, the beer.
Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 696 km (432 miles)
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