Leipheim to Donouworth

Last night I was chatting with a German bloke called George who is also cycling this route. He is 50 and owns a company that makes machinery to test car components. Engines and clutches mainly. He has 60 employees and is pretty rich, but says he likes to cycle and camp to get back to his roots. I was thinking today if I were rich would I still do this journey? I think I would, but probably by helicopter.

It was raining this morning so I waited for it to stop before leaving. Left at 11 and it was a very easy ride of around 70km. It was 35km before I managed to find a supermarket to get some food just outside of a town called Dillingen.

I went riding along gravel paths through forest beside the river. Yesterday it felt like the valley had widened into farmland but at the start of the today it seemed to narrow again with dense forests. The river was dammed at a couple of places and the path took me across one of the dams. It sounds impressive but it wasn't like the Three Gorges or Hoover dams. More like a bridge without a hole underneath.

The second part of the day was back to farmland. Yesterday and Saturday I rode through harvest festivals in the towns. They are mostly food stalls, big bands and lots of beer. I doubt that any farmers were present because they are actually out bringing in the harvest. Today especially there were a lot of tractors. They have these huge trailers on the back, about 15 feet tall taking the corn... To the corn shop? For about 15km today there was nothing but these tractors on the road. I was on a bike path so it wasn't too hairy for me, but they occasionally do come down the bike tracks to get to the fields. Two of these tractors with their trailers loaded with corn decided to have a drag race across a bridge which was pretty funny to watch.

I'm camped at a canoe club in Donauworth. Donau is what the Danube is called in German. It rained as soon as I set up my tent which was good timing. Hopefully it will stop by tomorrow.

Photos are:
River with a dam in the distance and a power station.

Street in Dillingen

Path through Donouworth

Church I can see from my tent.

My tent (blue one) behind the canoe club