June 13-16 Ulm to Regensburg

Regensburg is one of the prettier cities we have visited. Our hotel is in the old medieval town centre, with its narrow cobbled streets and every building beautifully maintained in traditional style. It was a pleasure arriving by bike yesterday -- bike path all the way in to the traffic-free old town. Tradition does seem to be giving way to pan-European culture in at least one sense though -- almost every restaurant near the hotel is a pizzeria. Fortunately we were able to find a lone Biergarten for a more typical German meal yesterday evening.

The weather has stayed mostly dry, but our two camping nights and breakfasts were bitterly cold. Our first camp after Ulm was at Egglestetten, continuing along the ever-widening Danube. On Saturday we took a scenic detour away from the Danube, heading north-east along the river Altmuhl cycleway. We reached Eichstatt on Saturday afternoon to find the city celebrating its 1100 years, with an eclectic mix of Roman centurions and medieval citizenry engaged in archery, axe-throwing etc. and a folk group singing songs of a distinctly Carmina Burana flavour.

The Altmuhl cycleway skirts the ancient line of Roman fortifications built to stem the barbarian invasions -- quite successfully during its first few hundred years. The forts are perched on high cliffs overlooking the river valley. We camped at Kipfenberg, watched over by a Roman fortification on one side and a medieval castle on the other.

During Sunday's ride to Regensburg we rejoined the Danube, now a major waterway with locks and barges appearing for the first time. We had to delay our morning coffee break until the population emerged from church and the cafes opened; we are in devoutly Catholic Bavaria. Most of the past two days of riding has been along fine gravel bike paths, shared with all kinds of cyclists, from serious campers with loaded paniers to families out for a Sunday afternoon ride.