We really enjoyed our stay in Dinkelsbuhl, a model of a walled medieval city built on the Wurnitz River. After dinner last evening, we went for a further walk out the southern gate through which we were to leave this morning, which gave us lovely views of some of the sixteen towers around the city wall. Dusk is such a lovely time.
We had a lovely final breakfast here at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch. Martina's husband was waiting for us, who could not speak English. We assumed Martina was not well, but he handed us a lovely handwritten note from Martina wishing us well for our trip. These are wonderful experiences and memories to cherish. It was about 8:45am on a cool, crispy, overcast morning that we posed for the official departure photo from our Hotel in the very centre of the city. This building was originally a brewery in 1638, before becoming a family hotel for the last few centuries. The stories it could tell!!
We made our way out of town, and before long we hit the open rural conutryside with ploughed fields, even cows in a dairy, and often lovely sections of path that wound its way through forest where the leaves had laid out a lovely carpet of yellow. The countryside at this time in the morning was glorious, with sufficient mist lying across the fields to give the scene a fairy-tale impression.
The path was still not clearly marked today again. We spent valuable time at intersections wondering which way to go. Sometimes the path would go off at right angles to the road. It was always so tempting just to take the road. However, we stayed with the path and it took us off into dense forest, which was lovely, but the path deteriorated to gravel, the track was steep in parts as it climbed up into the forest, and usually if you go up you come down again, which made life rather precarious for us as we negotiated gravel tracks with heavily loaded bikes with thinner tyres than the usual tyres for this terrain. The sights within the forest though were beautiful nevertheless.
The open fields were just lovely. Often we pass small chapels in the middle of fields with beautful crucifixes, with meaningful inscriptions in German which we could not understand. The views across Bavarian rural countryside were always stunning and irresistable when you carry a small camera in your pocket as I do. Can you see Julie powering her way ahead on a narrow, dirt tractor path through a farmer's fields?
We were losing precious time and energy on the 'Romantic Strasse' for bikes. At one point we could see the road heading for Wallerstein, so we took the chance to jump on the road. It was beautiful cycling then. The bikes seem to love the roads, and pick up 10kph immediately and simply glide. Basically for the rest of the day we stayed with the road, unless the roads had a parallel bike path alongside the road, which we inevitably used. At several points though, these parallel paths would just halt, and we were occasionally left with walking tracks or narrow gravel tracks, which we typically followed for brief sections until the bike paths started again. It was better than wasting long kilometres winding around the hillsides in deep forests!
We passed through Wallerstein and settled at good speed on the road again, when we came upon a full road block and a sign that said the road to Donauworth was blocked to all traffic. We couldn't believe it. It is easy for cars to drive extra miles for detours, but its hard work and time for cyclists. We decided to walk our bikes through the roadblock and see what was up ahead. There were workmen and trucks resurfacing several kilometres of road. We walked tentatively up to them, and no one took any notice, so we kept walking. Once past the first lot of workmen, we started cycling again on beautiful newly surfaced road with no traffic! We past several groups of workmen with massive machinery at work, but still no one seemed to care that two Aussie cyclists were using their yet to be finished new road. At the final section of workmen, the road was entirely blocked by trucks and bitumen machines, and we wheeled our bikes around through the edge of a paddock. When one of the workmen saw this, he beckoned us back on the road. So we had his approval! We took the photo at the end as we left the roadworks behind us. We enjoyed a few more kilometres of new road without traffic until we passed the southern traffic roadblock, but at least we didn't have to ride the detour.
We came into the beautiful historic city of Nordlingen just on midday, and the 40k mark. We had been without internet for two days, so we found a cafe with a hotspot, and uploaded two days of blog while sipping coffee. We also bumped into the lovely couple from Perth, Julie and Dominic, who also had cycled from Dinkelsbuhl this morning. We couldn't help reflect on our similar experiences of the morning with the mysteries of the Romantic Strasse bikepath. They obeyed the roadblock and rode the country detour though.
We solved the mystery of the lost corn. We have been mystified since arriving in Germany about corn - we have seen miles of corn fields, but no sign of corn at all in markets, fruit shops, even church harvest festival displays. It is growing all over the countryside, but not sold in the shops, nor even on the menus of restaurants. Passing this corn field, which was being harvested, we met the farmer who could not speak english. He was superbly friendly though. In our best German, we asked him - what does Germany do with all this harvested corn? One word answer was enough - sweine! They use it to feed the pigs! We couldn't believe it. They don't eat it. It is used for pig food. Pigs are a huge delicacy in Germany. Sweinesnitzel is on every menu we have seen. There may be more to this - it is a lot of corn!
The sights across fields of tiny villages are always a beautiful sight. We were getting closer to the ancient village of Harburg, just before Donauworth, and the scenes in every direction were simply stunning.
We climbed a very long and very steep hill, and just as we topped the rise, we were confronted with the most amazing scene. On the hilltop looking way down over the tiny historic village of Harburg, was the actual 'Burg' - a massively imposing castle built way up on top of the mountain overlooking the village. The road went through a tunnel under the Burg, but bikes were directed up to the Burg and then the path plummeted down a winding, cobbled lane into and through the heart of the beautifully ornate, ancient village of Harburg. At all times however, we never lost sight of the imposing Burg on the mountain top above.
The road then took us through some beautiful countryside in the final few kilometres run into Donauworth, and our encounter again with the Danube River. It is autumn in Germany, and scenes like this greet us every day and very often. The trees and the carpets of fallen leaves are simply stunning.
To finally enter Donauworth, the bike path required us to enter through this door which was actally a 200 metre tunnel which was very dark and cold and quite eerie. It was good to come out the other end in Donauworth itself, and to be greeted by the beautiful Danube River, which we will follow all the way into Vienna in Austria over the next week or so.
Sadly, we found the Information Centre but being Friday afternoon - it was closed. We needed help to find the camping ground. We asked various people about the camping ground but no one knew. It was late in the day, so we had little choice but to find a basic hotel for the night. We are in the Hotelposte, which for the price is rather lovely, and right on the Danube cycleway which we will take tomorrow morning. Donauworth is another of the ancient towns, but it is very busy with passing traffic and does not have the same village feel as many we have passed through. Nevertheless, there are some beautiful sights, and the Danube of course is simply enchanting.
Thinking of the day, of all the beautiful sights we have seen, the one that gave us the greatest sense of awe was the view of the massive 'Burg' on the hilltop overlooking Harburg. There was nothing that stood in the way of the view of the Burg for miles around. Speaking to his followers, his disciples, Jesus told them that the lives they were to live as his followers would be so distinctly different to the lifestyles of the world around, that there lives would be as visible and distinct as "a city on a hill that cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:13-16). In his 'Sermon on the Mount' that day, Jesus laid out the qualities of the distinctive lifestyles that would be identified with those who chose to be his followers - such things as loving your enemies, going the extra mile for people, and living above anger and malice. He said when you live this way, your life will be as distinctly different to others, it will be as obvious as a city on a hill. What a different world it would be if we all lived our lives as a 'city on a hill that cannot be hid'.
From the banks of the beautiful Danube, and now heading east to Vienna, we send our love. Kelvin & Julie.
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