Through the Weltenburg Narrows

At least we didn’t have to worry about rain as we awoke to perfect blue skies. We had managed to find a basement storage room for our bikes, as I wasn’t comfortable leaving them locked outside one of three massive tower blocks that looked like 1970s housing commission buildings.  The bikes survived their overnight stay and we were soon out of town passing Schloss Granau, built as a moated castle but now a hunting lodge.  

We continued on through open farmland until we reached a railway crossing.  The barriers dropped as we approached and so we waited, and waited for the train to arrive.  A German couple arrived on the other side soon after us, and pressed the button to raise the barriers as per the instructions, but a cross German voice responded, which we assumed meant we should wait and a train was coming.  Eventually it did and the barriers slowly lifted and we were on our way again. 

But not for long as we hit a major traffic jam.  There were cars ahead of us reversing into spots along the road.  It turned out we were in the midst of a vintage car meeting.  We ended up walking our bikes through the crowd and it was close to a kilometre before we were back on open roads.  

A little further on and we reached Ingolstadt, where we stopped for morning tea at the edge of the rose garden. Across the bridge was New Castle, now a local army history museum.

We continued along the river and adjacent paths until we came across a flock of sheep making their way along the embankment.  In the midst of the mob were some random goats that looked quite happy to be part of the group. 

After passing through Vohburg with its castle on the hill, we stopped for a picnic lunch at Pforring, where the remains of a morning festival were being packed away. Continuing on we cycled past flourishing strawberry patches and fields of asparagus before reaching Kloster Weltenburg.  The place was heaving with Germans enjoying the public holiday in a beautiful spot on the Danube.  

The Weltenburg Narrows are one of the oldest nature reserves in Bavaria, a gorge created by a tributary of the Danube that carved through the bedrock creating the valley through which the Danube now flows.  

We were aiming for the 4pm ferry along with hundreds of other people.  As we queued for the ferry, I booked our tickets online so that we were guaranteed a spot.  However, the ferry absorbed all the people in the queue ahead of us, and many more behind.  

We found a seat with a window and enjoyed our slow journey through the limestone cliffs, relaxing in the knowledge that we had avoided an extremely steep climb.  It was only a 30 minute journey to Kelheim, and with a helpful lift of the back wheels by a fellow passenger, we were soon back on dry land.  

After detouring to the toilets, we did our good deed for the day by lending our pump to a German group who needed to pump an e-bike tyre.  This took a while, but eventually we were climbing the steep road to our accommodation at the old school house above Kelheim. 

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