Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Source of the Danube


Freiburg to Donaueschingen/Pfohren, June 9, Day 9, 85 km

The Source of the Danube

We left the hotel in Freiburg with a group ride that took us though the city. I was glad that it was a group ride with Duncan our tour leader leading the ride. It was a twisty complicated route, and I am sure that I would have been lost. Some of the group had left about 30 minutes earlier but I hung back and took the easy ride out of town. Curt and I were together most of the way and we had a great visit. Just idling along in the warm sun. At about 25 kms out we were turned loose and then at Buchenbach we started the climb out of the Rhine valley. It is a nine kilometre climb up this very steep hill. However it was very pretty and I stopped often to take pictures at the lookouts. This is classic Black Forest country with the large farms and beautiful forests.

After the summit you drop into the Danube river valley. I was cuising down the hill at 56 kms/hr when the tandom went past me like I was grease spot on the road. I don’t know how fast they were going but I’ll bet it was over 75. They were laughing when we pulled into lunch a few kilometres further down the road. Lunch was smoked salmon which was really good but was too small which seems to be a common complaint.

After lunch Don and I rode on into Donaueschingen. This is the official start of the bike path, the “Donnauragweg”, which we will follow for the next 1400 km into Budapest. There are lots of tourists, biking the path and hotel/restaurant services about every 10 km. In the town square there is a beautiful brass fountain which has a brass orchestra playing. It is a little bit touristy but very picturesque. We rode around and found the spring which is said to be the source of the Danube. It is a spring which is in a pool about 20 feet across. The water from this runs across and joins the Breg and Kimbergsee to become the Danube.

We still had a few Km to ride so we jumped back on out bike and rode the last 6 km out to camp which was out of town. Jim and I rode back into town and got some beer which was a huge hit. Later Jos and I rode back in for more.

Supper was a treat with bar-be-que meats of turkey breast, pork and beef. There was also a rice and vegetables. It would have been excellent but the rice was burnt and so that kind of spoiled the meal.

All in all an excellent day! No Rain!

Thank you for visiting my blog and thank you for all your kind comments.

Let’s ride!

Terry

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