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From The Rhine to the upper Danube.
After leaving Basel I followed the path up the river flicking backwards and forwards between Switzerland and Germany. Some beautiful sections of river once I escaped the industrial section to the east of Basel. Stayed in a B&B where for the first time i was asked for my passport number. Swiss security?
Pushed on up towards Singen in constant drizzle. At this point I caught the train. Ha! I hear you say, cheating. No since I was going backward, ie west, to join The Danube at its very source so I can follow it the whole way to The Black Sea. I could haven cycled but this would have meant climbing nearly 1000m ( i.e. Snowdon) in the rain in the wrong direction with baggage. It wasn't a tough decision and from the number of bikes on the train I was not alone in my logic.
The Swiss train was three minutes late. I shall be claiming my fare back.
Donaueschenigen is where The Danube officially begins. Little more than a stream at this point I followed it across wide open valleys to my first overnight stop. My Bavarian inn keeper was quite a character as you can see from the photo.
On day 25 I went through the narrow upper valley where the river forces it's way through limestone hills. Very impressive with castles perched high up on the cliffs. This would have been a tough day in any case due to poor path surfaces but I managed to make it much worse by getting lost in the rain and climbing a 500m hill only to then have to backtrack. Due to the wet road I could not even make the most of the down hill return. It turned into a very Long day, 81 miles.
Today was a great contrast. Sunny and rather than get lost I actually received help. As I approached a complex diversion an elderly German on a bike called to me. Michael had excellent English having spent time in Canada. He rode with me for about 6 k showing me a great route and filling me in on the local history as we went.
In the afternoon I passed Ulm, somewhere I would like to return to to look around properly.
A good hotel and good dinner complete a great day.
Day 23 63m/ 101k
Day 24 35m/ 56 k Part day
Day 25. 81m/ 130 k
Day 26. 73m/ 116 k
Cum. 1204m/ 1926 k
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