This was a top day’s cycling, but hard, with a lot of climbing. The payoff was that almost all of it was on tiny lanes (some unpaved) and miles off the beaten track, in the edge of the Black Forest, no cars and just huge birds of prey (eagles?) and the deer for company. Brilliant! Food was almost a problem though – having spent our last Swiss francs in Schaffhausen on breakfast we had to get to Germany before we could buy lunch in Euros!

Here is the view back from the first hairpin on the first climb of the day, which turned out to be 300 m high!

At the top there was a dirt road along the ridge at 850m with superb views to the south. Sadly there was cloud over the Alps, which would otherwise have been clearly visible. But at least it wasn’t raining!

After a couple more small climbs we reached the German border. Not that you’d have noticed, given the lack of officialdom.

Germany should have meant lunch – but the first village was entirely closed up. So on we went – to be rewarded with a great pub restaurant in a tiny village. Beer, pork and pepper sauce, chips and salad. We flew up the final climb of the day – and possibly the most beautiful – to arrive on this high plateau at 780 m, where the Danube rises. Unfortunately we were tired and not thinking straight and cycled right past the ‘official’ source of the Danube, thus missing the photo op, but we have found a nice camp site just a few miles down the Danube bike track.

It is officially ALL DOWNHILL all the way down the Danube from here to Budapest! Think of that!

Helen’s track of the day: Amy Winehouse, Valerie. There was no apparent reason for this arriving in my head after lunch but it kept me going for a while.