Saturday May 4th, 2013
Bogen to Vilshoven - 60 km, total 572km 
Cloudy morning, Sunny afternoon
 
Gasthof Wolfertstetterbräu €108 for 4 room suite including breakfast (€27p.p.)



Rainy Morning in Bogen

Junko and Hiro didn't have the best sleep. Some Saturday night revelers kept them awake. Plus they were cold. The hotel had promised the heat would be on during the night. It wasn't. Dave and I like a cool room and we didn't check for heat. We have discovered that most places turn off their central heating starting on May 1st. Time for hot water bottles for Junko and Hiro.

We had a 60k day planned. It was raining when we got to the breakfast room and the dark clouds didn't look inviting.. As we pulled out of the hotel though, it looked like the overnight rain was finished for the day. As the day went on it got brighter and, by mid-morning, we ended up with blue sky.


Not Digging Deggendorf
 
Again, a lot of the ride was on or next to dyke. The Danube has huge floods every 10 – 15 years and the dykes have been built along most of the bank to help control the smaller ones.. 

We followed the bike path into the larger town of Deggendorf. As it swept back toward the Donau, by a main highway, the direction sign pointed west, seemingly the wrong direction. We tried to follow it but it left us a a busy traffic circle. We searched for path but it was gone. We doubled back to the sign and followed the map. The sign must have been turned in the wrong direction by a joker. We missed another turn less than a kilometer later. Again we were tripped up in Deggendorf. To add to it, broken glass was shattered along the path. Luckily, nobody got a puncture from it. We left Deggendorf along the bike lane which runs right along a busy highway. Needless to say, Deggendorf wasn't one of our favorite spots along the Donau.
 

 

Country Roads, Take Me Home

Soon the river, and the path, curved back away from the highway and we were back on quiet country lanes.

 
We came to a ferry crossing with benches with nice view. We stopped for our picnic lunch there at Niederalteich. It is known for its nice Basilica and Abbey. Dave stopped for a quick visit while he cashed up at an ATM.

 
Crossing the Bridge to Vilshofen

We sailed along he peaceful path right to the bridge which leads to Vilshofen. We debated continuing on a little further but we had done our quota for the day and rode across the bridge. We stopped at the first guesthouse on the main street. Dave went in to check the rooms. It was a very old hotel and one room offered smelled a bit, the other was fresh and clean (newer refurb). The women running the place didn't speak much more English than Dave speaks German and he asked me to go talk to them. I mentioned the musty room and asked if they had another. They deferred that it was a very old hotel and the double rooms were already booked. But the apartment was available at the same rate. It was great, two bedrooms, a dining area, a TV / Entertainment room and a full bath. It was spacious and clean and we were happy! We settled in for a relaxing afternoon.
 
 
 
Vilshoven has a quaint main street and town square, nothing else particularly remarkable. And it was quite dead on this Saturday afternoon with only a handful of people having coffee or beer on the sidewalk cafes.Most shops closed early on Saturday afternoon.

 
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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 :)