The rain eases off in the morning and after pigging out on the breakfast buffet, we amble across the plains. At one group of farm buildings there is a Market in full swing, selling geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits and bric a brac. As we arrive, 2 men stagger away, pleased with their purchase of a tin bath.
About high tea time we spot our postgrads (Salman and Helen) who are brewing tea under a tree. We share a tea bag and meet up later at the camp site at INGOLSTADT.
The Danube is very wide now with raised banks down either side.
The water is very high following the heavy rain. This doesn't bother all the little coot chicks and geese which feed amongst the masses of yellow water lilies. Farming villages line the route, VOHBURG probably the prettiest, with towers and steep tile roofs, but with all the streets cobbled we weary of all the bumping.
We wonder what the really tall crop all around is and read in "The Danube BikeTrail" guide that this is the biggest area of hops in the world. I wonder what they make with that then!
At KELHEIM a large round tower dominates the town from a hill - it is the Hall of Liberation, built by King Ludwig 1 to honour those who died liberating the area from Napoleon.
We see the first big working barges as we approach REGENSBURG, a large historic town, so the camp right by the bike path has attracted at least 20 pairs of touring cyclists and, from the sample we spoke to, all are either German or Dutch.
We are up early to visit the historic centre before it gets too busy, admiring the ancient stone bridge and the cathedral. As Mike has had to pull his belt in 2 notches since we set out I find a street-sausage-sandwich-seller to provide his second breakfast.
We spot another of Ludwig 1's grand buildings, dominating the sky line at WORTH. This one is Walhalla, a Hall of Fame of great Germans. An eye-catching White Parthenon of a building, up an awful lot of steps, so I have to report that we could not muster the enthusiasm to see who was honoured inside.
We sit in a village bus shelter for our lunch sandwich as it is so hot in the midday sun, and watch all the other tourers whizzing past. One pair are on a tandem pulling a trailer, with their small dog happily watching the world from a wicker basket on the rear bike rack. It is a lovely easy run on flat dedicated cycle paths with views to the left of the Bayerischer Wald (mountain range). We camp at a farm in the hamlet of WALTENDORF, between raspberries and cabbages with fabulous views of the forested mountain range.
Miles to date 1,501
Location:DILLINGEN to WALTENDORF
