Roarpedallers

12/9/26 – Waldshut: Rest Day

I had the best sleep I have had since finding out about Justin. I think yesterday felt good and some part of us has processed the reality of losing him. It still feels surreal and I miss him terribly but saying goodbye yesterday has felt good. 

We had planned to continue today however motivation to ride was low and Rhys and I have a bit of personal admin to do – apply for jobs, ready for next year, yuck! As a result we decided to have a day off the bikes and enjoy the area.

The morning disappeared with the kids playing soccer then trying to fish with their made up fishing line. Unfortunately their fishing was cut short by a rather grumping lady telling them to get off the jetty. 

I finally finished the video for our second week on the bikes and after the boys watched it they said that was when you were happy Mum. I know I am having difficulty processing the death of Justin and I will for a long time but each day gets a little easier so happy Mum is coming back. But I also know I will have sad times in the future and that is ok and I love how comforting the kids are to me. 

After a few card games and more soccer we all finally agreed to get on the bikes and head into town for a look. 

The old town of Waldeshut is absolutely gorgeous! Germany has so much more colour than France, and it’s louder. As you walk through the streets you can hear conversations and laughter. It was always so quiet in France. 

We decided to grab some doner kebabs for lunch and headed down to the river which was gorgeous. We then went back to camp and the boys played more soccer. 

We downloaded some more books on the kindle’s for Arthur and Oliver, The boy who biked the world and as they started reading them Oliver would shout out comments like ‘this is what we are doing!’, ‘they are riding through France and Hungry’. It was nice to see them enjoy the book  thank you NPS and Holly for telling us about them. 

Patrick is also loving reading so I lay in bed with him as we read together (I absolutely love this part of the evening). 

Rhys and I then had a drink as we edited our video of the past week. Re-watching our footage felt odd as I truly can not remember the riding, it’s all been such a blur.

13/9 Waldshut (Germany)to Schaffhausen (Switzerland) – 50.39km (1089.14km)

A beautiful sunny morning for us to continue our ride through Germany and into Switzerland today. As I had my second coffee I had a horrible thought that today was Sunday, a quick look confirmed this and also confirmed my fears that absolutely nothing was open today! Oh dear. We are going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for food today. 

We rolled out of our lovely campsite and followed good signage onto our route. Today we have found that the EV6 logo has disappeared from the signs, instead we are following the EV15 which is the famous ‘Rhine route’ from the Netherlands to the Swiss alps. 

The cycle paths today have been smooth and spectacular. Rolling through lush farmland – definitely not as dry as France was – with so many apple trees that we have been able to pick and eat fresh apples from. Glorious. 

The views of the beautiful Rhine river and the dam infrastructure along it is quite impressive. There are so many hydro power stations along this section of the upper Rhine. 

Unfortunately I made a bit of a rookie error today. I picked up yet another puncture in the front wheel. This time a large thorn was the culprit. I found it easily and instead of checking to see if there were any other holes I just popped the tube back in and blew it up. As you can guess as we went to roll out my tyre had deflated again! Sure enough, after I opened it all back up again, there was a second hole from yet another thorn…rookie! 

We stopped in a little area with seating around a shady tree and a drinking fountain trough, for a knock together lunch of rice, avocado and this super dense Vollkornbrot with peanut butter and honey….it’ll do. 

We continued along some of the most beautiful cycle ways, the Swiss and German towns we rode through were so pretty and so different to France! Interestingly we crossed in and out of Switzerland and Germany several times throughout the afternoon as we neared a place called the Rheinfall. We had heard about this a couple of days ago and were looking forward to seeing it. As it turns out the Rhine falls are the most powerful waterfall in Europe! As we approached them the tourist boats were heading up river to get people close to the base of the falls which at their peak in summer can reach a flow of 600,000L/sec! 

We pulled into the visitor area at the base of the falls – so great we didn’t have to pay for parking like all the other tourists! – and we’re afforded amazing views of the falls and the castle on the opposite bank. The falls are located in Switzerland but it is only about 5km to the German border from here too. It’s such an interesting part of the world where borders intersect and have I imagine, changed over the years.  The old pre euro border control points were still visible between Switzerland and Germany today. 

Finally we continued to try and get another view of the falls, on the way we went up a particularly steep section of street, near the top Raelene was impressed with Arthur’s legs however it was actually a man giving them a push for the last 10 meter stretch! Perfect! Patrick and I puffed our way up and Oliver just danced up it….we parked the bikes, however after crossing a bridge on foot we found that you had to pay to get down to the viewing platform next to the falls…I wasn’t paying Switzerland prices. 

We made it to camp, got the tent set up and managed to order a meal from the onsite restaurant. It was then time to jump into the Rhine river and float the 100 down to get out at the campground restaurant ready for dinner! What a way to end the day….

During dinner we were all having another chat about where each of us had been etc. Patrick has ALWAYS been very adamant that wherever mum has been, he has also been, because he believes that he was ‘in mums brain’ before he was born. It’s a very cute thing that he does and he has always been quite passionate about it, much to the ire of his brothers! Well tonight the cuteness came to an end….For the first time Patrick said that just because mum had been there, he had not because he wasn’t ‘ALIVE MUUUUM’….Oliver thought this was hilarious, we just think it’s Patrick growing up too quickly….

14/6/26 Shaffhausen to Iznang- 38.76km (1127.9km)

Rhys surprised me by being up before everyone and jumped on his bike to head to the supermarket to grab breakfast and lunch supplies. While he was away I had some more time reflecting on Justin’s life as his sister sent me the latest songs he had been listening too and the powerpoint his beautiful Daughter, Ruby, put together for his memorial. Josh put together the sound track which was amazing, his kids are two incredible young adults who I know Justin loved dearly and would be so proud of. After another little cry, some very lovely cuddles from Oliver, Arthur and Patrick I forced myself to get up and make a cuppa. Rhys got back just as we were all exiting the tent and joined me for a cup of tea/coffee. After a delicious breakfast of muesli and yoghurt the boys went to the river for a swim while I did the dishes, hearing their laughs I went down to join them for a swim. Arthur and Oliver by this stage did not want to get back in as they had apparently seen a huge catfish and were worried it would nibble their toes hehe. Rhys and I enjoyed a lovely float down the river as the boys ran beside us. Our slow relaxing morning continued as the boys played at the great water park area and Rhys and I completed our CV’s ready for applying for some jobs and packed away our camp.

Finally at 11:30 we rolled out of the campground and followed the Rhine river for the next hour. It was a beautiful ride, we crossed back into Germany for a little bit then back into Switzerland where we stopped for lunch by the river then we were back into Germany. It started to get quite confusing which country we were in. The give-away was the cycle path signs, in Switzerland they are very clear however in Germany you have to search for them a little bit more. 

The path took us into an absolutely gorgeous old town, Stein Am Rhein, as we walked through the huge archways into the old city we were greeted with the most stunning buildings lining a cobblestone street. We parked our bikes beside one of the beautiful water fountains and went for a wander around the town. The building had gorgeous murals on them and must have dated back to the 1600’s. We overhead a tour guide explain one of the murals being on a butcher shop. The boys were drawn to the many shops selling Swiss Army knives and we spent quite some time looking at them and picking out the ones we would want. Arthur is desperate for a pocket knife however we have a very clear rule, no knives until you are 10. Arthur was so disappointed but Oliver was wonderful at reassuring him that he had to wait till he was 10. Arthur has picked out the Climber knife while Oliver would love a Huntsman knife when he turns 12. They both made us promise to get them one on their birthdays. As we were wandering through the streets I found a beautiful pottery shop and Oliver helped me pick out a lovey new tea cup. 

With the afternoon slipping away from us we walked back to our bikes and continued walking through the town (riding through it was not allowed), we found a lovely couple from Tasmania who we chatted to for a while about cycle touring with kids, and then we finally got back on the bikes and rode away. 

The afternoon was lovely, Oliver was in an inquisitive mood and would ask us quite a few questions one being what our perfect day would be so we all took turns tells each other our perfect day. Olivers was going luging in the morning then going mountain biking with Rio and Ted then making dirt jumps in the afternoon and having steak for dinner, Arthur’s was Christmas Day, Rhys was a sleep in then brunch at a cafe followed by some mountain biking followed by a bbq by a river with his friends having a beer, mine was watching sunrise having a cup of tea and reading a book, playing boardgames or card games, watching the kids playing and laughing, going for a run then finishing off with a picnic dinner and a glass of wine. Patrick’s was playing with his friend Kayden.

It was getting quite late in the afternoon and Oliver was getting a little tired so as Arthur and I hung back to ride with Oliver Rhys and Patrick rode a little way ahead, as I was watching them I suddenly saw Patrick fall off the bike! It looked like he had fallen asleep and simply fell off, we raced up to them and as Arthur held the bike I ran to Patrick to see if he was ok. He was sitting up holding his arm so we instantly were worried about a collar bone. Thankfully no injuries just a few grazes and a rather shocked Patrick. He had fallen off his bike due to looking back at us and slipping off the handlebars. The poor thing. While we had stopped on the side of the road a lovely father and daughter who were riding a tandem bike also stopped to have a chat. They were lovey and really liked looking at our tandem bikes. Rebecca had Down syndrome and loved riding on the back of their tandem bike, it was electric and had suspension so they could go fast which she loved. It was beautiful to see. 

We finally pulled into lovely small campground, while setting up the tent we were so surprised to see a blimp float past us. The boys were amazed at it, Rhys and I didn’t know they still existed. 

We had a lovely dinner enjoying the last of the sun and again conversation turned to moments this time it was superhero moment.

Patrick – when he pushed Oliver up Von hill

Arthur – when he saved the day with cokecola bottle lollies for Oliver, Rhys and Patrick on one of the big hills in France

Oliver – taking the shark bag for Mum on 90 mile beach

Mum – always have emergency lollies and running to Patrick and Oliver when they crashed to check if they were ok

Dad – towing Oliver up some of the hills in NZ and ordering take-away pizza in Paris

Once we all showered I enjoyed a lovely peppermint tea in my new cup as Rhys put the kid to bed. I could hear some great music coming from somewhere so when Rhys emerged from the tent we went for a short walk to investigate the music. It turned out to be a band practising in the town hall and it was great to listen to. When we got back to the campsite we assumed the kids were sound asleep however Oliver and Arthur were still awake and called me over to the tent. They both were quite upset and felt today was very unfair. They hadn’t got the knives they wanted however I got a new mug, fair point however I explained our 10year old rule with knives this is when Oliver made the argument for Arthur that he didn’t mind if Arthur got a knife earlier than him as he really wanted Arthur to get what he wanted. It was very cute and after some chat it was agreed that Dad and Mum would think about it. Oliver then snuggled up to Arthur (both quite excited at the idea they might get a new knife sooner than they hoped) and they fell asleep cuddling. 

15/9/26 – Iznang to Immendingen – 52.66km (1180.56km)

Everything was wet with dew when we woke this morning but luckily we were able to enjoy a coffee and a tea in the sun as it soon peeped over the tops of the trees. The bacon we used in the scrambled eggs this morning was The most tastiest diced bacon/spek that we had ever had. The boys were asking for more more more! 

With the kids getting their diaries all done last night we were able to simply pack up once the tent was dry then head off at around 1000. We rode around the western edge of the Gnadensee which was the smaller lake beside the huge Bodensee. Interestingly, due to the heatwave this year, the water level is very low and people have been unable to use their boats. The positive is that there are no mosquitos and bugs to annoy us in the evenings. 

We carried on around to the town of Radolfzell where we stopped for bakery treats, lunch and dinner supplies. I even found a little tea shop where I managed to get Raelene some more earl grey tea which she was happy about. While I was shopping Oliver headed in for a haircut, he came out pretty happy and said that he even had to do his helmet up a few clicks as his head was smaller! 

From Radolfzell we headed through undulating terrain flanked with apple orchards ready to be harvested. We found some old apple trees that were seperate from the orchards so we picked a couple off these trees to enjoy. There’s not many better things than a ripe apple straight off a tree, the kids were loving it. We even scored a few pears too they were some of the best pears we had ever eaten.

Unbeknownst to us we were in for some climbing this afternoon and it turned out to be a fairly significant slow drag up up up. After about 30kms for the day poor Oliver was getting pretty knackered and simply pulled over and went and sat under an apple tree on beautiful green grass and simply said ‘we are having lunch here’ I wanted to keep riding into the town but fair enough…here will do. We scored a few more fresh apples then continued the climb after lunch. It felt like we were going up slowly all afternoon and by the 50km mark we had done a total of 700m of elevation! It was a pretty hot old day and for most of the climbing we were in direct sun. Even raelene struggled a little today…

This was like a NZ day! It even had a bit of gravel through a forestry section at the end, much to Oliver’s disgust…thankfully a few sour Smurf Haribo got him over the line. 

Thankfully after 52km we rolled into our camp for the night. It turned out to be a simple patch of grass in front of a little cafe/food outlet that also served beer. As we arrived there were numerous people sitting around, enjoying food and a beer. The kids raced off to the pirate ship in the playground so Raelene and I sat down and enjoyed a beer! 

Tonight was the first taste of German bratwurst for us as I used them to cook curried sausages, they went down a treat. 

16/9/26 – Immendingen to Tuttlingen – 9.83km (1190.39km)

Wow what a night we had……just as Rhys and I had put our books away I noticed Arthur sitting up like he was reading. I asked if he was ok, he didn’t answer then a few seconds later he had a HUGE vomit! It went everywhere! There was nothing I could do to catch it or stop it. The poor thing hadn’t let us know he was feeling unwell, I don’t even think he knew he was that unwell.

Rhys and I then spent the next 45mins cleaning up as much vomit as we could, there was so much vomit outside that we had to move the tent so we didn’t walk in it when we got out. We had to wake Patrick and Oliver up to move the tent, Oliver was half asleep when he was outside – in the morning he had no idea what had happened and no recollection of getting out of bed.

We had just finished cleaning it up as best as we could and we got back into bed, Arthur now sharing with me when he vomited again! This time I preempted it slightly and he nearly made it outside of the tent……Off to have another shower and clean up more vomit……Rhys found a bucket somewhere and for the next 6hours that bucket was our saving grace. Poor Arthur continued to vomit all night, we would sleep for a bit then he would move around because his tummy hurt and have a vomit.

To add to our eventful night when we had finally got to sleep Oliver woke us up with yelling out “Did you find him, Did you find him? Where is he?” We tried to ask him who he was looking for as by this stage he was standing up at the end of his mattress looking in his sleeping bag….. he then yelled out “Patrick”, we reassured him we had Patrick and he was ok and the relief on Oliver’s face was beautiful and he lay back down in bed and continued to sleep. In the morning we asked his what he was dreaming about and apparently they were on a cliff and he was worried Patrick had fallen.

Then to top off our crazy night Patrick yelled out I need a wee, so we told him to go outside and just do it on the grass (neither Rhys or I could be bothered getting up with him as we had been up so much with Arthur), we heard Patrick go out of the tent but I must have fallen back to sleep as I can not remember hearing him come back in. I have no idea how much later I sensed something and opened my eyes to find Patrick standing at the end of our mattresses, I asked him what was wrong and he started to cry saying he was too late and had wet his undies. The poor thing was devastated and hadn’t wanted to wake up Rhys or I. We realised he had actually wet his sleeping bag also and didn’t want to get back in it, so we had another little clean up and suddenly Rhys and I were sharing our rather small mattresses and sleeping bags with 2 kids.

Thankfully no more events happened and we all got a few hours sleep and were woke up to sun shinning into the tent well after 9am. Arthur had stopped vomiting but still had a sore tummy, Oliver had no idea what had gone on through the night and ran off to play with Patrick. Over breakfast Rhys and I made a plan on how to clean and wash everything. 

Arthur was a trooper and with no complaints got on the bike as we rode our shortest day ever, 9.8km to Tuttlingen which had a laundromat and supermarket. When we rolled into the municipal campsite the lady was super lovely and showed us where to pitch our tent. She then refused to take any money as she showed us the huge shower room and told us to make ourselves at home, incredible. 

Oliver and Patrick ran off to play soccer which upset Arthur as he wanted too as well, but didn’t have the energy so I played cards with him as Rhys set up the tent. Then we got stuck into cleaning the mattresses and sorting out what needed washing.

We all rode into town, Tuttlingen is a lovely looking place, the park we are camping next too is great and has really cool art pieces all around it. Conviently the laundromat was right next to a donor kebab shop so as the washing was on we enjoyed a delicious kebab (Arthur was unable to eat anything) then during the drying process the boys enjoyed some games on the phones and rested in the warmth of the laundromat. 

Back at camp it was great to have a clean and fresh smelling tent again and we still had time to go and explore some of the amazing playgrounds around the park. Due to our late lunch dinner was rather small and we had avocado on bread as requested by Arthur who was finally feeling like he could eat. The boys enjoyed the huge shower room before bed then all snuggled in for an early night. Rhys and I enjoyed a cup of peppermint tea and went to bed hoping no one else has caught whatever bug Arthur had, however we are better prepared tonight and have a pot handy incase anyone needs, we have also educated Oliver and Patrick to let us know as soon as their tummy hurts…..

17/9/26 – Tuttligen to Sigmaringen – 55.39km (1245.78km)

Everyone slept well with no projectile vomiting throughout the tent again thank goodness! 

The mornings are really starting to cool off and today was no exception. We were fortunate though that the boys had a wonderful inside area that they could do their diaries in while Raelene and I went about packing up the tent. By 10 we rolled out and aimed to do around 50km in order to get to Sigmaringen which we had been told had a beautiful castle on the river. 

The first ten kms whizzed by quickly with the boys enjoying the relatively flat riding. As we rounded a corner with around 10km under our belts we saw a bakery that stated it was the final bakery before the Danube valley. We stopped for a beautiful bakery treat and to our surprise found it was cash only! Cash really is king here in Germany! We began riding again and were suddenly transported to some of the most beautiful cycle trails we had done this trip! 

The Danube (Donau) valley was incredible. Towering limestone cliffs and colorful forest lined the edges, occasionally you could glimpse an old building perched on top of one of the cliffs edges! It was crazy. 

We neared a little town called Beuron we could see the spires of the huge Benedictine monastery that is located in the town. The monastery has 11th century origins and today is still in working order and immaculately presented. We parked our bikes and walked down to the church where inside we were treated to beautiful ceiling frescos and a nave that looked like something out of a Dan brown novel. The boys and I even headed down into the crypt with its amazing acoustics due to its vaulted ceilings. 

We jumped back on the bikes and rolled down the trail a little further for lunch. The next 30 km was as amazing as the first 20, we needed rubber necks to look at all the views from our beautifully smooth cycle trail. 

We had views of a number of castles perched high on the cliffs, later we found one of them, Schloss Werenwag is still privately owned and doesn’t allow visitors, imagine that as your holiday house. 

The views of the valley continued and I can’t really put it into words how pleasant the cycling was. We climbed a few steep sections then enjoyed long downhill runs. The trail became crushed white gravel which contrast beautifully with the green forest. We even got to ride through a couple of farm properties/villages and then as we neared Sigmaringen we even rode through the grounds of an old abbey that was now a music and performing arts school. 

Finally we arrived into sigmaringen and immediately found our campsite that was located right next to the trail. As it turns out though it was 20€ more expensive than anything we have stayed in and the showers were crap as you had to wave your hand infront of them to get them to go. Mine would only run for 2-8 seconds at a time then stop, it was like it had a prostate problem. Raelenes was just bone cold! So disappointing.

Anyway, before dinner the boys headed over to a playground over the river by themselves, unfortunately it devolved into piffing handfuls of stones at each other plus anyone else who was around the edge of the park so that was the end of that little escapade. 

During dinner Patrick went downhill fast and began feeling very unwell. Thankfully we had a bowl ready and caught two massive vomits! Poor little man, as he finished, he said his second one smelt like cucumber….hehe. Both Raelene and I both have questionably feeling tummies this evening. Let’s see how this one plays out 😩

18/9/26 Sigmaringen to Reidlingen – 37.54km (1283.32km)

Well, it was another night of vomiting, this time Patrick was the poor thing who vomited quite regularly for about six hours through the night. I slept beside him and every time he moved I woke up, ready to grab the bowl. The poor thing didn’t know when he was going to vomit, so I was hyper-alert to his every movement and groan. Rhys was incredible, waking up every time he heard the vomiting and emptying the bowl for us. I have no idea what time we all finally got some sleep, but we must have, as we were eventually woken by Arthur and Oliver in the morning.

It was a fresh morning, so it was rather difficult to get myself out of bed. Eventually we had to face the day and emerged from the tent, and to our surprise Patrick was feeling ok. While we packed away the tent, Oliver and Patrick went and enjoyed a lovely warm shower. We had two shower tokens left and Oliver didn’t want to see them go to waste!

When we were ready to leave, Rhys realised that campsites were already starting to close for the season, so he went to reception to ask if they knew of any that were 40–50km away. While he was finding out some information, Arthur noticed a very cool tandem recumbent bike. We went over to chat to the owners, who let me sit in the front seat. It was the most comfortable seat I have sat in for a while! The bike was German-made and electric, and it allowed the man to ride a bike even though he has trouble with his hands. He can’t ride a traditional bike because of them, so this bike has given him the ability to keep cycling.

When Rhys returned, he confirmed we only had a short day ahead of us due to the limited number of campsites that were still open. It was quite a relief considering the night we had just had. As we were riding along the path, we had the most incredible views of Sigmaringen Palace! The boys begged to go and have a look at it, and as it was only going to be a short day now, we decided to take the detour and visit the castle.

For the next two hours we explored 20 rooms, parlours and galleries within the Palace, and it was brilliant. Sigmaringen Palace is the home of the Hohenzollern family, with the first records of the castle dating all the way back to 1077. The boys were each given an audio guide phone and, in each new room we entered, they pressed the corresponding number and listened to the history of the room.

Some of the facts they found interesting were about the fire which nearly destroyed the palace in 1893. As they listened to this story, it was so funny watching Patrick’s reaction. He put his hands to his face, shook his head and said, “Damn.”

We walked up the grand entrance staircase and then had a tour of the Princess’s rooms. The bathroom was beautiful and had one of the first flushing toilets in Germany. The fact that a house this grand didn’t have running water until well into the 1800s was hard for the kids to comprehend. Before that, all the bathroom essentials were portable and were taken to each room individually — crazy!

The next room was the resting room, where the lady would rest after her bath and before getting dressed. Then, in the dressing room, the boys couldn’t believe it would take over an hour just to get dressed and that she could have to do this three times a day. When we moved into the bedroom and found out the husband and wife slept not only in different rooms but on different floors of the castle, the boys couldn’t believe it. They all came up to me at some point during the day and told me how much I would have hated not sleeping with Dad each night. They must have been thinking about that quite a lot, as yes, they are very accurate in their thoughts!

We then walked through the different entertainment rooms, and when they heard that the dining table could extend to fit 35 people, they all gasped at how big that would have been. It was so cute watching them all listen to their audio guides and hear the facts at different times. They each had similar reactions to the same stories.

One of the last rooms we visited was a room full of taxidermy animals from hunts. There were moose heads, so many deer heads, birds, bears, pheasants (which were beautiful), and we had even seen a wolf earlier in the tour.

Finally, we got to the very exciting section of the tour, the Armoury, which happens to be the largest private collection of armour and weapons in Europe. The armour, swords, spears, axes, helmets and muskets on display were incredible, and the boys were in awe of them all!

As we left the castle, with a new set of toy knights and horses, we all couldn’t stop talking about how amazing it was. It certainly turned out to be a great detour on our ride. Before leaving Sigmaringen, we found a bakery and had a treat before getting some kilometres into our legs.

Today’s ride was flat. We followed the river for a little bit, then rode through some lovely farmland. On the way we found a cool pump track, which naturally meant we had to stop and let everyone have a few laps riding Bloom.

Just before camp, Oliver said he was starting to feel a little unwell. He was able to keep riding and we made it to camp, where he just sat down, having no energy to help with the tent. Rhys went to find a supermarket as the boys and I set up camp, then we went and had a lovely hot shower.

Dinner time was filled with more castle talk and the telling of funny stories about gross things Oliver has eaten when he was younger. It was quite funny. Rhys and I both laughed that we must have learnt from Oliver, as Arthur and Patrick have no gross eating stories that we could think of!

It didn’t take much to get the boys into bed. Patrick and Oliver nearly fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Rhys and I then did our lovely evening tradition of having a peppermint tea outside, enjoying the stars and cooler temperatures.

19/9/26 Riedlingen to Ulm – 72.16km (1355.48km)

Last night turned out to be Oliver and my turn to suffer from the tummy bug that has been picking us off one by one. Thankfully for us though it was a case of ‘one and done’! Sleep was still interrupted by cramps and horrible nausea however so it was a long night…

Fast forward to morning and our need to ride 70km today to get to Ulm. We needed to do this for two reasons. One was that there were no campsites open between our current location and Ulm, and secondly we simply need to keep putting the km’s under our tyres in order to get to Budapest in time. 

Not feeling like much for breakfast Oliver and I forced some down then went about packing to leave. We got talking to a lovely Dutch couple and a 0930 getaway soon turned into a 1000 getaway but that’s ok. 

The road book (which we were shown by this Dutch couple and will have to buy when we find a bookshop) showed a couple of climbs today. Sure enough as we started getting into it we found a few relatively small lumps. At one point we had to take a detour away from the route due to rail works. When we rejoined it there was a bit of confusion about where to next. We carried on down the route and found we had to cross a train track with works in progress…whoops. After this there was a ridiculously steep hill. It was almost like a wall and what I imaging riding up the koppenburg in the tour de Flanders would feel like. 

Both Oliver and I would occasionally flag then find some strength and carry on. Our stop at 15km came at a good time and so did our lunch break as we passsed through Ehingen. 

Again the fruit trees on the sides of the roads lately has been lovely. Plentiful apples and pears from huge old trees are always close at hand. At one point today Raelene found a yellow plum tree that produced some very tasty little morsels! 

As the afternoon wore on my strength particularly was starting to wane. The final 15km felt like riding through mud….Oliver seemed to be well in control after a couple of haribo smurf lollies and powered to the end. 

We rolled into Ulm at around 1700. We got the tent set up and then all rode to the nearby mall where there was a bookshop and a supermarket. We were not going to be caught out again this weekend with tomorrow being Sunday! So we grabbed supplies to get us through. We even managed to find the same map book that the Dutch couple had showed us this morning much to Raelene’s delight! Perfect. 

As we wandered around the shops Raelene well and truly hit the wall and was also in the grip of the tummy bug. We got back to camp which was a cheap cyclist/canoe tent place and raelene turned in for an early night. Let hope if she needs to be crook then it’s also just a one and done….

20/9/26 Ulm to Dillingen – 54.25km (1409.73km)

It was another pretty rough night, I felt so nauseous all night and it was annoying I couldn’t vomit, Then poor Patrick wet his bed and was so upset. Rhys gave him a quick warm shower then he jumped into my sleeping bag which was lovely but also meant with my nausea I didn’t get a very good sleep. As a result it was a very slow morning, just before 10 Arthur and I rode off to the laundromat while Rhys, Oliver and Patrick finalised packing.

We all met 1hr later at the Ulm Münster, the huge gothic cathedral. It is massive! The Steeple is 161.5m tall and literally towers over the city. Inside the massive stain glass windows are stunning, the height of the ceilings are quite impressive. We decided to walk up the tower to a view point 102m high, the sprial  up the tower my nausea came back which made me a bit slower than usual. The views were incredible, at one point as we were climbing the bells rang out for midday which was pretty cool and very loud! The detail in every corner of the cathedral is amazing, everywhere you looked there were patterns carved out of stone and to think construction started way back in 1377 its crazy to think how they did it and it also makes it believable that it took 513years to complete.

After exploring Ulm Münster we went on an ice-cream hunt for Germany’s best ice cream and when we found it Patrick was super excited. The ice cream was actually delicious and as Oliver said it was our first ice cream in Germany therefore the best hehe. 

We then explored the old fisherman’s quarter of the old city and were in awe of the beautiful buildings, the kids preferred to stay at a bridge watching their leaf boats float down the river as Rhys and I wandered the gorgeous streets. 

Finally after a great morning of exploring we thought we had better jump on the bikes and actually ride some km’s, it was nearly 2pm and we still had 50km to go. Thankfully the ride followed the Danube and was relatively flat trending down stream, it was a beautiful ride. Arthur was awesome on the back of Trunkie as I was feeling a little fatigued. Before we knew it we had ridden 20 odd km’s and were looking for a place to stop. Oliver spotted some old cars and it looked like a car show so we pulled off the trail and went for an explore. Sure enough we had stumbled across a great little car show which had cars, motorbikes and tractors on display. It was great to wander around we then went to the food area for a bite to eat and rest.

The final 30km went rather fast as well which was both surprising and relieving, along the way we passed heaps of wild hops which smelt amazing and it is quite incredible they grow wild here. The trail took us along great gravel bike paths beside the river or through bush it was really quite beautiful. Through one town Arthur spotted a shop window which was full of octopus teddies just like Arthur’s Coral, Arthur was so excited and we had to stop so he could go and look at them. It was quite cute. 

We pulled into the campsite around 6:30pm and quickly got to setting up the tent and cooking dinner before we lost the sunlight. During dinner we all chatted about how great we have all done this week with the vomit bug but also continuing to ride, we have done well. 

21/9/26: Dillingen to Donauwörth – 36.56km (1446.29km)

After a few showers last night and a cold cloudy day this morning, we took it slow in packing up and getting the kids diaries done. Thankfully no more rain came and we were able to get the tent mostly dry before packing away and getting going on a trail running parallel to the Danube. 

We all remarked how the Danube was getting wider today, there has been a noticeable difference in its width over the last couple of days, driven mostly by the dam infrastructure we are now encountering  along the watercourse. There appears to be regular dams constructed along the river to both produce power and to regulate the flow of water. It made me think about a poem that was on the wall at the canoe club we stayed at in Ulm who’s prose was remembering the days when the Danube was wild and canoeists could travel all the way to Passau and beyond. Now however, the poem described the river as being slow and sluggish and unable to be travelled on due to the dams….

We managed to find a place in the sun for a spot of lunch, we even scored a table and chairs today! Most of the time the boys are so hungry and demand to stop at the ‘next place’ which usually always just ends up being a seat, and can be a bit tricky to prepare bread rolls and coffee on! Hehe. 

Our route continued through to the town of Donauwörth and our campsite tonight was another canoe club campground. We rolled in at around 3:45 and were able to enjoy the most delightful afternoon of beautiful sunshine and soft grass by the river. They even had a drinks vending machine which spat out 500ml beers for 2€! What a bargain! 

This tent site would have to be the best we had stayed in. The bathrooms were relatively new and didn’t have push button shower…win! And there were plenty of charging points and tables and chairs in the sun, just perfect. 

Dinner was cooked and with the going down of the sun we all crawled into the tent because it’s getting too cold to be outside these days!