Alb-Donau-Kreis

It certainly was an alarming sight. When I came down to reception to check out of our hotel, I discovered that David was running to and fro with a crazed and confused look on his face. While some that know David well would well contend that he always looks that way, I quickly ascertained that something horrendous must have happened.

"I've lost our room key", he shouted at the poor lady behind the desk. "I've searched everywhere, unpacked our luggage and ransacked the room', he added, "and it is absolutely nowhere". David seemed convinced that some sort of paranormal phenomenon was responsible.

I am not sure what the accepted fine for losing a hotel key is, but David is already racking up quite a litany of stolen keys, unpaid drinks bills and room damage. I left David running around in ever diminishing circles, while I went to cram my own huge pile of clothing into my suitcase. This is a recurring problem on these trips.

In the meantime another problem had arisen - outside it was pouring rain. OK, some smart alecs might comment that it seldom ever rains inside, but this was something of an unwanted development. Up to now we had managed to ride in a continuous sequence of glorious fine days. That had now come to an end.

In Europe the last day of summer is officially counted as September 21, making today the first day of autumn. If the cold and wet conditions were any indication, it looked like winter had gotten tired of waiting and had jumped over autumn in the seasonal queue.

For two of our riders, the decision had already been made. Carol enjoyed her train trip so much that she has decided that it is a favourable alternative to sitting on a bicycle seat. Maggie had suffered a recurrence of her back problem and was barely able to walk, let alone ride for 65 km.

A bit of research indicated that it would be possible to catch a train from nearby Mengen, about 5 km further along the trail. By 9 am we were ready to move. One person was acting unusually quiet. I asked the obvious question "David, did you find the missing key ?". He did not want to talk about it, probably because I discovered that the key that had caused such panic earlier in the morning had been safely resting in his own pocket the entire time. Sometimes I really do wonder why I keep taking these people on adventure travel experiences, when it is obvious that even a trip to Fountain Gate shopping centre would be too challenging for most of them.

We headed out in drizzling rain and cold conditions. The short sleeves of the previous days had been replaced with rain jackets and plastic (oompa loompa) pants. The first day of autumn had certainly brought a drastic change in our peloton.

The first challenge was to find the station in Mengen. This was simple enough. The next challenge was to work out which platform to wait on. Much harder. The biggest challenge was to figure out how to use the automated ticket machine. Almost impossible.

David and I spent several minutes feeding handfuls of Euros into the greedy machine, while the correct train came and went. By the time the machine had robbed us of over 40 Euros for 2 tickets for a 15 minute journey, we all had to wait for the next train.

When the train did come, we discovered that we had to manhandle the 2 ebikes up 4 steps to get them onto the train. It was an almost impossible task to achieve without incurring further bodily damage to ourselves and the bikes.

Then it was time to ride to Ehingen. This was the longest ride of this section and also the most hilly. When you toss continuous rain into the equation, the overall level of difficulty went up exponentially. Although the rain was not heavy, it just would not stop. It kept on for the entire ride, gradually soaking into every item of clothing.

I am sure the scenery was amazing. At least it would have been, if we could see it. Unfortunately the low cloud and the rain on my glasses meant that I was looking through a blurry haze for the whole ride. The rain even seemed to effect my GoPro camera, so that I could only take a small number of photos for the entire day.

During the day we meandered near and far from the Danube River, but each time we rejoined it, you could see how it had grown in size. The Danube we had seen as a small stream in Donaueschingen is now a substantial and quite beautiful river.

We eventually reached the destination city of Ehingen about 2 pm in the afternoon. The city welcomed us with a huge, ugly chemical complex on the edge of town. It had a towering chimney that belched out a veritable volcano of fumes into the atmosphere. When we rode closer we were also met by a wall of foul smelling gases and industrial noises. It would have to be one of the ugliest factories I have ever seen , and certainly did not give a welcoming impression of the city.

Fortunately, the centre of the city is much more appealing than the outskirts. Its large central square is surrounded by majestic medieval buildings on all sides.

Tomorrow we complete this ride by riding the rest of the way to Ulm.Read more