Day three, (85km) we breakfasted in Ulm, a gentle city that takes you back to the middle ages. After breakfast we cycled around the old city through the charming Fishermen and Tanner Quarters, past the town hall with murals on the walls and visited the Gothic Ulm Minster with its fantastic carved wooden choir seats, with men seated on the left and women on the right of the alter. We didn’t climb the church spire which is the tallest in the world, it wasn't open at the time.
We took a few wrong turns leaving Ulm as a result of roadworks and diversions but you can’t really get lost if you follow a river and the Danube was always there to guide us. Originally I had planned a detour from the river after leaving Ulm but we made the decision to continue along the Danube, I can’t remember why we decided that, maybe we thought it would be easier in the heat. The route took us through the historical town Günzburg where we stopped for an ice cream and drink and later passed through Gundelfingen which I really liked with its nice clean, well maintained houses and gardens.
To be honest, the route was mostly on endless white gravel along the river or canal with not a lot of shade, in fact no shade for most of the time. It was a pretty ride if tedious and rather boring unless you like watching ducks and there were many varieties of ducks and lots of baby ducks which was kind of cute to see, but you just switch off and think of nothing which is nice and leaves spaces for new ideas to creep in. The hot head wind didn’t make the cycling easy and we needed many breaks and snoozes under shady trees. At Dillingen we left the Danube cycle route for good and started to cut across towards Bavaria following the DLG 22 radweg and later the EuroVelo 15 cycle route, I was not too sad to leave the Danube cycle route at this point with it's glaring white paths and mega highway of cyclists.
We stayed in Möslingen at a really super lovely family run campsite https://www.goldberg-camping.de / It was newly renovated with a very friendly feel and the owners were really helpful, taking time to explain where shops and local amenities were, including a local Aunty Emma shop... I thought it was their real Aunty Emma until Christoph explained that 'Taunt Emma' is just an expression given to what we in England call a corner shop.
On our way to the campsite, we passed one of the chapels from the Sieben Wegkapellen—a unique circular cycling and walking route featuring seven modern chapels. These remarkable architectural works made from different construction material blend into the surrounding landscape. Learn more about them here: https://7kapellen.de/die-kapellen/. Created as part of a project by the Siegfried and Elfriede Denzel Foundation, each chapel was designed by different architects as a space for reflection and an opportunity to connect with nature. Note to self: this route might be worth another visit!
With temperatures hitting 37 degrees cycling drained our energy, we were always drinking and resting, drinking and resting then repeating that procedure again. It was on this day in history, as a result of the endless heat, hot, tired and fed up of lukewarm water from my bike bottles I had a craving for something cold, fizzy and sweet. This is when I realised how great an ice cold Coca Cola is. Normally I never, ever drink fizzy sweet drinks, especially cola but that first ice cold Coca Cola in many years hit the spot and became the start of a short, beautiful summer romance as I found myself dreaming about and looking forward towards the next hit.
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