Ingolstadt to Passau

We continue to enjoy the beautiful river Danube as we head further east toward Austria. The river narrows considerably in places and speeds up as it winds its way through high white sandstone and granite cliffs.

No room for a cycle track through the narrow sections and we had the option of pedalling an alternative route over some high hills to get to the city of Kelhiem or take a twenty minute relaxing boat ride through the gorges - the boat trip was good!

In the wider sections it becomes still and tranquil.

The Mains River and Canal connects the Rhine River with the Danube River, the confluence is at the city of Kelheim.

Having a navigable waterway from the Atlantic to the Black Sea has been on the to-do list of many rulers and engineers dating back to 793. The project had many starts and stops over the centuries as rulers came and went, wars took priority, plague and disease wiped out the workforce and concerns over environmental impacts were raised in the last 30 years or so. The waterway finally opened in 1992 and now allows thousands of freight carrying barges to travel between Rotterdam and Istanbul and huge cruise ships to carry hundreds of thousands of tourists.

The city of Kelheim

Sheep and goat herder near Regensbug

We have, since starting in the Netherlands,  cycled through beautiful agricultural land and watched the  harvesting. We've had the opportunity to buy summer fruit and vegetables from the roadside stalls and have often found cherries and apple trees growing right alongside the track on public land and in camp grounds. Blackberries are everywhere but still a few weeks away from being ripe as is the corn.

Came across a gardening exhibition in Deggendorf.

Barbara checking out our location on the map at the gardening show.

We had hoped to have lost some weight by now but the benefit of exercise is hampered by all the good foods we keep finding. The portions in some of the German Restaurants is ridiculous, the bratwurst, schnitzels, bread and cheeses are everywhere and even the smallest village has a bakery with fresh pastries in the window that make it hard to cycle past.

If we have lost any weight we certainly haven't lost any shape, and the padded bicycle pants don't help either, they just move all the bits that don't fit in up and over the top. I'll spare you the photos but picture the 'Michelin Man" in black lycra (with a hi-viz gusset) and you'll have some idea. The legs are getting stronger now but the backside is never going to like sitting on a saddle for six hours each day.

Our last town in Germany is Passau.