June 24, 2015
Biberach to Altenstadt
First day on our bikes
Well, second day for Al. I attended a student presentation at HBC in the morning but was finished there by 10:30. Back at the hotel, Al had already moved all our things out to our bikes but I could still get into the room to change into my cycling gear. I found Al at the town market where we bought some bread rolls, cheese, and fruit for lunch. Then we collected our bikes and were off, destination Memminger by way of Ochsenhausen.
Getting on the right route out of town proved tricky but a friendly German fellow on a bike came by as we were puzzling over the map and said he was riding home to Ummendorf and if we came along, he would set us on the correct path for our next waypoint. And so he did. Riding with him I realized that I really do need a bell. I had wondered about that at home but decided that I'd buy one if I needed it and it could be a nice souvenir.
The bigger the village we pass through, the more confusing to find our route again on the other side. Of the places we passed through, the best was Rot an der Rot, where we had our picnic lunch. We think it was formerly a Benedictine Abbey, where the monks brewed beer and maybe operated a mill. After that, we made a few false starts before finally crossing the muddy Iller into Bavaria and finding ourselves at Mauthaus, where we joined the Iller Radweg, well north of Memminger.
We didn't really like the Iller Radweg. It passes through scrubby forest beside the unnaturally straight Iller River and, maybe because the land beside the Iller appears to be a nature reserve, it isn't paved.
We escaped from the Iller Radweg at Kellmunz. We stopped for a cold drink and a snack since it was already 5:30 and we had no idea where we were going to stay and it's always better not to be too hungry in that situation. Funny, the cold drinks ended up being beer!
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My Garmin indicated that Schwalbennest in Weiler was the closest gasthaus and a quick Internet search gave us an idea of the prices. After all, we weren't desperate (yet). The proprietor of the little beer garden (for lack of a better word) directed us along the "forest road" which turned out to be more gravel, uphill. Only 1 km, though, and we arrived ... but the gasthaus was full. Back down the hill and on to Altenstadt and the Fischer Landgasthaus.
Our room, with attached shower but toilet down the hall, was 53€, breakfast included. We had dinner in the hotel too, total bill in the morning was 96.5€.
Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 70 km (43 miles)
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