Sigmaringen to Munderkingen: Floods, Detours, and Mud!!! - Danube 2013 - CycleBlaze

June 2, 2013

Sigmaringen to Munderkingen: Floods, Detours, and Mud!!!

No, we have not been swept into the river, just a couple of days without WIFI.No rain today, and the sun came out! We left Sigmaringen this morning after a brief walk around this beautiful town. Our route today included many detours because of massive floods on the trail and in many of the towns. The last time there was flooding to this magnitude was 2002, and this is much worse. Great timing we have! We came upon our first detour this morning five minutes after leaving our hotel. A gentleman in a car passed us and turned around to tell us that the trail was flooded and closed. This much we understood through sing language, but he was trying to tell us a detour. Fortunately, a couple from Frankfurt came by on their way down the Danube, and she spoke excellent english,so she was able to get the directions for the detour. We cycled with them for about an hour on the highway, and then returned to the cycleway, only to come upon our next flooded section not too far along. Not knowing how to get around this section, we stopped for coffee and to ask directions. The coffee shop owner went out of his way to ask if any of his patrons spoke English. After going through about six people, it was concluded that we would have to go back on the highway for awhile. The cars here are very courteous to cyclists, so it wasn't so bad. We finally went through a pig farm, ( oh where are those lilac scents when you need them), and back on the trail, to more flooding, and on the day went. Every time we had to abandon the cycleway, it was a climb out. Building muscles, right? It is taking much longer than we had anticipated to get from one place to another with the constant detours and added kilometres, but it is all through spectacular scenery and being Sunday, we had the melody of church bells in every village we cycled through. After more than seven hours since we left Sigmaringen, it was time to call it a day and enjoy some excellent German riesling. We spent the night in Munderkingen, another delightful small Bavarian town. We had a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant and turned the lights out at 8:03!

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 165 km (102 miles)

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