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Travel report: Young Danube - Golden Autumn
From our guests Bettina and Jürgen in October 2023
"They're the last ones now," said some of the hotels where we stayed on our cycle tour along the "Young Danube" between Donaueschingen and Donauwörth and safely stored our rental bikes. We don't know the exact booking times for cycle path trips, but the season was clearly coming to an end in mid-October. Some of the smaller museums along the way, for example, were closed or had already switched to winter operation.
No matter the season, however, the impressive signs of the inns are true works of art in their own right, regardless of whether you want to stop off at the "Hirschen", "Rad", "Sonne" or "Adler". When the historic premises are closed, you can also get to know famous people anew on well-made memorials in the open air: Einstein or the tailor and unfortunate aviation pioneer Berblinger von Ulm, Albertus Magnus and the beautiful Countess Geiselina von Schwabeck...
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On the road...
Günzburg
... In Donauwörth, we mourn the innocent execution of Maria von Brabant and her ladies-in-waiting and hope to learn from the "Book of History" along with the thousands who died in the battle of 1704 in Höchstädt and Blindheim. Castles that once protected the trade routes, threatened as robber barons' nests or echoed with minnesong are always clearly visible from the path. At this time of year, the thinning foliage reveals even more vistas of the castles and bower houses than would be the case in summer. We did make the ascent to the Celtic Heuneburg, which - if the attribution is correct - would be the oldest named city in Germany due to its mention in Herodotus as Pyrene, and visited the Hohenzollern castle in Sigmaringen, for which our voucher was valid, but otherwise we were not the ones to climb mountain spurs from the valley. However, paths from the valley up to Gutenstein, Riesenburg, Rechtenstein or Werenwag were available and well signposted.
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Rechtenstein ruins
Sigmaringen
Autumn is therefore a very good time for such a trip! At first, the days were particularly sunny and still warm - one might wonder whether these are good signs for the global climate, but the autumn colors at Fürstenberg's Danube source basin, at the Danube breakthrough between Fridingen and Sigmaringen and later again especially on the trip from Ehingen to Blaubeuren shone and shone in the best light. The Danube seepage near Tuttlingen was completely dry and the blue in the Blautopf reflected red-yellow mountain slopes and the statue of the Schönen Lau in the deepest colors.
Donaueschingen
Danube valley near Fridingen
Blautopf in Blaubeuren
Berblinger Tower in Ulm
Einstein Fountain in Ulm
Two days later, the season caught up with us after all: a sharp drop in temperature brought frost to the ground and heavy fog over the floodplains as early as Ulm. Behind Lauingen, as the sun fought its way through again, we saw the vapors rising from the river in the course of the morning, as if the Danube spirit Hodemar, whose face we had seen in the fool's fountain in Immendingen, wanted to give another performance here. You can probably only experience this on a tour at this time of year! In the morning, we stocked up on woollen gloves, which we hadn't brought with us, in the store and during the course of the day we enjoyed the sunshine again over the plain of Höchstädt and the wide valley to Donauwörth. There, the sculpture of the "Young Danube" greets travelers on the bridge over the mouth of the Wörnitz into the Danube.
Lauingen
Donauwörth
Conclusion
The tour was never boring, on the contrary: thanks to the good organization of the accommodation and luggage transport, it was all stress-free and full of variety. We may have been the "last" guests here and there on this tour, but it certainly wasn't our last cycle tour on these routes and at this time of year.
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