Ulm to Regensburg

(3 days – 311km’s 14hrs 45mins cycling time)

It’s hard to believe that it was only two weeks ago that we were cycling around Paris doffing our helmets to the Eiffel Tower, Arc d’Triompf and the Champs Elysees before pointing our noses to the east. In those two weeks (12 riding days) Rita and I have cycled 1231km’s on Bluebelle and spent 65 hours and 45 minutes in the saddle.

This time it’s my chance to do the blog and so here I am lying on the bed in our lovely hotel room in Regensburg with Rita sitting at the desk and typing – who says that voice recognition software does not work!

Rita finished off the last blog entry as we started our rest day in Ulm – and what a day it was. After doing our laundry we treated ourselves to a wonderful Thai massage. Having these lithe Thai girls climbing all over us – stretching, pulling and kneading us was quite an experience – very different from the standard sports massage. We both felt wonderful after that. I climbed to the top of the Ulm cathedral spire which at 161metres is the highest Church spire in the world. Rita is not one for heights and wandered around the square and took the picture of the cathedral which you’ll see amongst the pictures in the link. Ulm, like many of these old German towns needs to be seen to be believed. We had dinner beside a flowing stream and water wheel – in perfect daylight till well after 9pm at night.

The past 3 days of cycling is a blur of wonderful memories. The Danube cycle way is magnificent. Threading its way between streams and forests but always finding its way back to the Danube. The sections we have covered to date have probably been 70% tar and 30% good quality gravel paths. Believe me the path is not flat! A trip up to some Roman ruins had a sign board claiming to have a 20% gradient and I believe them. There are many cyclists and walkers on the cycle way, it has many twists and turns and intersects with many other cycle ways. You have to keep your wits about you to make sure you don’t end up on the wrong cycle way. A detailed map, available in the good book and cycle shops in the area or a bright, friendly GPS is mandatory. Rita and I have neither and get lost regularly or to put it more kindly simply “experience” more of this area. Our distances recorded in the log are therefore invariably always a little longer than the official distances claimed by the organisers. We have now learnt to latch onto members of the party with either maps or GPS’s and this has saved considerably on the calorie burn!

Our 2 campsites over the last 3 days were magnificent, situated beside a lake on the one night and beside the river on the next. Generally we get to camp around 3 – 4pm in the afternoon, pitch the tent, blow up the air mattress, and get organised and showered. Our double duvet as opposed to the double sleeping bag is the envy of many. Invariably there is a short sleep followed by a walk around the area and some food shopping. Dinner is around 7pm and has always been tasty, healthy, home cooked type food. Generally we find ourselves going to bed in the daylight around 8.30 – for a generous 10 hour sleep!

We are very fortunate to have wonderful people on the trip with us coming from United States, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, Holland and 5 of us from South Africa. After breakfast we leave camp between 8 and 8.30, spend about 5 hours riding and 2 – 3 hours visiting coffee shops together or interesting sights along the way. There is always an enormous amount of banter and good fun which all add up to a wonderful Orient Express experience. The pics on our site attempt to introduce you to some of these wonderful people and give you some idea of the countryside we’re cycling through.

Bluebelle is holding out well and as you can see from the pictures, the stoker doing a great job. Chat to you next week.

Carl