Finish - Riedlingen
Distance - 95km
Time - 7.5 hours
Total - 1792km
I am writing this in the knowledge that you won't be reading it till later tomorrow evening. I don't have a wi-fi signal where I am staying tonight.
I should really start by saying what a good team Bayern Munich are. They beat Barcelona in the second leg of the European Cup semi-final last night. The nights score was 3-0 in favour of Bayern and an aggregate score of 7-0. No wonder the town was quiet last night everyone was watching the match. I also suffered a 3-0 defeat to Germany, I swallowed three flies and two hit the post! I am seriously thinking about going off the route to visit Munich. I will have to do some research about what there is to see and refer the subject to my Germany expert (Matthew).
I want to clear something up too! It appears that some people jumped to the wrong conclusion when I mentioned Schnitzel. I have included a picture of my schnitzel to clear this issue up. See the photos below. Shame on you!
Plenty for breakfast again, it's always a good start. At least in Germany it seems to be inclusive of the price in contrast to France where it is always an add on. I got talking to a German couple who were at breakfast and were also cycling. They were from Dusseldorf and had started yesterday cycling from Donaueschingen which is the source of the Danube. They were also staying at Riedlingen tonight and Ulm the following night, so I was bound to keep seeing them.
I got started just before 9am and after the first hour it got nice and sunny. The scenery was fantastic and I took loads of photos. The Danube meanders through lovely countryside with cliffs at either side and occasional schloss' (castles) on top of the cliffs. Towns I travelled through included Muhlheim (nice old town with views down over the valley), Fridlingen and Beuron. I then had a rush of blood to the head and went off piste to Wildenstein Castle. It was at the top of the cliff and therefore up a beast of a hill. The track was steep and stoney, I am making sound serious because in truth I pushed up most of it. I'm glad I did though. Isn't it strange that you manage to justify your more silly decisions by saying the view was really spectacular. You can be the judge when you see the photos. The Castle is now used as a Youth Hostel. It would have been a good one for me to stay at but I never knew about it till today. The ride down the hill was nearly as slow as the way up as I didn't want to loose control on the stones (I need to look after my bike) and I was glad I had the disc brakes on the bike.
The next place of note was Sigmaringen. What a lovely place, the Hohenzollern Palace was stunning but not open for visitors unless you were on pre-booked guided tours. Whilst there I had a Hohenzollern torte which is a bit like a Battenburg but better. It could be the new design for police car livery! I think the chocolate blocks will be very distinctive and will catch the attention after all who can resist the power of chocolate! It should have been about 35km to Riedlingen but it seemed longer because the wind got up and the signs seemed to knock 1km off for every 3km I cycled. By the way, I did bump into the couple from Dortmund three times throughout the day.
I must give the German nation some credit. The 'hallo's' have dramatically improved today. I suspect that the German Tourist Board got wind of my psychological analysis and have put the word out. It has been a big improvement, I wonder whether the sunshine as made a difference? I have several variations of study to work on - are French people more friendly than Germans or are brick walls the best?, do I get better result in the morning rather than the afternoon?, does sunshine have a positive affect on the results? Should I restrict the work just to cyclists or should I include dog walkers? I think I have a lifetimes work here! Should I include other nations as I cycle through or will the reader get totally bored with the subject? I think I know the answer to that question so I will shut up.
Riedlingen is a lovely town. For those interested it has been a settlement since 835AD the time of Louis the Pious. It has now been visited by Richard the ............ (Please fill in the dots!). I found a supermarket chain called 'Norma', its very much like Aldi or Lidl but it just conjured up an image of a woman who runs the place. I won't say anymore but needless to say, it wasn't a good image.
I arrived at the accommodation. I had spoken to the lady on the phone and she didn't speak a word of English so I wasn't really sure whether I had booked the place or not. She answered the door and I gleaned that she only had double rooms at 40 euros, but I smiled and I got one for 25 euros with breakfast, what a charmer!
I made my own tea from bread and pâté etc that I pick up as I go along. No wi-fi though. So, I will be going for a walk and probably reading and listening to some podcast that I downloaded before I came.
What is my song of the day I hear you say! Well, it is 'Keep Spinning Around' by Dynamite Walls. It's one you won't have heard of but it's a good rock song and good for 'spinning' the pedals.
No-one has told me off yet for not using the proper days of the week in German rather than putting 'tag' at the end of English days! I will try harder to do the real thing in future.
Photo 1, My schnitzel, and very nice it was!
Photo 2, Wildenstein Castle.
Photo 3, The view from Wildenstein Castel, was it worth it?
Photo 4, Inzigkofen Abbey.
Photo 5, Sigmarinden, the Hohenzollern Palace.
Photo 6, Hohenzollern torte - I am reconsidering redesigning the livery on police cars to this. It's better than a Battenburg cake!
Photo 7, Main Street in Riedlingen.
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