Today was a day of diversions! 56 miles. We thought we had figured it out so we were on not stony gravel today - which we did, but somebody closed the Danube Cycleway!
We were determined to have a no (or very little) gravel day today and after carefully reviewing the route, thought we’d found one that would minimise the bruising of the backsides We were zooming along and had a great lunch, but what do they say about best laid plans? We had a great route, but didn’t realise it had been closed!
We were very lucky because as we were turning back onto the (unknown to us, closed) path, a German ‘Trail Angel’ said, ‘No, you can’t go there!’ With the help of Google Translate, he said we needed to follow him because the path was ‘not possible’. Having encountered the earlier ‘not possible’ section of the path, we believed him and headed off across country at a sedate pace following along behind him. He led us for 3ish miles in a totally different direction than we would have gone, pointing out the cryptic German diversion signs as we went. Finally, we reached a point where he felt it was safe to leave us on our own and he handed us a paper, in English, giving very specific towns that we were to go through in order to get to our destination. We carefully followed his instructions and finally made it to Deggendorf!
Long day, lots of diversions, still quite sore, but found the town (eventually) and had a very nice evening! Steve no longer wants to throw the bike away!
- Stephen HodgsonJune 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Much better day…. Thing about long distance cycling is “expect the unexpected”, I mean, how hard can it be, it’s simple, just keep turning the pedals right? These cycle routes have been here for ever, what could possibly go wrong!! Very grateful to the German “ trail angel” today who took pity on the hapless English couple on the tandem and saved us from ourselves. I owe the man a Weiss Beer or two. Turns out there is a website with all the closures and diversions on the trail, who knew? You never to old to learn !!! Tomorrow is a shorter day to Passau which is the last stop in Germany and a rest day. The past 10 days or so have changed my perspective of Germany and Germans, very lovely people and beautiful country. They make great cars, great beer, good sausages, great cake and generally speaking are proper “tidy heads”. What’s not to like??
Cool to see how google translate is working out for you. Ordering the wrong food can be very traumatic. Town squares and all that outdoor eating is lovely!! Cheers
Much better day…. Thing about long distance cycling is “expect the unexpected”, I mean, how hard can it be, it’s simple, just keep turning the pedals right? These cycle routes have been here for ever, what could possibly go wrong!! Very grateful to the German “ trail angel” today who took pity on the hapless English couple on the tandem and saved us from ourselves. I owe the man a Weiss Beer or two. Turns out there is a website with all the closures and diversions on the trail, who knew? You never to old to learn !!! Tomorrow is a shorter day to Passau which is the last stop in Germany and a rest day. The past
ReplyDelete10 days or so has changed my perspective of Germany and Germans, very lovely people and beautiful country. They make great cars, great beer, good sausages, great cake and generally speaking are proper “tidy heads”.
What’s not to like??
Cool to see how google translate is working out for you. Ordering the wrong food can be very traumatic. Town squares and all that outdoor eating is lovely!! Cheers
ReplyDeleteSkye was telling us about Google Lens she used when in Mexico. Same concept, but you can take a pic of a sign (or whatever) aa d it translates it to English.
ReplyDelete