Travel report: Five Rivers Cycle Route

Choice of trip and weather
Last year, my wife and I cycled around Lake Constance with Radweg-Reisen and the weather was glorious. It was a very eventful, beautiful and very successful vacation on and with the bikes. That was motivation enough to tackle another trip. We loved the Five Rivers Cycle Route and experienced big cities, impressive landscapes and untouched nature in consistently good and sunny weather. The advantage in Bavaria is that you are informed of suitable locations for breaks on signs; this makes it easy to organize your cycling schedule for the day.

Organization
We cycled in season A and were very satisfied with the hotels and meals. Although a different language is spoken in Bavaria, we were always welcomed in a friendly and courteous manner and also given advice for our evening plans. Bicycle accommodation, charging facilities for the batteries and our car as well as the pre-planned hotels were perfectly organized. The detailed travel guide and additional maps provided us with excellent support during the 365-kilometre ride. The signposting of the cycle route was almost perfect and the luggage tracking system was a great help and relief. Our luggage was always available before we reached our destination. It even worked in Regensburg, although the Sprinter that transported the luggage to the Hotel Münchener Hof had to work within centimetres in the narrow streets to manoeuvre the luggage from the car to the front door of the hotel.

The round trip
From the narrow streets of downtown Regensburg, which we had been able to enjoy the day before (the city was packed with young people due to the Bavarian Gymnastics Festival), the route led us directly to the Danube (1st river), which we followed to the pilgrimage church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the Calvary Church. After visiting the Pielenhofen monastery and a coffee break in Duggendorf, we reached Kallmünz, the Pension im Malerwinkel, and explored the beautiful town on the Naab (2nd river) in the afternoon and evening.

The next stage took us along the Vils (3rd river) to Amberg, a very beautiful medieval town, to the Vienna House Easy Amberg hotel in the former state garden show grounds. After a tour of the town, we visited the glass cathedral by Walter Gropius, and Amberg's landmark, the spectacles, was also impressive.

The next day, we first cycled along the Vils, then along the Pegnitz (4th river) from Amberg to Nuremberg, which was more challenging at 85 kilometers, but we followed a green belt along the Wöhrder See lake right into the city centre to the Hotel Prinzregent. We took breaks in Etzelwang (a stop in the market town is worthwhile) and Hersbruck. The latter town is well worth a visit. Shortly before Etzelwang, we took a break on a bench with the sign Central European watershed between the Danube and Rhine.

For us geographers, this is a special event because it is where the water systems of the most important European rivers separate. Nuremberg itself is a beautiful, vibrant, medieval city that is always worth a visit, but the city is full of people who ride fast even in the narrow alleyways with an unmissable number of bicycles. If you're not quite fit after a day's ride of 85 kilometers, you should always be careful.

From Nuremberg, we continued on to Berching, which, like all the towns and cities we visited, impressed us with its architectural beauty. The excellent Hotel Post Berching welcomed us. The almost undestroyed town and town wall is definitely an attraction and has built an idyllic park with islands and open terraces on the Sulz river in front of the town wall.

But first we drove almost 50 kilometers along the Ludwig-Main-Danube Canal, which is a unique scenic and ecological oasis. The well-preserved remains of the canal, the lock keeper's cottages, now renovated, the towboat navigation in Mühlhausen and the absolute tranquillity really impressed us. The art along the canal is also worth a visit. We really enjoyed this mile of various sculptures. The Schwarzach Gorge is definitely worth a stop. The Schwarzach cuts deep into the terrain. The gorge is wildly romantic.
From the organizer's point of view, it would really be worth considering whether this preserved body of water should be included in the official program (only recommendation something like the Five Rivers and Two Canals Cycle Route): it was unique. We were accompanied along all the rivers by bizarre valley incisions of the Bavarian Jura and steeply rising rock formations with many castles. Here in Berching you can admire two canals, the Main-Danube Canal on the west side and, for the last time, the Ludwig-Main-Danube Canal on the east side. Although the former is much wider and a proper, broad shipping route, ecological and biological protection zones have been established along the canal to preserve the animals and plants.

The stage from Berching to Kelheim was again characterized by the steep Jura cliffs in the valley. In Beilngries we were welcomed by a town center decorated with balloons.

A short time later we reached Dietfurt and thus the Altmühl (5th river), which also took in the Main-Danube Canal. In Essing, you should definitely visit the Tatzelwurm, a bridge. It is well worth a visit. Passing castles, we then reached Kelheim and our bike and motorcycle hotel Weißes Lamm. A beautiful medieval town that is well worth exploring. A visit to the Liberation Hall above the town is an absolute must.

We recommend using the Ludwigs-Bahn, a small city train, as it offers a tour of the town and a ticket to enter the monument. You would have to pedal hard to get up the hill by bike. The view of Kelheim and the Danube is fantastic. The last trip took us back from Kelheim to Regensburg. It was a relaxed ride along the Danube via the spa town of Bad Abbach. Once again we explored Regensburg and had a surprising experience in the city center. A bike market had set up a bike wash as a special offer (free of charge, surely initiated by Radweg-Reisen (?), something we had never seen before). This was fantastic and ensured that we were able to ride home with sparkling clean bikes.