Day 2

19/08/2011 – Day 2

Lӧrrach to Schӧnau

The day starts bright and sunny. As usual M is still asleep and it is a struggle to get him to respond before 9am. This means we have to rush to get breakfast before it closes. Some things never change!

The plan for today is to buy a pay as you go mobile internet as M has to work during the trip. After comparing prices we opt for the O2 deal which gives us a free month trip before committing ourselves. M had also forgotten to bring a towel and last night we had found an outdoor shop and intended to buy one the next morning.

So, internet in hand we forget to buy the towel and set off towards our planned destination of Donaueschingen where the Danube starts. This gives us the objective of cycling 100km in the day, this may sound a lot but when you take into account that we have over 10 hours of daylight and there is no rush it is a relatively easy target.

One thing you realise about Germany very quickly is that they have planned the roads with cyclists in mind. If there is enough space dedicated cycle paths have been built which keep you away from the traffic. These paths are a network in their own right with sign posts at every junction. The only criticism is that sometimes the signs are a bit small and for those of us with fading eye sight it means slowing down or stopping to read them.

We follow the path that runs alongside the river Wiese towards Schopfheim. It is a pleasant morning with sunshine and little in the way of wind, the perfect weather for cycling. Due to the late start we only do about 7km before it is lunch time. Turning off the path we stop in a café in the centre of Steinen.

Using my very basic German we order lunch and M tries to check his email. Logging in as directed, or as closely as we can due to the instructions being in German (M had just bought a pocket dictionary which was a bonus here) we enter the password and…….nothing! We try again and again with the same result.

We now have two choices, we can push on and hope to find an O2 shop later today, or we can go back to where we bought it. As M needs the internet to work, and to check his email every few hours we decide to go back. It is a blow buy if we can get everything right now it will save us time later.

One thing I had noticed this morning was the bike had a tendency to wobble. I wondered if this was due to the new luggage or too much weight. The wobble stays with me as we ride back to Lӧrach. Having done most of this route twice now, we passed through Brombach again this morning; we push on quite fast to get there. The man at the O2 shop is very helpful and we are soon online.

While M checks his email we have a coffee, and as expected, he has some work to do before we can leave.

While he is working I look at the time, the map and the weather. By the time we are ready to leave the most likely place to stay tonight is Schӧnau, and looking at the map there is a camp site there.

Leaving Lӧrrach again is becoming a habit but at least we can find the cycle paths first time. The first half of the journey we are doing for the third time now and it passes in a flash. After Hӧllstein we deviate from the route on the map and follow the sign posts. There is some confusion here as the footpaths and the cycle paths cross and join at regular intervals and all the signs are on the same posts. It takes a while to work out that the signs with blue writing are the foot paths and the signs with the green writing are the cycle paths. Not easy to do at speed.

Finally we come to an area where the path we are following is being repaired and we cross the river to find the official path. Good use is made of back roads with little, if any, traffic through the built up areas which makes it a pleasant journey. Once out of the towns it is a series of small villages as we follow the river up the valley, constantly climbing.

All day the weather has been good and as the evening draws in we are getting tired but it is still warm. Since leaving Lӧrrach we have travelled 58km (not all of them in the right direction), gained 200m in altitude but as it has been gradual we did not really notice the climb.

Arriving in Schӧau the path brings us to a bridge over the river, here we have two choices, going into the town and looking for somewhere to stay or turning right before the bridge and following the path to the camp site. We opt for the camp site.

Arriving at the reception we are greeted by a cheery woman who speaks no English at all, but with my basic German (and a lot of help from Google Translate) we get booked in and set up the tent. Electricity is supplied through a box in the hedge, but we get no cable to the tent. Leaving the netbooks and radios outside is a bit of a risk if it rains but we do it anyway.

The site is mostly static caravans and the majority of the people there were Germans with a few Italians, one English family and a Catalan family. The staff is great! They do their best to help; the menu is nothing brilliant but good old fashioned food and plenty of it. After long day in the saddle it was very welcome, as were the large beers!

If anyone is in the area and looking for a camp site I can recommend this one, it is at the north end of town just as you leave. Good value, good people and good food (and the hot water really is hot, once you work out that the taps are on the wrong way round).