Day 15 - Sun 14 Jun 15: Dinkelsbuhl to Donauworth

Estimated km: 62; Actual km: 81; Total km: 681; Ride time: 3h41m; Start time: 8:55am; End time: 3pm; Av speed: 20.6 kph 

12-29 deg C, mostly sunny, no rain. 

It's hard to get sick of walking around these beautiful old towns with their medieval architecture, especially early in the morning when there's no one around.  The local people dress up their houses with traditional colours, flowers and ornate decorations.   The local councils keep the place immaculate too with street art and potted plants; makes it all a bit of a fairy tale sometimes really.  Sadly if you tried to do this in Australia the vandals and drunks would wreck it all in one night.  

After a hearty brekkie at 8am (in the building we checked-in at) we headed out just before 9am into a cool, mainly clear, perfect day for cycling. A rural setting again today. We arrived at Nordlingen about 11:30am and had a well-deserved coffee at the McCafe on the edge of town. Nordlingen is another well-preserved 11-14th century Medieval Walled Town. The annual beer festival was happening outside the town wall.  The crowd was horrendous so we avoided that.  A quick look at the cathedral and a spin around part of the wall was enough before we were heading out again.  However, it was a little bit in the wrong direction (like the way we came in!) so we ended up back in the town, and headed off in the right direction this time; it was only an extra 2km (sack the Nav-man!!)  Lunch was what we had with us under an apple tree beside the road as coffee shops were a bit light on today. It was different, but peaceful nonetheless. 

It was a tough day by anyone one's standards, with a steady flow of undulations, some rather steep.  We were all doing ok though until Donauworth when we realised that our hotel/boarding house (Boardinghouse Schellenberg) was perched on top of a very big MOUNTAIN.  Well, it was just a hill but it certainly felt like a mountain. Only Mick was clever enough to be able to ride up, but he does have a great-granny gear; the rest of us pushed and huffed and puffed all the way up. We nicknamed the mountain Eagles Nest!!  The Boardinghouse was great accommodation, complete with a full kitchen.  Pity we weren’t staying for longer as we could have cooked our own food.  Well, we could have cooked our own dinner had we known where the local supermarket was.  It was very new, clean and very spacious.  Check-in was completed using a self-service computer which even spat out room keycards!  There was a check-in chick who appeared soon after we had all checked-in though.

Now that we were at the top, many were very reluctant to venture downhill for dinner.  However, after a shower and an LLD, we were all up for the challenge as we did need sustenance.  We walked down the hill (and wondered how we were ever going to be able to ride down without killing ourselves), and Ali and Stew picked a local pub-type restaurant, which served delicious food. We all made it back up the hill and "home", albeit a little knackered.

One of the many wind turbines


Boardinghouse Schellenberg #212




The view from our window

Donauworth street

Ali

Catch-your-breath stop after a large climb


That's a long train

Town Square Nordlingen

Aerial view of Nordlingen

Nordlingen Town Wall

Lunch stop under an apple tree beside the road

Dinner venuw

Rest-stop half way up the hill after dinner

Our accommodation on top of the mountain


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