TdE - Day 23 Dillingen - Ulm

Route: Dillingen - Donau - Oberelchingen - Ulm + Wiblingen 
Distance: 68 km
Elevation: 238 m
Duration: 4:25 h
Weather: very sunny and warm, 8 - 30 C 

As the weather forecast was again very hot, I decided yet again to get an early start. On my hotel sich early breakfast wasn’t possible, but getting a lunch packet prepared the evening before was possible, so I had a part of my lunch packet as breakfast and the rest during the day. 

I managed to get riding even before 8:00!

The first sightseeing point of the day was this partially reconstructed, Roman temple, reminding us that the Danube was already an important region in the Roman Empire.

When I descended a bit later into the floodplains of the Danube I again for a short time in the cold morning mist.

For my second breakfast I found a still closed Biergarten on the shores of the river:

The cycling path in the heat along the river:

My next goal of the day was Oberelching and its baroque church…

But for me the highlight of this place was not the church, but rather an extremly relaxing bench on a public terrace overlooking the entire plain of the Danube and, at least theoretically, looking into the Alps (but not today, as the air was too moist). The bench was hanging under a big tree, gently rocking in the wind.

I spent some good time on that bench, had the rest of my lunch package and finally restarted for the last few kilometers into town. 

I took some rest in the hotel and only later in the afternoon I road  the last few kilometers out to Wiblingen, another baroque monastery…

… with a huge and well decorated library:

While visiting the library I had the distinct feeling that I been here before, and Matteo when I sent him some pictures though so too, but I have absolutely no recollection when I were in this region of Germany, apart from the visit to Blaubeuren with my mother when I was a child… but more about that tomorrow. 

TdE - D22 Wellheim - Dillingen

Route: Wellheim - Donauwörth - Donau - Höchstädt - Dillingen
Distance: 83 km 
Elevation: 326 m
Duration: 4:50 h
Weather: very sunny and hot (but not at 7:30 in the morning), 7 - 25 C

After the suffering in the heat yesterday, today I got up seriously early and managed to depart at 7:30, when it was still so cold and damp that on top of my cycling t-shirt I needed to wear my Castelli ROS jacket! 

But what a nice morning riding through the valley that the Danube abandoned some 70,000 years ago! 

For the first hour I saw more  deer than humans.

I passed an other castle in ruins and a cave that was already inhabited by prehistoric settlers (as well as cave bears, cave hyaena and cave wolves) 

When I hit the Donau, my official goal of this trip (so technically from now onwards I am on my way back) I took a break for my second breakfast at a solitary lake with some water birds. 

Only here I took off my warmer jacket and then continued. Unfortunately the cycling path in that area is behind the dam of the Danube, so I was happy that I had seen the nice landscape while having breakfast. 

Only at around 9:45 other cyclists started to appear, but then en masses! But nearly all of them riding the Donau downstream. Kind of makes sense, but I “need” to ride back into the direction of the Netherlands so I need to ride it up. 

Here at the Donau there are many competing cycling routes, and well indicated.

At Leitheim I stumbled across this luxurious hotel with a superb view of the entire valley. Probably there was going to be a wedding later in the day, but as I had started so early they were just starting with preparations. 

Around 11:00 I arrived at Donauwörth, which is a proud, ancient town. Since at least the Roman ages it lies at the confluence of two major traffic routes: the Donau and the Via Claudia Augusta. 

At 11:30 the city’s carillon sounded a very elaborate chime. A little bit later I took an other break eating some old sandwiches and a piece a Brezel I had from yesterday in the shadow of the church tower. 

At around 12:00 I departed again towards Höchstädt, where I had planned my afternoon break. I made it to Höchstädt just about. The route between Donauwörth and Höchstädt at least initially was mainly across fields, with little or no shade. It got a bit more shady closer to town. In Höchstädt I first looked for a place to have lunch and found an ideal Biergarten with old trees and a lot of shade. The food however was “so so”. But well, I got nourished. 

The afternoon I spent as probably the only visitor in the castle and museum of the city. I had no idea, but it seems that the region around Höchstädt was the scene of an important battle in the war of the Spanish Succession, which didn’t end well for France and Bavaria (the battle, the war itself kind of ended better for both of them). The museum explains the building up, the actual battle, which only lasted one day but killed over 25,000 soldiers, and the aftermath in good detail. 

On the first floor there is also an other huge museum about faience 

Finally after a piece of cake I departed and made my last few kilometers into Dillingen, where I had booked a hotel for the night. Unfortunately my external battery didn’t work today. Not sure if it was because of the heat, or maybe I hadn’t charged it correctly last night, but poor Garmin did run out of power so the last kilometers are recorded directly in Strava. 

After checking in I went again to a car wash trying to wash my bike (dusty this time, not too dirty actually) but worth the pressure washer that wasn’t easy. Much better a normal garden hose. On my way back I had dinner in an Italian restaurant. Again “so-so”. 

While during the day it’s really hot, in the evening it gets quickly quite cold. So if dinner outside, really one should finish around 20:00 and not much later. But the service in the restaurant was incredible slow, so that wasn’t possible. 

For tomorrow the hotel already prepared my a lunch bag, so o can have breakfast early and depart early again. Need to put the alarm clock to 6:00…

TdE - Day 21 Streudorf - Wellheim

Route: Streudorf - Altmühl - Dollnstein - Wellheim 
Distance: 78 km
Elevation: 275 m
Duration: 3:48 h
Weather: Sunny, not a single cloud, hot, 22 - 30 C

Today’s plan was to ride to the Donau, and well, in a certain way I arrived to the Donau valley, only that the Donau is no longer here, since the Pleistocene… Wellheim where I am sitting now in my accommodation for the night is in a valley that the Donau carved millions of years ago, but the geology had other plans for the Alps and the Donau needed to change its path. But the valley stayed, however now without any river…

… and instead a lot of rocks:

But the day started about 70 km away in a very different part of the Altmühl valley, with the lake:

And still some morning dew in the grass and on the spiderwebs:

Initially the valley was quite wide and to my surprise it seemed an important train route, including for ICEs, but probably not surprising, seeing on the map that it is between Augsburg and Nürnberg. I just very clearly don’t know anything about this region. 

I thought that I had a good plan against the heat today. Start early (well, I really only started at 9:10), cycle until about 14:00, and then take a long and shady rest somewhere cool and restart around 17:00 for the last 40 km or so. But really it got too hot much earlier than I thought and the rock formation seemed to make the valley even hotter.

So I took about an 1 hour break in a bakery in Dollnstein, had a salad and some cold drinks and booked my accommodation for tonight just a few kilometers down the road. I was able to cool down and then restart again after 15:00 for the final 10 km of the day. 

After arriving here I took a bit more of a break and then walked up to the castle ruins that dominate the village…

And from where one has a nice view of the surroundings:

For tomorrow I will try aging the plan to start early and stop for a long afternoon break before continuing later in the afternoon. Maybe break from 13:00 - 15:30. 

TdE - Day 20 Detwang - Streudorf

Route: Detwang - Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Atlantic/ Black Sea watershed - Altmühl - Streidorf
Distance: 94 km
Elevation: 429 m
Duration: 5:05 h
Weather: very sunny, starting coolish, getting warmer but still bearable, 22 C

Today started with the ascent to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. As a child I did the same cycling trip with my father from Wertheim to Rothenburg and I vividly remember how steep the road up to Rothenburg was. Maybe I took a slightly different route today, but it really sooooo bad as I remember. I could have ridden it up, but I stopped just before the city gate to take a picture and remounting on a steep hill I haven’t mastered (yet?). This is how Rothenburg looks from the Tauber:

But the day actually started in the early (well, 9:15) morning mist:

I passed through the center of Rothenburg, which admittedly is a beautiful small town. And now probably because of Covid and the still relatively early morning there weren’t too many tourists. 

But I didn’t linger. The 80 km or so to the Altmühlsee were waiting. 

Most of the cycling was actually on “normal” roads, not cycling paths, but there is so few traffic in this area, plus there are bigger roads where the actual traffic is, so that it was very relaxing to cycle. And WHAT a landscape. 

Not sure if this is a typical German landscape or a typical Franconia landscape but this is definitely MY landscape. Some hills, but nothing too serious. A lot of hamlets and villages, most of them with their own inn… churches with beautiful towers…

And a lot of fortified villages (no, this is not the same village 3 times, this is Ornbau, Leutershausen and Herrieden)

But I am getting ahead of myself. After Rothenburg my next goal was this watershed:

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere this important decision is taken for each drop of rain: Atlantic or Black Sea! 

Quite close by was the source of the Altmühl. It seems it actually has 3 sources, 2 in a lake and one in the middle of a farm:

From there at least theoretically it was all downhill as I am following a cycling path along the Altmühl, but as it is such a small river, the path doesn’t always strictly stay along the riverbank, so there is a little bit of up and down to master. 

Most other cyclist here are “mastering” them with e-bikes. But even on the e-bikes they are quite slow. I think in the entire day today I have never been overtaken by an other cyclist (while cycling). It helps to me younger than the average of other cyclists, but there were also some of my age or younger. 

The river slowly wins its way through the meadows …

… and only shortly before the Altmühlsee does it get broad (because of the artificial lake). 

At around 15:00 I arrived at my hotel for the night, at the right moment. It was getting hotter and hotter. (Although the wind was cool). So I took a 2 hour break, drinking something cool on the shaded terrace. But the day was so nice and the lake so close that at 17:00 I took the bike again, without the “heavy” bag and did a quick round of the lake. 13 km in 30 minutes, overtaking a lot more e-bikers. 

Today really felt like the day you see in adverts for a cycling holiday in Germany. Nice landscape, sunny, old villages, inns, castles…

TdE - Day 19 Bad Mergentheim - Detwang

Route: Bad Mergentheim - Weikersheim - Tauber - Detwang
Distance: 50 km
Elevation: 353 m 
Duration: 2:50 h 
Weather: sunny and warm, 22 C 

Today not a lot if cycling but a lot of castles. 2 of them! And while the first one, Deutschorden Schloß Bad Mergentheim has a long and very important history the second one, Schloß Weikersheim is really outstanding. 

It’s a Renaissance castle of a not terribly important duque, who wanted to show of. A lot. So he got himself a newly built Renaissance castle PLUS an exquisite garden, full of mythological statues (him as Hercules at least 3 times, just in case you had a doubt who is in charge). But also with some small gnomes that represent common people working for the duque. 

My mother had highly recommend it to me, and right she was! 

The garden is also so well integrated into the wider landscape. 

I took a guided tour that departed about 10 minutes after I had arrived, and it was nice to get everything explained. Plus the guide told us that in the orchard we could taste some of the fruit and that the plums were now ripe, so I tried. Some were nice, others still not yet fully ripe. 

But there isn’t only the magnificent garden, but also the interior. Due to Covid we were allowed only into the Rittersaal, but that was a very unique room as well. Decorated with game in stucco, usefully arranged by importance. Starting with mountain goats and finishing with an Elephant and a Lion on the other side of the huge room, close to the throne of the duque. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside. 

I also learned something. In baroque it was fashionable to fold napkins into very, but VERY, elaborate forms. This rhino was an example. This one is newly folded, but per our guide in baroque times decorations of this kind were very frequent. 

Actually also the village of Weikersheim was really nice:

I definitely took my time to visit, and this hadn’t been the first castle of the day. Actually even before getting on my bike I already visited a castle, the Deutschorden Schloß in Bad Mergentheim. 

Probably this staircase was the most artistic part of it:

The castle itself is okay, but nowadays it is mainly an exhibition about the Deutscher Ritterorden (Teutonic Order), which has an interesting story as a way how to insure a wealthy lifestyle to sons of the aristocracy. Matteo and I had been about 2 years ago to one in Poland, in Malbork:

What I hadn’t known is that this order accepted 3 religious denominations: Catholics, Protestants and Calvinists. As long as you were from a nobel family.

And then there were also the 50 km of cycling today which again went though nice landscapes and villages. 

As in the previous days the river bank was full of apple  orchards:

I hadn’t reserved any hotel as I was somewhat unsure if I would really make it all the way to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, plus - crucially - I had seen on Booking.com that there were several options in Rothenburg from where to choose. Finally I asked in a simple restaurant/hotel just at the foothill of Rothenburg and got a simple (but complete) room for 55 Euro/ night. 

Today was also the 4 year anniversary of the start of my 2 month trip by brompton through Japan. 4 years ago I took a plane north to Wakkanai and started cycling. It feels as if I hadn’t stopped since. Although that’s obviously not true. But what a privilege to have the opportunity twice in 4 years to take some time off and discover the world around me. The trip in Japan did bring me to some very remote places, that I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. 

TdE - Day 18 Miltenberg - Bad Mergentheim

Route: Miltenberg - Main - Wertheim - Tauber - Bad Mergentheim 
Distance: 93 km
Elevation: 442 m
Duration: 5:04 h
Weather: cloudy, more sun in the afternoon, 19 C

Today I moved from the relatively big river Main, to the much, MUCH smaller Tauber. The day started in Miltenberg, with some old buildings and then I quickly hit the Main. 

When traveling with my father from Frankfurt to Bayreuth (where he worked many summers in the festival orchestra), he used to explain me during the trip all the different rock layers. It seems that around Miltenberg there is the layer of red sandstone to judge from these pictures. 

Midway through to Wertheim, there was this castle and it wasn’t the only one today:

The kilometers until Wertheim passed pleasantly but without other outstanding views. In Wertheim however I took a longer break. First to buy a new cycling shorts. With the current bicycle related shortage I was lucky to find a well fitting pair at a local cycling shop. I needed a new pair as one of the shorts I brought, has a loose seam in the chamois and I think it creates some unpleasant friction. Not what I need!

After that acquisition I went (literally pushing up - and later DOWN) to the castle above the city, where I enjoyed the view and lunch on a balcony above the city,

Wertheim was also my goodbye to the Main and up the Tauber I went. And while there wasn’t a lot of ship traffic on the Main (less than what I had expected at least), the Tauber is a small river. Probably the smallest I have been riding along on this entire ride. Definitely smaller than the Sauer. 

Being a smaller river the valley is also different. Sometimes much narrower and generally less flat. So I did have quite some ups and downs to master today. Which I did. If I remember correctly the only time I pushed the bike was up to the castle in Wertheim, which had a crazy incline (e.g. 14 % according to Komoot). 

Along the way there were several nice small towns/villages:

One of them, Tauber Bischofsheim, a town that for me is very famous for its sports school for fencing. Not sure if all Germans know about it and think it is famous, or if you need to be of a certain generation or just have a strange liking for fencing… At least for me it sounds like the place where all the German fencing legends trained. I haven’t done fencing myself nor have I any connection with that sport, but I guess I liked it when watching the Olympic Games. And it helped that Germany was very successful in fencing, at least back in the day. 

An other quick stop I made on my way was at this abbey with a nice small garden in front. 

The day concluded in Bad Mergentheim with my daily wash, this time also including the bicycle which got very dirty yesterday. The hotel didn’t want me to wash it on their premises but instead recommended a car wash, which turned out to have a very long hose and no one seemed to bother that I was using it for a bicycle not a car. While I don’t wash the bicycle every day, I do wash my cycling clothes daily… and then need to find innovative ways how to dry them.