Roarpedallers

22/9/26 Donauwörth to Ingolstadt – 60.77km (1507.06km)

It was a rather fresh morning and when Patrick crawled out of the tent to do his morning wee he yelled out “my wee is steaming”. Thankfully the sun was out so eating breakfast was lovely and packing away wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The free wifi at the campsite was amazing and I found a family on Warmshower’s who were happy to host us for 2 nights which was fantastic. We had a lovely morning riding through more farm fields and picking more fruit from trees. Perfectly located at 20km we found a bakery for our morning snack then continued along side the Danube until we reached Neuberg an der Donau. We went for a walk through the old town and found a stunning Palace – Schloss Neuberg. The walls had the most amazing sketches on them, they looked impressive. At the entrance to one of the archways stood a stone king and queen. Naturally the boys wanted a photo with the king, Oliver had a moment of not thinking and decided to hang off the out stretched arm of the king…….When we quickly told him to stop as it was probably over 500 years old he couldn’t believe it, all Rhys and I could think was how lucky it was he didn’t break the arm off. 

We then rode through the town a little and found a great park for the kids to play in while we made lunch, they had an absolute ball on the flying fox and ran over too us covered in dust and drift from falling off a number of times. We were able to enjoy a long lunch as we couldn’t arrive at Anna and Tom’s house till after 5 so Rhys and I enjoyed a hot drink while the boys continued to play. 

The afternoon ride was nice and flat, which made it quite fast. Along the way Patrick and Arthur decided to swap places and I got to enjoy Patrick company for the rest of the afternoon. We had a wonderful evening meeting Tom and Anna, Tom cooked a delicious stir-fry while the boys enjoyed doing some dot-to-dots. Tom and Anna have 3 kids, Moritz, Sara and Lea, and they enjoy bike touring. It was great chatting to another family about life on bikes and how as the kids grow the bike set up changes. 

23/9/26: Rest day in Munich! 

We woke up on Tom and Anna’s floor after a good nights sleep, excited to get into Munich for a rest day adventure, and to see our friend Pia whom we had met on the Tour Aotearoa all the way back in January! 

I was a bit lazy this morning and instead of searching up the best way to get to the train station by bus I lazily helped myself to another coffee and a chat with Anna and the kids. There was a vague decision to walk, and before we kew it, we really had to go or we would miss our train! Diaries away boys, let’s go!!!

We ran walked the 3.8km to the train station, poor Raelene’s knee didn’t agree with the plan and became a bit sore along the way. Thankfully though we made it with 15 mins to spare, phew! The boys did an awesome job keeping up and making it on time. 

We easily found our platform and stood waiting for the train. While we waited a cargo train and then a high speed ICE train sped past the platform which got the boys excited. 

Once on the train the kids were stoked to see it moving so fast, I think it got up to around 160kph as it sped towards Munich Hauptbahnhof. In 45 mins we had travelled the 86km between the cities and we were off the train and at Munich! 

We had been in touch with Pia over the last few days and she was excited to meet us for the day. We only had to wait around 10 minutes until we met up with her. She was wearing a traditional style dirndl (dress) and looked fantastic, ready for Munich and of course…Oktoberfest! As it turned out we had timed it just right with the famous harvest festival of Bavaria!

It was wonderful to see Pia again and we chatted about cycling, reminiscing on our respective trips to NZ and also what we had been up to since then. Pia is studying veterinary science and is sooooo close to finishing her degree. We are excited for you Pia! 

Our first stop was the famous Munich Rathaus. The facade has figurines that move along to a glockenspiel at 1100. We were right on time! The boys were perhaps a little underwhelmed as I had talked it up maybe a little too much, however they thought it was cool when the knight got jousted from his horse….

We carried on though to the English garden where the kids enjoyed a play in the playground and Pia Raelene and I got the sit and chat. 

Oliver needed the toilet at one point and managed to easily sneak in through the stile instead of paying the required 50c to access the toilet! Clever boy

Finally it was lunch time and we splurged out a bit on food at the Chinese tower beer garden in the English gardens. The kids eyes lit up with all the food and my eyes lit up with all the beer! It was here that Raelene and I polished off our first 1L Stein of the day along with shnitzel, curry wurst, chicken and some sort of warm potato and sourkraut salad, delicious. We even managed to give Kahung a call and the old crew from NZ were back together again, catching up on what each other had been doing. 

Now it was time to head to the Oktoberfest, we caught the U-Bahn back to wards where we started the day and then made our way to the Oktoberfest entrance. 

Once inside the boys eyes were wide with the multitude of incredible rides on offer and the amount of food places too. They were all able to pick something that they wanted to go on. Arthur went first and chose a roller coaster which he went on with mum. His look of pure terror as they hurtled down the slope will be etched in Raelene’s memory forever. 

Next we went to the 90year old toboggan ride which Raelene and I remember from last time we were here, around 14 years ago! Oliver Arthur and I all went on, you have to jump onto a swift moving conveyor belt that threatens to topple you over! At the top you then get a mat and slide down the old wooden slide. Such fun. 

Raelene and Pia went on a huge, tall Sonny chair thingy. Somehow Arthur and Oliver got in that one too while Patrick and I watched from a safe distance. 

Then it was Patrick’s turn to enjoy the bumper cars! I went with Patrick and we managed to smash into Oliver and Arthur a few times. It was lovely to hear Patrick giggling. 

Finally Oliver really wanted to have a go of the shooting gallery. He did very well, hitting 12/12 targets and winning a teddy. 

The time had come to find a beer hall and have a sit down and yet another 1L stein of beer for the day. We went to the Augustiner bräu tent and Pia managed to get us a good seat and a few drinks to enjoy. It was a great atmosphere, everyone bunched in together enjoying the day. 

Patrick was a bit upset that the others had gotten more rides than him so we headed back to the Toboggan where he and raelene headed up the conveyor and down the slide with a big smile on their faces. 

Sadly our day had come to an end. We walked back to the train station and said our goodbyes to Pia, promising to strive to meet her in Japan in 2028 for a cycle tour with our other friends from the TA, Mel and Kahung. Pia, thanks again for a wonderful day! You’re a legend!

Our train trip home was super easy, with mum winning the game of skip bo once again! We snuck into our warm showers accomodation and pretty soon the kids were out like lights after what has been a huge yet incredibly fun rest day in Munich. 

24/9/26 Ingolstadt to Regensburg – 81.91km (1588.97km)

We had a very early get away as Anna and Tom had to leave the house early, it was a little fresh as we started our ride but thankfully the kids didn’t complain. Patrick started on Trunkie and had left his puffer jacket on so was nice and warm. Inglostadt is quite a beautiful city as riding through the old town was lovely. We stopped at a warm bakery for supplies then continued along the bike path. In one section we ended up off the path and had to go a little cross-country up a steep hill to get back on the right track.

Patrick loved having the garmin and counting up the km’s as we rode along, we maintained a good speed of around 16-17km/hr which he constantly informed us about. At our usual 20(ish)km stop Rhys realised our day to Regensburg was going to be quite long, close to 90km so we had a look at the map and decided to deviate off the ev6 for a short section to keep the km’s down. Arthur jumped back on Trunkie which was good as we hit the hilly section of the route. It was nice to have some hills that wound up through the fields and smaller villages.

Riding through one of the villages we found a supermarket and a very cool playground with a pirate ship. As we had lunch the boys had a ball playing seabeasts. Back on the path we found ourselves on more hills and in the distance we could see some very dark clouds, they got closer and closer and then we hit our first bit of rain on the bikes in Europe. We quickly donned our wet weather gear and continued riding. The rain was quite cold and was huge drops which then turned into hail! It was crazy, the boys had never seen hail and they couldn’t believe how much it hurt when it hit your bare arms. Thankfully it didn’t last too long and just after it finished we rolled into a supermarket which we all went into and enjoyed the nice warmth.

After warming up in the supermarket we didn’t have long till we arrived close to our 1nite hosts address. The directions were a little difficult to find so after a few wrong turns we finally found the correct road and as we were riding along it a car stopped us, they were our hosts, they told us to make ourselves at home in their garden and they would be home soon. We set up the tent and as we started cooking Dennis, Bastien and Thomas arrived home and welcomed us inside to finish cooking and share a dinner together.

We had a lovely evening, we had chilli con carne however the pizza the others were eating was more appetising for the boys who all scrounged a piece off them. Patrick had been playing with the toy knights so Bastien wanted to show the boys his room of toy cars, Minecraft and One Piece paraphernalia. Oliver, Arthur and Patrick were literally in heaven and we lost them for nearly an hour. It was cute hearing their laughs while we were in the kitchen cleaning up and chatting other Thomas (Dennis’ father) while listening to the Beach Boys. Eventually we were able to drag the boys away from their dream room and we went outside into the freezing cold to sleep in our cozy tent. 

25/9/26 Regensburg to Straubing – 58km (1646.97km)

It was positively freezing this morning when we woke up. 3 degrees to be exact! We were snuggled in waiting for the sun to come up and spread its warmth….

Not wanting to leave the tent just yet we got dressed in our warm gear and packed up all the bags and mats before stepping outside to brave the cold. We got the stove going and began to get the kettle on when Dennis opened the front door and asked if we’d like to come inside! Yes please! hehehe

We were very fortunate that Dennis generously offered us his kitchen for the morning. Outside however was certainly warming up with the sun shining brightly. I managed to string the tent fly up and dry it in the sunshine prior to packing up the rest of it after breakfast. 

Finally it was time to leave and say a huge thank you to Dennis and Bastien for allowing us to pitch a tent in their front yard. Just prior to leaving Dennis gave the boys a protein bar each which they were pretty chuffed about. Oliver returned the favour and gave his one piece figurine that he got the day before, to Bastien in order to add to his collection, it was very kind of him. 

We headed into Regensburg for a look around the Altstadt, hoping to quickly check out the main sights before riding onto Straubing later. We made it down to the waterfront and parked up the bikes before. Right near us was the UNESCO world heritage listed stone bridge. The 16-arch stone bridge, completed in around 1145, is the symbol of the city and a model to how other bridges around the country were then built. 

When then headed up past the David and Goliath building – a painted facade depicting David and Goliaths biblical battle, and onto the Regensburg Dom or cathedral. The cathedral certainly just ‘appeared’ as we rounded the corner, it was quite impressive, and immediately the level of detail on the exterior of the stonework was incredible. We headed into Regensburg for a look inside and immediately noted the incredible stained glass windows and imposing, high vaulted ceilings, it was very impressive. 

Leaving the cathedral we wandered up the street and I found a little bike shop that looked as if it specialised in older bicycles. My bottom bracket had been in the way out all trip and had become markedly worse over the last 2 weeks. I wasn’t confident that it would make it to Budapest. I popped my head in and in my best German, told him my problem and asked if he had a part. Turns out he didn’t by he was certain the shop up the road would! 

Time to divide an conquer again, while I mucked around and rode the 3.5km to get the part, Raelene and the kids headed to the laundromat to get our stinky clothes bag washed! 

As it turns out the bike shop that I was directed to was like a Bunnings for bikes…it was huge. It literally had every part imaginable – on the shelf! I simply walked over to the bottom bracket section, and found mine on a hook. It really blew my mind. 16€ later I had the part. I headed back to the original bike shop and he was kind enough to lend me the tools to get it sorted! What a man! In 20 minutes I had my new bottom bracket in and the tools cleaned and returned. Turns out that Raelene also had all the clothes done and we were able to head back down to the bridge to an historic ‘sausage kitchen’ where they did a 4.50€ bread roll with 2 sausages, sweet mustard and sauerkraut. Delicious. 

Finally at around 1330 we got riding out of the beautiful city, taking our route over the stone bridge. After a quick 20km we pulled over for a snack and noted that we still had a fair way to go and it was already 1500! May be a bit of a late one today. 

We cracked out the speaker and continued to do the kms. The sun was shining, the paths were flat and the wind was light so we made steady progress towards Straubing through very flat farmlands. 

At around 1830 we finally rolled into the campsite after a decent 58km day. Patrick and I hit the nearby ALDI for dinner supplies while the others set up the tent. Thankfully it didn’t get too cold straight away this evening and we were able to enjoy dinner outside under the fairy lights which was nice. 

26/9/26 Straubing to Deggendorf – 44.43km (1691.4km)

The mornings are warming up again which is lovely and a bit of a relief. After we packed up we headed into the old town of Straubing, Rhys was here way back in 2004 on a school trip so was very keen to see if he could remember the place. The old city was beautiful and had a great atmosphere, being a Saturday there were a few market stalls selling fresh produce and quite a few bands were setting up in different areas. It had a bit of a festival vibe which was nice to be a part of.

After a lovely walk around we got back on the EV6 and found a lovely spot by the river to have our bakery treats. We had a very pleasant ride to Deggendorf, along the way Arthur and I would stop to pick flowers and we finally got a few sunflowers which were lovely, having them on my handlebars makes me smile. It is an odd feeling, we are well into Autumn however there are wildflowers everywhere and the fields are all so green still, we have passed quite a few crops of lovely sunflowers too which is nice. The farmers are out on their tractors so much getting the fields ready for more crops and the days are so sunny and warm up beautifully by midday – it has more of a spring feel.

We made it to Deggendorf by early afternoon which was great, Arthur and I quickly rode to the supermarket leaving the tent set up to the others and when we returned everyone had done their jobs and were down on the river bank throwing stones. Rhys, Arthur and Patrick braved the fresh water for a quick swim, Oliver got up to his waist which was a good effort considering I didn’t even attempt to get in. We then went for a walk down the path to the amazing looking playground.

While the boys played I snuck off to a lovely looking beer garden which had deck chairs on the stones on the river bank. While I tried to enjoy a rare quiet moment with a lovely wheat beer, all I could think about was Justin, I shed a few tears as I cheers’d to him. It is times like this that we always chatted or messaged each other and I desperately miss him. When I walked back to the boys it was nice to get some reassuring hugs and the boys were so impressed it had been at least a week since I last cried. Back at camp we cooked up some dinner then as Rhys sat up to apply for some jobs the boys and I crawled into bed to read our books. 

27/9/26 Deggendorf to Passau – 58.71km (1750.11km)

Another accident in the night caused us to scramble and search for a laundromat this morning. I was rather doubtful with it being a Sunday but believe it or not we managed to find one that opened at 0700! I quickly got everything packed up and rode over in the crisp morning air and got a wash on while Raelene and the boys enjoyed the morning sun and got the tent dried out and packed up!

Once everything was clean once again we cycled out of Deggendorf past a large number of people wearing traditional Bavarian dress and carrying standards/banners. Around this time of year, a number of towns hold a Folk festival, which we assumed was what was occurring here in Deggendorf today.

Again the wild flowers were incredible as we rode out and we also saw some HUGE piles of turnips in the fields…we have no idea what their purpose will be but the kids enjoyed seeing the huge vegetables and rather even went and grabbed one as a souvenir of the day…

As we rounded a bend I had a familiar squishy feeling in the back end of Wirrawuy, Yet another flat! we quickly pulled over and popped a patch on, all the boys were keen to lend a hand of some sort, its nice to see them so involved with the practicalities of cycle touring.

Close to Passau we met a man who was cycling in a recumbent bicycle that was surrounded by a carbon shell. It was a very aerodynamic looking machine and he was certainly flying when we saw him. It was interesting to have a yarn with him and learn that the bicycle is purely powered by him and can reach quite high speeds!

We finally reached Passau and our last city in Germany before we cross into Austria tomorrow. We navigated to the campsite which turned out to be in the lee of the hills, resulting in it being markedly colder and wetter that any other campground we had stayed in so far. We reluctantly set up the tent then go charged a small fortune to stay there once reception opened…54 euro to be exact….

To boost the mood we decided to cycle back into Passau and check out the city for the evening. The Altstadt was so beautiful and we cycled up cobbled streets that led through narrow alleyways around the central cathedral. The Cathedral is in the Baroque style so I headed inside for a quick look, while Raelene stayed out as she was becoming bit ‘churched out’…however once I was inside I quickly beckoned her in as the interior was absolutely jaw dropping in its grandeur. Amazingly we also learnt that the organ that adorns not only the back wall but also the sides and front of the cathedral, is the largest church organ in the world! we figured it would have around 200-300 pipes but we were blown away when we learnt that the Organ is comprised of 18,000 pipes!!!!!!! The Baroque style frescoes and statues in the church were crazy too, such an overt display of wealth and power of the Catholic Church.

Finally we returned to the river front where we enjoyed a lemonade for the boys and a weißbier for Raelene and I. It was a very enjoyable evening out the front of the Rathaus, and we all congratulated ourselves in riding across yet another country! Beautifully the boys are still busily planning their Tour Aotearoa adventure for when they are older. tonight Oliver was making list of all the things they would need to take on their bike and what set up they would have in regards to bags etc….it was lovely to see their enthusiasm for more cycle trips in the future (maybe we haven’t broken them!)

On returning to our campsite we were in for a cold humid night, the tent was already wet with condensation and dew and we struggled to get warm in our sleeping bags…

28/9/26 Passau to Familie Pumburger, Au 44.72km (1794.83km)

28/6/29

It was a cold and misty morning which meant our tent was soaking wet as the campsite was in a bit of valley we waited till the sun poked over the hills to let the tent dry before we got on the bikes. We rode back into Passau to find a bookshop to get a map of the next section for our ride. The streets of Passau are absolutely stunning, the cobble stones lined with colourful buildings are just wonderful to ride through. We were successful in finding the next map and continued along the Danube, however finding the route out of Passau proved to be rather difficult and we found ourselves doing a few laps around the tunnels. 

Arthur and Patrick returned to their original bikes and we slowly continued along the path, I was so relieved Patrick was ok the poor thing. We passed a supermarket along the way so stopped for lunch and dinner supplies, the boys found green jelly in the fridge section which they wanted especially as Grandad had recently been in hospital and was craving green jelly. We didn’t ride for too much longer before finding a lovely park area to have lunch and eat the yummy jelly.

It was getting quite late by this stage so after a filling lunch we continued and raced a river cruise ship along the Danube. The riding was stunning, the Danube was starting to get windy and so big which was beautiful to ride next too. We had a slight headwind in the afternoon which saps Oliver’s energy levels, however a few spider lollies seemed to perk him up enough for us to arrive at our campsite with an hour or so of sunlight.

Our campsite is on a farm and the boys loved all the ginger cats who were all very friendly and reminded us of our pet cat, Felix. With a few reminders to get their jobs done we eventually set up camp and were able to enjoy the cats, sun, tree climbing, sword fighting with the owners son and a beer. It was a lovely ending to a great day riding beside the Danube and while enjoying a beer in the sun and watching the boys play Rhys found a map which indicated a lookout, the waiter was very helpful in telling us about lovely 10km walk up to the lookout and along the ridgeline before making its way down again. We had a look at dates and how far still we had to ride then decided to have a day off the bikes tomorrow to explore this area. 

29/9/26 Rest day on the Danube!

After deciding to take a day off here yesterday we set about enjoying the morning and then packing to get ready for our hike today! We needed to get over to the little store that was attached to the campground in Schlögen in order to try and rustle up some dinner!

The hike is around 10-11km an would involve a steep climb at the start and a sharp descent at the other end, Oliver was a little non plussed to spend his ‘rest day’ hiking, however the other 4 of us were raring to go!

On our way down to the little ferry that is run by the same family whose farm we are staying at, we picked a couple of apples to put in our pack for later. Minutes later we were boarding the ferry whose ride lasted all of about 2 minutes as we were transported across the Danube.

As we were walking in Schlögel we came around a corner and noticed a familiar dog coming our way, immediately we also recognised the owners as the Dutch couple we met back in Reidlingen!!! We had a wonderful reunion and then made the decision to hike up to the lookout together.

We popped into the shop on the way and managed to buy some pasta and sauce which would just have to do for dinner, it was now time to hike.
The trail up was steep but manageable and we had a lovely time with our friends Diederick, Talitha and their dog Jess. Talitha was teaching the boys all about mushrooms so they spent many a minute hunched over various fungi on the trail asking if it was edible, the answer was always NO!

We reached the Schlögener Blick viewpoint and my gosh what an incredible view we got of the almost 180 degree bend in the Danube! We could even see our farm we were staying in and the tent too! We spent an enjoyable 30 minutes here soaking up the view and snacking on bread a peanut butter.
Finally we continued up the trail and parted ways with Diederick and Talitha, making plans to possibly see them again in Budapest on the 14th.

Our trail continued up before entering some of the most stunning birch forest with views back down towards the river. We spent the next couple of hours marvelling at the scenery and putting the drone to work getting some beautiful shots.Finally we made it to the high point of the walk – Steiner Felsen and the views were incredible. Now it was time to drop off the top and follow the ridge sharply back down towards the valley.

Thankfully Raelene bought her knee brace on the walk and she managed the steep, rooty and rocky downhill section quite well with no knee issues!
Back next to the river we managed the final 2km stretch back to our original ferry drop off point. To summon the ferry there was a metal plate and a hammer hanging from the post. Oliver banged it a number of times and soon after, the ferry made its way across to pick us up!

Back at camp we rewarded ourselves with a couple of beers for a hike well done. It was then time for our knock together dinner.We were struggling for cash but thankfully the worker here allowed us to do a bank transfer and then gave us the cash so we could fix up our bill with no problems. He also managed to barter us a litre of fresh milk from the farmyard cows tomorrow morning and also the possibility of us watching the cows get milked which is very exciting.

Rest day done….maybe not too restful though after 11km through the bush!