Straubing to Deggendorf

Another fine day in cycling paradise. Since most of us are now sporting red faces after the past few days of sunshine we were glad for the early cloud cover that provided a welcome degree of sun protection.

The ride today was relatively free of complex navigational challenges, resulting in us only getting lost on a handful of occasions. After crossing the Danube we stayed on the North side, mostly following close to the river itself. In the still, early morning conditions, the surface of the river is so smooth it is just like a mirror. The current is very gentle here so it is sometimes hard to tell which way it is actually flowing.

The only sizeable town we passed through was a rather nondescript place with the unfortunate name of “Bogen”. I wondered if all the locals would be wearing flannelette shirts and moccassins but the few we saw seemed to be just like the rest of the population. I helped boost the local economy by sampling a large slice of continental cheesecake. I would rate it a definite 9/10. The coffee was not so good – a 4/10 at best.

After topping up our energy stores we made good progress and arrived in Deggendorf just after 12 noon. So early in fact that we had to wait another 3 hours for our luggage to catch up to us. I assume that meant that we were riding faster than the van driver could drive along the autobahn. We must be getting fitter (and fatter) with every passing day.

This was our penultimate riding day on the section to Passau. Tomorrow we have our longest day so far and will be arriving in time to enjoy our first rest days. This will give us a welcome chance to catch up on our laundry and also spend some time soaking up the ambience of this fantastic city. I visited this place on our previous ride in 2009 and i am very keen to have another look.

As I write this I am sitting in our hotel room in Deggendorf, surrounded by dripping wet washing hanging from every available would-be clothesline. That is the less attractive side of travelling, but a small price to pay for the adventure we are having.