Weichering to Kelheim, 54km (390 total)
Gasthof Berzl €60 ($79)

 

Farmer Breakfast

The Langdon Vogelsang buffet was the best of our trip so far. Bacon, scrambled eggs, homemade preserves, nuts, German potato salad, fruit salads, and four different kinds of bread were welcome additions to the usual yogurt, cheeses and deli meats, … The people here seem a lot like the people in farming communities back home, humble, polite, no-nonsense, and direct… Except their Bavarian 'Lederhosen' (the male outfit) and 'Dirndl' (the female counterpart) do look silly.

 

Route Deviations
 
We have experimented a few times with route deviations. We've noticed the Donauradweg route often zigzags into towns only to pop out on the same road it had left earlier, only a few km away. And other times, the official route will begin following a car road where perfectly acceptable direct and un-trafficked paths exist. We usually discuss the planned route deviation among the four of us so there are no surprises. Today, we made three deviations. We planned to bypass central Ingolstadt and central Klinemehring/Grossmehring. Those worked out great, no problem. We got to the town of Sittling and had planned to take the main route over the hill as was shown on our map (old edition). We got there only to discover the Donauradweg route was rerouted at this point. We will describe some of these instances in our blog to benefit those who may be planning their own Donau trip. Read on….
 

Ingolstadt Grossmahring
 
It was Dave's turn to lead today and in no time he had us through the flat farm land, dirt paths and dyke into Ingolstadt, 9km. We stayed on the south bank in front of the castle ignoring the formal route to the center of the city with the typical museums and churches. It was a nice strait path on the south side of the Donau right in front of the old castle. We crossed the Donau again east of Ingolstat to get back onto the formal route.

The map shows a direct route to bypass Grossmahring too. We go there to find that someone had duct taped the left turn arrow sign so going straight looked like the way to go, and it was. The path lead directly to the bridge.

We got to the Vohberg castle turn and continued there too, without a castle detour….

 
 
Sittling Reroute

We had lunch in the health resort town of Bad Gogging. 

The real interesting part came when we got to the next town of Sittling and were expecting a sign to tell us to take a right turn. We got there to find the sign telling us we needed to make a left turn… We decided to follow the sign down the hill, past some fields used to grow hops, and on to a dyke that connected us to the Donau at Eining. Then there was a wanderweg path that continued along the river’s edge to Weltenburg. At Eining, the official Donauradweg path turned inland and paralleled the highway. We stayed on the wanderweg foot path which was rough in spots but it was flat and scenic…a great deviation

 
Passenger Ship through the Scenic Gorge

We got to Weltenberg to discover the next boat, for the 20 minute downstream ride to Kelheim, was departing in 5 minutes. Another one was leaving 30 minutes later so we had time to visit the old abbey in Weltenberg. But the vote was unanimous. Everyone jetted another 500 meters past the ticket booth to the waiting boat. We parked our bikes on the lower deck and went to the upper deck for the view.

 
It was a great change of pace and we were done cycling for the day. The narrow channel had limestone walls on both sides with green forests all around. The tour boat played a story about the gorge in German and English as we drove through. The narration conjured up images of ancient roman boats plying the Donau. And perhaps there was a Napoleonic story in there too.


Arrival in Kelheim

Old town Kelheim is enclosed by three 13th and 14th century gates and its economy is driven by tourism, the boats rides, the monuments, etc. Hotel rooms in the center were little tight and the gal at the Tourist Information office put us in Gasthof Berzl, right at the north gate to Old Town, an adequate but unexciting option.


 
April 30 – Kelheim, 10 km hike on our rest day
Cloudy with temps up to 20 C

 
Morning in the Hotel Catching Up

We’d ridden three consecutive days since our last day off in Ulm. We calculated we were averaging just shy of our goal of 50 km per riding day so far. Not bad. This time, unlike our Ulm 'rest’ day, we promised ourselves we were going to relax.

Today was a free day. Dave and I had different things we wanted to do than Junko and Hiro. I needed to write several long overdue emails to friends and family. Dave was editing pictures. We agreed to meet Junko and Hiro for dinner at around 6 pm.

 
 
Afternoon Stroll Morphed into a Strenuous Hike 

Around noon, we needed a break and strolled through town, past the Old Rathaus and the New Rathaus, stopped to take a closer look at the Bavarian Dirndls and lederhosen displayed in store window before exiting through one of the old town gates towards the path along the Donau. We walked on the north shore in the direction of Weltenburg. We found a bench with nice view towards the gorge before a bend in the Donau. We enjoyed our lunch sandwich made of that wholesome dark German bread with ample ham, salami and cheese. It was overcast but pleasant.

We walked on past Kloster/bier garden and old church built into cave. We scrambled up rocks to explore another cave for 20 meters, a rusty old gate was at the entrance. Perhaps the cave was used for something in the past.
 
After walking about 4 kilometers along the river, the rock wall of the gorge prevented us from continuing. A local lady, who was gathering small pebbles for a craft project, told us about a steep hidden trail to top of ridge. That would lead us to network of well-marked trails and get us to Mount Michelsberg and the 1863 Liberation Monument (Befreiungshalle) King Ludwig I had commissioned to commemorate or honor the fallen heroes of the Napoleonic wars. We thought that was a great idea so we spent several hours on that scenic loop back to town through thick forest and protected nature area. Again, not what I call letting our legs rest but totally worth the effort. The Liberation Monument is an impressive circular building with enormous statues between the pillars that decorate and support the walls. Behind it, we descended back to Kelheim and picked up a bottle of Champagne to celebrate our "almost" 400 km completion.

 
 
Evening Regroup
 
We met in Junko and Hiro's room and popped the Champagne cork and recapped each other's day. They had hiked up a different way to the monument and taken little tourist train back to town. They, also, had made this anything but a rest-day.

Dinner was at lovely little Asian restaurant "Saigon".



Hiro's & Junko's Blog Supplement
 
 ケルハイム
ウェルテンブルグ修道院の近くからドナウ峡谷を船でくだった。その美しさに目を見張った。迫りくる峡谷、若葉の森を見ながらゆったりと進む。たったの20分で、どれほどリフレッシュできただろうか。ケルハイムの船着場についた。疲れた足取りでホテルに向かった。今日も絵の中をよく走った。翌日はレストデイ。ナポレオン解放記念堂まで、歩いて登った。美しいドナウを見下ろす。こうやってこれからどれほどこのドナウとおつきあいするのだろうか？白鳥のおとうさんとおかあさんが四羽のひなを守りながらゆっくりと進む。なんと微笑ましい光景。同じような自転車ファミリーも何度か見た。おとな自転車につながっているベビー運搬自転車や、子供自転車。私も孫たちを連れて走りたいと思った。夜乾杯をした。400km記念。


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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 :)