GermanyBaden-Württemberg RegionEhingenSchmiechen48°17’0” N 9°43’41” E
August 25, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Nach Abendlichen Käsespätzle und 3 Bier waren die Batterien von Papa Moll und Mäusele wieder gefüllt. Wir mussten dann die Gartenterrasse schnell räumen, da ein Unwetter über Mühlheim hereinbrach. Schlafen konnte Papa Moll aber lange nicht, da die Schwäble geselligten, wie wenn es kein Morgen mehr gäbe. Nach einem bescheidenen Frühstück liessen wir wieder unsere Beinchen strampeln. Auf all den Radwegen waren die Auswirkungen des gestrige Unwetter zu sehen. Erstaunlicherweise waren die meisten Naturhindernisse wie Bäume und Äste bereits auf die Seite geschoben worden, sodass wir in den vielen Waldpartien nur noch um die kleineren Hindernisse zirkeln musste. Zusammen mit den unendlichen Gravelstrecken, liess das kein hohes Tempo zu. Zwischendurch begann es auch noch zu Regnen, das hielt uns aber nicht davon ab, unserem Reiseziel weiter entgegen zu strampeln. In Sigmaringendorf war in der Pizzeria La Penisola (was für ein Name) dann Mittagspause angesagt.
Mit frischen Kräften und Rückenwind strampelten wir anschliessend den Rest unserer 115 km ab. Chapeau Mäusele👍Read more
GermanyBaden-Württemberg RegionEhingenEhingen, Rathaus48°16’58” N 9°43’34” E
September 22, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
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
GermanyBaden-Württemberg RegionEhingenSchmiechen48°16’54” N 9°43’27” E
September 10, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 20 °C
Saturday September 10th
In Which a Great Mystery is Solved
A few years ago Dan Brown confounded the literary world with his convoluted puzzles in the Da Vinci Code, however since the start of this leg of the ride, I have been battling with an infinitely more baffling enigma. When the guide books and vouchers were distributed on Day One, everyone simply helped themselves to whatever they felt they needed. The only trouble was that the final two riders to arrive found that all the books and vouchers had been taken.
Over the next couple of days I exhorted everyone to recheck their books to make sure that they only had the correct number. The problem was that, no matter how hard I tried, the total still came up two short of the size of our peloton. That gave me no other alternative, other than to issue an ultimatum - "At the start of tomorrow's ride, everyone present their books for inspection".
I would have to peruse everyone's books personally to verify that they had the correct quota. It was not a job I was looking forward to, but I knew it had to be done in order to be fair to those who had missed out.
At the appointed hour all the Ghostriders stood in a line with their books, looking like naughty schoolchildren who were ready to receive the cane. As it turned out, the mystery was solved without having to give everyone the third degree. The missing book was discovered (along with another map book), I was able to retrospectively present it to Dennis and Lisa and the ride was able to proceed with one less problem for me to worry about.
Up till now the ride had been reasonably flat, but we now started to encounter the first serious "wobbles" in the elevation profile. When the peloton encountered these challenges, some pressed straight ahead, while others had to take their time and work their way up at their own pace. This meant that the original group was quickly split into two sub groups. Soon those two groups split again into further smaller units. Such a phenomenon is known in cycling parlance as "severe pelotonic disintegration".
I found myself at the rear with the final bunch, but since I had no great desire to be the first one to reach the hotel, I was happy to roll along, chat and enjoy the company
Such times are really a lovely chance to really get to know your fellow travellers. In Australia, the pressure of deadlines means that we do not often get such opportunities, but here time is of relatively minor importance.
About halfway through the day's ride we descended around a sweeping bend and found the entire Danube Cycle Path blocked by a massive construction site. There was no obvious way to proceed either through or around the blockage. Sitting on a bench were two young construction workers in hard hats. They observed my confusion, but made no effort to point out the alternative route. I rode back up the hill to the railroad tracks. No way through there either. So back down to the blockage.
By that time more of our small group had arrived on the scene and were bold enough to ask for directions. We were shown to scramble through the long grass (full of poison ivy), squeeze through some tractors, old metal scraps and other assorted construction debris, and then slide down the opposite side. It was hard to believe that the construction company had not been required to post signs and also make a temporary bypass trail for cyclists. This is Germany's most popular cycle path and it is the life blood to hundreds of businesses right through the country.
We were starting to feel hot and hungry by this time and were relieved to finally roll into a likely looking town and look for a cafe for lunch. We reached the beautiful town centre and admired the lovely medieval buildings all around. In the centre of town a wedding was in progress and a large restored Mercedes Benz pulled in to park, ready to collect the wedding party. Just across from the wedding we found a lovely cafe and went inside in search of food.
"Do you sell rolls ?" we asked very slowly
"Yes" was the answer
"Can you make us one ?"
"Yes", was the answer.
Gerry was so excited at this prospect that he held out his hand to shake. By the look of scorn on the owner's face, you could be forgiven for thinking that Gerry had offered him a poisonous viper. The handshake was refused but he did make us lovely rolls and coffee. The situation was all the more mysterious as the guy turned out to be an American who had settled in Germany.
Apparently he had also thoroughly adopted the worst of German hospitality as well.
Later in the afternoon we rolled into the Landgasthof Zur Rose. We had experienced a little difficulty finding the place and ended up doing about 2 km extra. Just as we got within the final 100 metres of the hotel, Gerry decided to emulate his wife by hitting the curb and falling off his bike flat on his face. He wiped the blood off his forehead, swore profusely and then assured us that he was OK. Apparently the Driessens do that on almost every ride.
The hotel was a real treat with lovely large rooms and an enormous dining room which they had prepared just for us. Since we still had a couple of hours before dinner, Douglas decided that he had time for a ride into the nearby town of Ehingen, just to have a good look around. Somewhere along the track he became a little disoriented and asked a local German guy for directions to the town.
Somehow the meaning of his request must have been lost in translation as his new best friend insisted on personally guiding him - all the way back to the hotel ! Oh well, it was the thought that counts.
That evening we all shared a glorious meal and somehow found our singing voices
.What followed was a raucous time of singing and laughing that we all agreed was a sensational end to an eventful day. Somewhere in the middle of the singing, Douglas, who we had all thought to be a quiet and reserved guy, suddenly burst out into a loud solo rendition of a "I am a pheasant plucker". Now where did that come from? Travel is like that sometimes.
Tomorrow we ride on into Ulm, the first pit stop on this leg of the ride.Read more
You might also know this place by the following names:
Ehingen, Ehingen an der Donau, إيهنغن, انینگن, Էհինգեն, ეჰინგენი, Эхинген, Эинген, Ехинген, Егінген, 埃欣根
Traveler Wünsche euch schöne Ferien. Und wohin geht die Reise???
Traveler Wir wollen den Jagdsradweg fahren, aber das Wetter ist Norwegisch....
Traveler Musst nicht antworten, habe eben den Titel gelesen 🤣🤣🤣🙈
sooo cool euch auf eurer Velotour zu folgen, ganz viel Spass und möglichst wenig Regen [Irène]