This was one of the best days of the trip so far. Warm sunshine, spectacular river scenery, and a boat ride!

But first I have to mention last night’s food. Why can’t German cooks leave the salad veg alone and just put it on the plate? What ranckled this time was that the chef came out to tell us off for not eating the potato cooked to a pulp and then pickled in vinegar and mayonaisse! Leave it …. there are better things to recall.

Today began with a trip through hop growing countryside, but on a grand and thoroughy modern scale. Huge pole and cable infrastucture for the hops themselves, and enormous barns with the entire roofs covered in photo voltaic cells.

Then down to the river and the start of another gorge section, but now the river is much bigger than a week ago. It was still early, beautifully calm and still and with the mist lifting off the river.

Soon we were hemmed in by limestone cliffs.

Soon we reached a point where, for a short distance, limestone cliffs fell directly into the water on both sides of the river. There wasn’t even a footpath anywhere near river level. The recommended way of making progress downriver to Kelheim was to take the ferry for a close up of the scenery. So we did.

The boat ride was a bit like something out of Lord of the Rings – I was expecting giant statues of kings. We were also entertained by a French couple with two small children. These were long distance cyclists, with kids in a trailer, and the little ones were enjoying the exitement of a boat ride just as much as us. We are in awe of people who can cycle all day and then manage small children on a campsite at night. What energy!

I know that the purists are going to point out that we can no longer claim to have cycled all the way. But those 4 miles by river were excellent!

From Kelheim there was another 20 miles of lovely riverside cycling (though rather bumpy off road and hard on the nether regions!) before we reached Regensburg. Here we saw our first barge – because the river is navigable upstream as far as Kelheim, where the Danube-Main-Rhine canal leaves the river to cross the watershed to the North Sea. (Wikipedia lists the species of fish that have made the same journey and have found new homes!)

Regensburg is the only intact medieval city centre in Germany, having escaped war time bombing, and it is a gem and has Unesco world heritage status. We will have a day off from cycling here tomorrow and tell you more about it then.

Helen’s track of the day: The Beatles, Let It Be, because I am feeling chilled and at peace with the world after a lovely day of cycling.

See yesterday for GPS track.