June 25, 2015
Altenstadt to Sonderheim
A day in Bavaria
Our first full day of riding and it was a full one--97 km, not necessarily every one of them moving us forward. Funny though, our track looks pretty direct on the tiny screen of my Garmin.
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From Altenstadt we went east through Dattenhausen and Oberroth. A km or so past Oberroth we turned north and rode along unpaved roads through forest. Leaving the forest and returning to asphalt, we continued north along the Biberbach and through another Biberach! I knew there was a second town named Biberach, in the Black Forest, but I didn't know there was one in Bavaria too.
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Riding through this smaller Biberach, we noticed many of the houses in the village had barns attached and many of those barns had livestock in them! Riding through the countryside, we liked the fact that the farmers grow many different crops in various fields: wheat, barley, corn, potatoes ... No monoculture around here. We also noted that the surface, when paved, was much smoother and in better repair than any road at home that wasn't freshly paved.
Continuing north, we missed a turn at Oberhausen (or somewhere) and stopped for a quick picnic in Beuren to fuel up and figure out our next destination. East, then north to Bibertal (more bibers!) and northeast to Günzberg. Günzberg looked quite interesting but we weren't ready to call it a day now that we'd reached the Donau Radweg. A short break and a snack from our fruit stash, then along the Donau Radweg to Offingen where we crossed the river and saw it for the first time since Ulm. It was a thick, muddy brown, certainly not "blue". It wasn't like that in Ulm, but Ulm is upstream of where the Iller pours in.
We weren't that favourably impressed with what we saw of the Donau Radweg today. On one stretch, the paved surface was as rough as at home and quite a bit of the rest was unpaved. Unless it's really scenic, for which I can waive a lot, I prefer a smooth asphalt riding surface. Cobbles are pretty, but really bumpy.
We rode through Lauingen and thought we'd stop at Dillingen. We missed the town centre of Dillingen when we followed the signs to the "Donau Campingplatz." The camping didn't appeal to us, being very close to a highway and the river (and therefore buggy) and appearing to be an afterthought to a beer garden.
We continued to Hochstädt an der Donau, another town with its name enclosed by a red border on our ADFC Radtourenkarte. The red border indicates "sehenswertes Ortsbild" or "worth seeing." And well it might have been, were all the streets not dug up. Nevertheless, we thought we'd stay, but the hotel we tried was full. On being asked for suggestions, the proprietress offered to phone one in the next town as there aren't a surplus of options in Hochstädt. I also asked her what the difference was between "hotel" and "hotel garni." Garnished or decorated hotel didn't seem to fit, especially since the listing on the information board in the centre of town implied that a "hotel" was superior to a "hotel garni." Apparently a "hotel" has a restaurant that serves evening meals whereas a "hotel garni" only serves breakfast.
Accommodation found, we carried on to the Alte Donau in Sonderheim. This is most certainly a "hotel." We ordered a sort of mixed grill for two and it was enormous. I don't think Al even ate half ... Or maybe he did, since he ate almost all the fries.
The room was 72€ and our total bill, including dinner, was 111.50€.
Today's ride: 97 km (60 miles)
Total: 167 km (104 miles)
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