Day 2 (2. Tag) 2nd September
Fridlingen - Riedlingen 73.7 kms (123.7 from start)
Fridlingen - Beuron - Hausen im Tal - Thiergarten - Gutenstein - Inzighofen - Sigmaringen - Sigmaringendorf - Scheer - Mengen - Riedlingen
Click here for Day 3 - Riedlingen to Ursingen
The weather was cool and misty. We set off at 8.00 am after an early breakfast at 7.00 (inclusive in the price of the room). It was a real feast - your typical German - style continental breakfast of fresh bread rolls, sliced sausage, cheese, boiled egg, home-made jams and plenty of filter coffee. It was very foggy until mid-morning but it was dry for which we were thankful. We entered the Donau gorge with its massive limestone cliffs and outcrops, cycling on a dirt track through the forest. The going was tough at times with several steep sections where we climbed above the river. Don continued to have problems with his gear shift. The chain would come off whenever he tried to change gear during low revolutions. He learnt to change before going up the hill which is different to our bikes back home which have excellent gear shifts. We rode through cool forests and up and down the gravelly riverbank. Occasionally we would come across a fish ladder in the stream made of rocks to enable fish to get over the regular weirs put across the river. There were fewer towns along this section - 11 kms to Beuron, 8 to Hausen, then Thiergarten, Gutenstein and Inzighofen which were closer to each other.
We bought breadrolls and drinks for lunch in Beuren. It was important to get supplies for the day whever we chanced upon a supermarket or Baekerei rather than searching for one in a village. We had to do that occasionally and we lost a lot of time some days hunting up food. The other problem was where to put supplies. At first I rode with my backpack on my back but this was uncomfortable for the long haul, so I zipped it onto the back. My pack stayed on the bike more easily with the backpack on as well. We worked something out by dividing up food between us and stuffing it in somewhere but it wasn't all that satisfactory. We stopped at a lovely Gasthaus near one of the river crossings to have coffee and cake for morning tea. This was to become a tradition for us along the ride.
All day we kept meeting up with Sonia and Erwin, the Dutch couple as we leap-frogged each other. Here they are looking up to the castle at Sigmaringen. They told us about a camping area at Riedlingen and showed us their book of Donau maps. We only had the Higginson book at this stage and resolved to buy the maps as it was sometimes hard to find the Radweg signs in small towns and villages. With the maps we could work out which way to go without relying on the signs. Don also carried a small compass attached to his watchband. This was a lifesaver many times as we found it hard to read the sky in the northern hemisphere. The weather was fine so we decided to camp at Riedlingen for the night.
The last 20 kms were pretty tedious as we had a long ride through flat farmland and fields before getting to Riedlingen. The track was smooth bitumen the whole way and easy to ride but my bottom was starting to get sore. It was fine doing short hops between villages and getting off to take photos but anything longer than 10 kms in one go ended up with some chafing. We arrived at the campground in late afternoon. The ground is attached to an indoor tennis centre which was being renovated. We used the centre toilets and showers in the change rooms. The grass was quite lush and the ground soft. No need for a hammer to put in tent pegs. Don set up his lightweight tent and fly (1.8 kg), we dumped our bags inside, took valuables in our backpacks and rode into town. Riedlingen is a charming medieval style small town with cobbled squares and tudor-style houses. First stop was the bookshop to buy the 3 books of maps we would need for the whole journey. Then we had to cycle to the edge of the old town to find a supermarket for supplies. On the way back we stopped for an ice-cream It was very pleasant sitting in the old square watching the world go by. That evening we cooked a simple meal, talked to Erwin and Sonia and crashed into our sleeping bags reasonably early. The lawn was peppered with mole eruptions and one of my last thoughts before going to sleep was the hope that a mole wouldn't try to come up under me during the night.