The noisiest camp site so far led to an entertaining night with toddler strops finally settled by the louder noise of an almighty thunderstorm. It rained through the night, but all was well with us and the tent, we stayed dry and somehow we got enough sleep. I am keenly aware now that the cycling goes better if I have a lot of sleep, though on the current flatter terrain it is not so vital.

Breakfast in Dillingen was hard to come by – and we only discovered ‘the cafe’ as we were leaving – too late!

Coffee was also a bit hard to find, and we ended up reaching our intended lunch stop – Donauworth – very early. Like Ulm, this is another town that has been almost entirely rebuilt since 1945, making it hard to tell what, if anything, predates the war. The fact that much of the rebuild in Donauworth copies older styles means that it is hard to resist the impression of Disneyfication. Somehow it feels strange.

Leaving Donauworth behind we reached a point where the Danube (which, since Ulm, has been running in a broad, flat valley) bumps into some low hills to the north. So after a long flat section through rural land, including a village where the slurry tractors were out in force, so smelling like one of our local North Yorkshire villages at this time of year, we found some hillier ground. We found we were glad of the variety, both in cycling terms and for the variety of views. The Danube is getting wider all the time, now hemmed in between high levees. Every few miles it is dammed for hydro and flood control, resulting in an artificial lake.

We covered the allotted miles by 1 pm, and the intended campsite next to a Gasthof did not look promising, so on we went for a few more miles. This is the first time we have overshot – we must be getting fit!

Helen’s track of the day: Tracey Chapman, Talking Bout a Revolution, because of discussions today about history, German and elsewhere.