Read the Guidebook ...: Day 29 - Donauworth to Neustadt - Get It While It Lasts... A Big Loop Through Europe 2017

September 5, 2017

Read the Guidebook ...: Day 29 - Donauworth to Neustadt

We've been camping since Ulm, and reliable internet access has been pretty limited. I used my phone as a hotspot to update this journal once last week. It was fast but it used an enormous amount of my phone data ... won't try that again. So journal updates are going to come in batches as and when we get decent internet (usually will be a rest day if we book a hotel). So this is a marathon 6 day update session ... rewind to 6 days ago!

We really enjoyed Donauworth. The cycling was interesting and easy to get there, the town was great as was the campsite, weather and dinner.

When we set off this morning we were even happier that we stayed there rather than try to add on another 40 km's that we were (tentatively) planning.

Today's riding was very good too, but the first 40 km we did today was a lot more challenging than anything we did yesterday. Much more hilly terrain with a fair bit of gravel and forest roads. Nice riding but were glad we had fresh legs and were doing km's 0 through 40 rather than 90 - 130.

We also did something today that was very unusual for us. We bought some Danube Cycling guidebooks before we started this trip, and this morning for the first time, we read up on the section that (we thought) we were going to be cycling today. Church's with ceiling Fresco's to rival the Sistine Chapel, the worlds oldest brewery at an Abbey, Audi headquarters and museum .... this should be interesting ...

And it was even though we missed them all! Turns out the fresco wasn't in the town we thought it was, the brewery will be tomorrow and by the time we got to Ingolstadt where the Fresco was, we couldn't find the cathedral (ususally they are pretty big things and hard to miss ... we got to one, but no fresco!) and I settled for a restored 1950's Audi on the street rather than hauling K off to a car museum.

When we got to Nuestadt we pulled into what looked like a brand new campground. Very friendly staff / owner and immaculate facilities. There were a few other bike tourers there too, but far fewer than we have been seeing.

We headed off to Neustadt for dinner and found a very nice Gasthaus with a biergarten. A very good and traditional Bavarian dinner, and beer, and we were set for the night. Another great day.

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Song of the day:

Ride On by the Strumbella's - just felt like a great song for today ... we were just riding on enjoying the day ... not worrying about all the stuff we were supposed to see and enjoying the things we did.

Very nice looking Chateau that we came across early in the morning. We thought it was the beer Abbey that we read about in the Danube guide book... It wasn't. Nice though!

Lot's of varied terrain today. Several long sections through forests on very good hard pack gravel. Lot's of hills though ... we were both happy that we stayed in Donauworth the night before and didn't have this for the last 40 km.

Another place from the guidebook ... Castle and Church in Nueburg an der Donau that we had read had a fresco to rival the Sistine Chapel ... It didn't ... turns out that place is in Ingolstadt a few km's down the road

Nice view of the Schloss in Nueberg ... shame about the fresco!

Spotted on the outskirts of Ingolstadt ... a '50's Auto Union (one of the original Audi's) in pretty nice shape.
For non car buffs, Ingolstadt is the home of Audi (and apparently a large fresco that rivals the Sistine Chapel)
I'm more into cars

as mentioned earlier ... very different terrain today ...everything from perfect pavement to a few (short) sections of single track. These mostly connected up other main cycle trails but this one ran on for about a km

The river was like glass downstream from Ingolstadt. Slight tailwind and smooth hard pack made for good riding

Another fine day. Finishing off with a very nice traditional Bavarian dinner in the Biergarden of the Gigl Gasthaus in Neustadt

Very nice campground in Nuestadt. It looked like it was quite new with a lovely tent area by a small stream

This is the toilet / shower building .. it was very new, very well appointed (better than most houses and 4 star hotels) and impeccably clean!

One of our dining guests ... the house bedside the biergarden had a large shed / garage ... in the center of the fairly large town ... with three cows in it!

Today's ride: 102 km (63 miles)
Total: 2,106 km (1,308 miles)

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