April 12, 2012 - Swollen Rivers
 
Donaueschingen to Tutlingen 38.6 km (24mi)☁☁
Mostly Cloudy; Temps 9c to 11c (48f to 52f) - Light breeze, gusty at times
 
Schlack Hotel €79 ($102) Double Room w/Breakfast
 
Because this was our first cycling day, we planned to keep it short, 38 kilometers. We had time for a leisurely breakfast but everyone was anxious to go. We'd been planning this trip a long time.

We got off to a great start. Most of the day, clouds threatened us but not until we were safe and sound in our hotel did they let loose, and with hail no less.

Mostly we rode on the cycle way and only few times had to share the way with cars. The country side was charming with villages with small churches nestled in valleys or hillsides. We stopped to watch a stork land on his nest on top of chimney.
 
The swollen Donau River spilled over its banks and, in several places, flooded our trail. Our early spring start was keeping us ahead of the crowds as planned. But now we had the winter snow runoff to contend with.

 
After Immendingen (22km), a pair of fitness walkers told us the trail was waist deep in water and we would have to detour 2km ahead and ride up Kirchstraße. We followed their directions, and our noses, though a village before running into another cyclist. Further on ahead, he said, we'd have to leave the radweg again and ride the main road. We rode the trail until it disappeared under the lake-like water of the river. We doubled back briefly and turned to the main road with pretty heavy traffic for 7 km until Möhringen. We could see a picnic table by the bike path completely submerged. After Möhringen, the pavement ended and a shell-path started with thick forest on our left and the Donau on right. Noon had arrived and we pulled out the sandwiches we had packed at our Gasthof. That, and a pair of oranges, made a delicious lunch.

The sun broke through by now. We had stiff wind in our back all the way to Tutlingen. We rolled up to the tourist office where were planned to get a list of accommodations. The office hours are until 1 PM on Fridays and it was 1:20, so we were out of luck.


We split to look for hotels. First one was another extremely expensive, another closed for a day, a third was full, and the one recommended in our guidebook, just outside of town, did not answer their phone.. We decided on Hotel Schlack after over an hour of trying to find a better option. It had garage where we could park our bikes.
 
 
Our rooms were spacious with a nice sitting area and wifi was big plus too. We asked about a laundry and they offered to throw our dirties in the hotel’s machine. It appeared in the room an hour later. It was German efficiency and hospitality at its best.

For dinner we enjoyed roasted chicken and toasty at fast food place near the town square.
________________
 
References: 

....1) The Danube Cycle Way; Donaueschingen to Budapest by John Higginson
... 2) Bikeline Maps & Guides; Donau-Radweg 1, (5 books in the series)

Our plan in a nutshell; 2900 total kilometers at 50 km per day - 2 days riding for 1 day off for a total of 58 riding days & 90 total days - April to July, 2013 :)