It was forecast to be another rainy day, but we had cabin fever and wanted to get back on the road. Our hotel room in Tuttlingen was small and not that comfortable, so two days there was plenty. We loaded up the bikes under a cloudy, steel-gray sky. As soon as we mounted our bikes to ride away, it started to drizzle. Rain came down steadily almost all day, with the exception of a short break in the mid-afternoon. Even with our raincoats, we got pretty soaked by the end of the day.
When we had arrived in Tuttlingen two days ago, we reached the shores of the Danube River. But today was our first day cycling along its banks. The river is relatively small, this far upstream. It was typically no more than about 20 m across. From most viewing angles, it appeared to be a deep, piney green color - reflecting the lush vegetation of the surrounding forest.
Biking through the valley, we were struck by the number of religious shrines along the route. Wherever there was a spring or a small stream coming out of the mountains, there would be a shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix, or other religious symbols. You often hear about how people in Europe are becoming less religious, but you would not guess that by traveling along EuroVelo 6 in the upper Danube Valley.
On the contrary, we got the feeling that the communities in this area are especially devout. A discreet image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus graces one of the many shrines we passed along the route today. Fridingen an der Donau, Germany. But the thing that really grabbed our attention was the very large piles of fire wood. There must be a lot of wood-burning fireplaces here. And the firewood is cut in very long pieces - about a meter in length, making us think that the fireplaces where they are used must be exceptionally wide.
Endless piles of split firewood. We biked all day through the Upper Danube Nature Park, an area of thickly-forested hills and scattered, small towns. Buchheim, Germany. The villages we passed through had a more rugged and rustic air to them than the ones along the Rhine River. The river wound its way through the Donautal Gorge, a narrow floodplain covered with sunflowers, cornfields and pastures. And both sides of the valley were flanked by the tall, rocky cliffs and ridges of the Shwabian Jura Mountains.
