Blogs from Bavaria, Germany, Europe - page 5

Bavaria Day 14 Regensburg was very busy yesterday and as we rode through this morning it was very quiet with cleaning up going on. A good breakfast at the Am Peterstor hotel which set us up for another day’s cycling on a warm day with a bit of light rain late morning, after our coffee and cake in Kallmunz, which made us put on our train jackets. The scenery and terrain was much different today with some small hills, much more tarmac and good cafes. We passed several sawmills with no one working and a few farmers strawing out their hay and straw in the fields ready for baling. No punctures today since the gravel roads were few and not too long, thankfully. We came across a few old tractors at a small outdoor museum along ... read more

Bavaria Day 13 Heading north west today following the Danube (Donau) as much as possible up to Regensburg. There were a few deviations caused by work on flood defences, although not currently since the river is very shallow in places. We stopped at about 30k for coffee and cake vans then a brief stop in a bus shelter for a snack at about 70k. There was a large tour boat sailing down the river and some jet skies and motor boats flying around. There was plenty of wildlife with swans,geese, dragonflies, herons and ducks in abundance. Unfortunately there was about 50% of the way was in white gravel roads which were often in a straight line and below the river bank so quite tedious. The last 30k was smooth tarmac so much better. As we rode ... read more

Bavaria Day 11 Good breakfast again at the Star G Hotel. Everything is good about the hotel except the desk system. It could not cope with several bookings made in my name. It took 1/2 hr to check-in two days ago and 20 min to attempt to pay for the breakfasts. The system would not cope and hands were thrown into the air with no accurate resolution. The weather is still excellent for cycling and we headed through town to the English Garden and then joined the gravel cycle path which follows the river Isar for over 40km. It swaps sides on occasion, which made it more interesting riding that is apart from Shirley’s blowout on her tubeless tyre,caused by running over a stick. The grunge was wiped out and we fitted a tube in double ... read more

Bavaria D9 Last night’s Bavarian restaurant was very good and I had a very nice Deer Stew. The squares were very busy with people eating and drinking even when darkness fell. There are a few impressive buildings and churches around the centre. Once again, good to be out of the city and across rolling fields again. The villages are now pretty nondescript compared with the ones earlier on which had very pretty houses with exposed timbers and multi storied. They do though have loads of crosses with Jesus on them In their gardens and village greens. There are a number of old, small tractors still in use on the village farms with small trailers behind, some of which are converted muck spreaders. I went past a farm which smelt of hens so now I know where ... read more

Bavaria D8 Good breakfast across the road before setting off around 9am into a steady headwind across typical farmland and villages with fancy Maypoles with tinsel etc hanging from them. Passing through a village I found a shed full of beef cattle eating green grass, which must have been freshly cut. There was another farmer walking a calf across his yard to its cubicle. Today we spent more time alongside busy roads but we also had some stony tracks, which unfortunately decided to gain height as we approached. Not allowed. There are many hunters huts in the fields where the hunters look for their prey. There is also much winter timber supply by most houses in the country, which is pretty alien to us. Perhaps we should consider this for when they turn off our electricity ... read more