Day 35 - Ghost Canal / Hidden Gems / The Danube

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The Gasthof Zum Hirschen was a wonderful hotel, we wished we could have stayed longer. Dinner last night and breakfast this morning were sensational. We also found a much longer road down to the canal which would have made the climb up yesterday bareable.
Back on the canal for the morning stint and it's very quite, eerily so. No wind, hardly a ripple on the water and no barges, in fact no barges since Bamberg. We spoke to one person who said the water level is too low for the big barges. The big locks are not manned. You have to book ahead for locks to be operated for you. It really was like a ghost canal, but still very scenic.
We had our morning break at a sleepy little town where we found a shop open who served us coffee. They had a geeat selection of deli food, chocolate, candles, soaps, wine, tea, spirits, etc. Very artesian indeed.
After our break we continued on our route but it now took us off the canal by about 100m. Big hills with rocky cliffs now hung over us on both sides of the canals. Castles and remnants of castles started appearing. The villages we went through were also gorgeous. We ended up riding along what used to be the original canal. Much smaller the the current one and only about 30m across. It's much grander successor a short distance away and in dis-use already.
We rode on and finally made it to Kelheim and the confluence of the canal and Danube. I'm not sure what we were expecting but it was certainly underwhelming. Sure they came together, but there was nothing around other than the path we were on and bush. Not a lookout, not a coffee shop, nothing.
After lunch we continued following the Danube on our way to Regensburg, our stop for the night. Our route had us going over a bridge that was closed off for some repairs. We consulted the grand oracle of routing, but Google didn't want to reroute us. We found a ferry, but it wasn't operating today. Our only option was a longer ride down the river to the next town where a bridge took us over the river and into Regensburg. Our hotel, the ACHAT, is in Old Town. We are directly opposite the cathedral. The down side to our very grand hotel is that it has no where for us to stow our bikes overnight. Right now they are locked to a chain fence at the front of the hotel with about 6 other bikes. I guess we'll find out in the morning if we're spending another night in Regensburg.
Our destination tomorrow is Degendorf, which is where Daniel played a season of baseball a number of years ago.
Distance travelled today: 76kms
Distance travelled so far: 1996kms (Sooooo close!)

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Photos

What you'll catch in the canal.
Not sure I'd want to eat it if I caught it.

The canal meets the Danube
As, I said, underwhelming.

Comments

[Mike1234]

A train?
The coffee stop looks very similar to a train carriage? Safe travels.