4/28 Donauworth to Weichering, 50 km, total 336 km

☁☁ 13C / 54F

Landgasthof Vogelsang, €70 ($92), double including breakfast

 

Cold Departure from Donauworth

Compared to previous days, our breakfast was pretty meager. No juice, eggs, yogurt or muesli. plain rolls no assortment. We had gotten so spoiled. We managed to make due and packed less elaborate sandwiches for lunch.

It was another cool gray morning but we were dressed for it. As the 9 am, church-bells sounded, we pulled out and rode downhill through the picturesque streets of Donauworth and followed the clearly posted Donauradweg signs out of town. Here in Bayern, the Donauradweg signposts are small square yellow with blue lettering.

 

Hills
 
Within the first 10 km, we climbed several challenging hills. We had gotten spoiled with the relative flat of the past few days. We were in the midst of hilly lush green farmland.  It was hard to imagine how it could be anything but up and down today. Then we meandered on pebble paths through newly planted crops.

From Marxheim, we opted again to take the shell path on dyke next to Donau canal instead of following the paved route route along the highway. At the 18 km point, we were nearing Bertoldsheim and more hills ahead. We paused at the power station and bridge which cross the Donau. It did not appear that there was a river route on our side and we asked a local man if there was one on the south side. He said we could pick a trail up on other side of the Donau that would get us all the way to Neuburg. It was a deviation from the official route but we all agreed that sounded great. 
 

Time to Explore and Make our own Route

We crossed the bridge and picked up a pretty trail through the trees along the Donau. After several km, the trail suddenly veered away from the river into thick forest. We continued, it was a nice change of scenery. We crossed several small bridges, we could see on our map that that made sense although no paths were shown, including the one we were on. We came to several splits and mutually agreed to one of the two ways. After less than an hour, we emerged on edge of endless fields. The Donau was nowhere in sight.

We had no choice but continue. We weren't too concerned. We were happy when we spotted a lone cyclist to ask directions. He had just come from Neuburg. "At the next crossing turn left and follow it to right", he advised. We could see a saddle between the two hills in the distance. Occasionally, a car came by. 

 
Finally, we got to the beautiful village of Unterhausen which was on our map. Here we asked directions at a horse-ranch where we saw four muscular Irish Tinker Horses, also known as the Gypsy horses. Gypsy Horses are widely known for their piebald, or black and white pinto coat color, The rancher said to continue on to Oberhausen and turn left at the church where you can wind down to small bridge over a small river then follow that trail through forest. 

We went over to Oberhausen. It was 1:00 pm and we decided to eat our sandwich before continuing.

 
We ended up going past the church all together because it was on Schulehaus road and the building there didn't look like church. But through some miracle and Dave's excellent orienteering skills, and a lot of luck, we ended up on the right trail which followed a Schloss Route along the Donau and through thick forest and finally spitting us out on cobble stone path in archway below the Schloss Neuburg (1530-45). It had been a fantastic detour. Here we joined our Bike-Line route again.
 

 
Back on the Red-Line Again

From here on, it was flat and easy ride along forest road and country lanes. We stopped at Schloss Grünau where they had extensive displays dedicated to the entire Donau ecosystem. Several related publications were for sale, all in German and no useful brochures or maps for us.


When we had come to the inviting Gasthof Vogelsang in Weichering, and had done 50 km for the day, we decided to stay. It was a lodge like place with great rooms and a dining room frequented by locals. It also has a ballroom where a two family function was ongoing with musicians playing um-pah music while guests danced and ate. After we cleaned up, we enjoyed a bottle of German wine before our great dinner at the restaurant.
 

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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 :)