From the first time we saw the Danube river, it appeared nothing more than a stream. Over the course of this cycling segment, we witnessed the Danube increasing in size on a daily basis. As we reached Regensburg – the end town of this segment, the Danube river had grown to the point of supporting the navigation of several river cruise ships.

2022.06.19 – Ulm ==> Ulm (0 kms | Total: 2632 kms)

We enjoyed a relaxing breakfast sitting at the bakery’s patio located just beside our hotel. As the temperature forecast was calling for 32+C, we opted to do some sightseeing early in the day. We returned to our room to rest in the early afternoon. Later we savored a complimentary beer at our hotel’s lounge. Vouchers for some Welcome drinks were given to us as I had finally attained a Silver membership with the hotel after making over 10 times room reservations. Before our evening meal, I attended a planned remote video conference session with my siblings. And finally, we visited a nice Vietnamese restaurant for our evening meal.

2022.06.20 – Ulm ==> Lauingen (52 kms | Total: 2684 kms)

We had breakfast again at the bakery beside our hotel. After cycling a few kms on the bicycle path, it started to rain lightly. We opted to stop under a large tree to wait for the rain to stop. The cycling was easy and enjoyable throughout our journey. We checked into our nice and comfortable hotel just before 1:00pm. We picked up some snacks from a nearby grocery store. Strangely, most restaurants in town were closed on Monday, but we did manage to find a pizzeria restaurant that was open for dinner.

2022.06.21 – Lauingen ==> Donauworth (43 kms | Total: 2726 kms)

We had a lazy morning breakfast at our hotel as we expected a fairly short cycling day – under 40kms. The cycling was rather boring today as we crossed expansive farm land and only saw the Danube river a few times while crossing it on some bridges. The constant light headwind made our journey feel longer than it was. On the outskirt of one of the few towns we cycled through, we lost the signage to our cycling path. After a few kms going in a questionable direction, we opted to use Maps.Me routing to get us back on our EV Route 6. Upon our arrival at our hotel, we managed to check into our room through an automated kiosk outside the hotel. We were impressed by our accommodation’s modern look and clean lines. As there were no grocery store nearby our hotel, we skipped purchasing any lunch snacks. Instead we opted to have an early dinner at a German pub.

2022.06.22 – Donauworth ==> Ingolstadt (56 kms | Total: 2782 kms)

We enjoyed our accommodation’s good breakfast offering in company of many other guests. The weather forecast had changed during the night in our favor which allowed us to ride out of town under dry condition. After 15kms or so and when we had just completed a few climbs, the rain started to fall heavily. We opted to stop under some trees with the hope that the rain would ceased shortly. While waiting, we saw a number of cyclists with their rain gear pursuing their route. The rain tapered out after 20 minutes and we resumed our cycling. We were pleased to cycle along the Danube a lot more today. We had our second flat tire of the trip which occurred again on the front wheel. After replacing the inner tube, we were back on the road within 20 minutes. A few kms before our hotel, we stopped at a grocery store for some supplies. We were somewhat excited for our stay in Ingolstadt as we had booked a four star hotel. Sadly, the hotel did not really live up to its rating as it offered no A/C and was quite remote with no services/restaurants nearby. We reverted to a very long walk to try out an Asian buffet for dinner – a very disappointing experience!

2022.06.23 – Ingolstadt ==> Ingolstadt (0 kms | Total: 2782 kms)

We left our large room window open all night to let the cool breeze to come in. While searching the cost of using the city buses, we discovered that the German government had recently introduced a monthly 9€ transit pass, valid across the country on all public transportation (i.e. city buses, trams, regional trains, etc). As we planned to take the city bus today and ride a few regional trains in the next couple of days, we realized that these transit passes were an amazing deal. The government transit program was meant to operate for the months of June, July and August. We quickly signed up for the transit pass online and promptly obtained a PDF with a QR code in return. We took the city bus just outside our hotel using our new transit passes without any hassle. Unfortunately, as additional passengers boarded the empty bus, the folks were all wearing face masks and looking suspiciously at us. When we got off the bus in the old town, we stopped at the tourist office to clarify the use of face mask on public transport. We learned that in the state of Bavaria (and possible elsewhere in Germany), the use of face mask was still mandatory on all public transportation – strangely the bus drivers appeared exempt of this rule. We bought two FFP2 category (quasi N95) face masks at a local dollar store for €1.10. We had lunch in a bakery before embarking on self-guided walking tour of the old town center. The lunch was nice, but the walk was over-rated. Later, we took the bus back to our remote hotel area while wearing our brand new face masks. We disembarked the bus one stop earlier in order to buy some staples at a grocery store. Before heading out for our evening meal, we enjoyed, as a Silver member of this hotel chain, some complimentary Welcome drinks in the hotel’s lounge. Jenny quickly focused on one of the most expensive drink available – a €6 bottle of water. We took the city bus to visit our first Mexican restaurant of the trip for our dinner. We walked back to our hotel through a long wooded walking path.

2022.06.24 – Ingolstadt ==> Marching (36 kms | Total: 2818 kms)

Upon waking up, we were pleased to see the rain forecast had yet again been pushed back to late afternoon. After our breakfast in our room, we made our way to the Ingolstadt town center some 4-5 kms away in order to rejoin our EV Route 6. The cycling was pleasant under cloudy mid-20C temperature. Our cycling distance was quite short today at ~35kms. We cycled most of our journey on gravel path while we could enjoy seeing the Danube 30-40% of the way. A few kms before our target accommodation, we stopped at a grocery store for some supplies and enjoyed some snacks and coffee at their bakery outlet. Upon arriving at our hotel at 1:00pm, we had to wait 30mins for our room to be cleaned. In the evening, we took advantage of the hotel’s (gasthaus = guesthouse) popular restaurant for our dinner.

2022.06.25 – Marching ==> Regensburg (59 kms | Total: 2877 kms)

We had a very relaxing and enjoyable hotel breakfast offering. We were especially energetic this morning for a number of reasons: firstly the weather was again in the mid-20C with a good cloud cover, secondly we would be cycling along the Danube for a good part of our journey and finally, at the end of day, we would be rewarded by a four nights rest – our first long rest of this trip. The unexpected and delightful surprise of the day was taking a 30 minute cruise ship down the Danube gorge from Weltenburg to Kelheim. After checking into our hotel, we visited the shopping mall nearby for some snacks and beverages. In the evening, we had our dinner at a nearby pizzeria/grill restaurant.