Day 5 - Reibersdorf to Niederalteich - Off on an Impulse

May 1, 2018

Day 5 - Reibersdorf to Niederalteich

It's the First of May, a national holiday, and we see more cyclists out on the bike path than usual. Clubs and communities have organized bicycle rides and just occasionally cyclists traveling in a group block the path. Cyclists in a herd seem to be oblivious of their surroundings.

The weather is good enough, no rain, no headwinds, that's the main thing. The sun comes and goes, it's chilly in the shade and we often have a gentle tailwind.

Our first stop should have been Oberalteich. We ride by the signs showing the way and I have a vague feeling that there is something to see there. But we just keep pedaling, thinking, What? A detour, who wants a detour? Inertia, we just keep going in the same direction. We have missed another baroque church! However, we do get views of the church set against a background of the hills of the Bavarian Forest.

Kloster Oberaltaich, a Benedictine abbey

For a while the paved bike path runs parallel to the dam, we hardly see the Danube although we are traveling right next to it. We pass chapels and barns, the path is smooth.

I get off my bike and climb up to the top of the dam for a better view of the countryside and the Danube.

Janos photographs me photographing my bike.

I photograph Janos photographing me photographing my bike.

Again we pass a sign pointing to a name that somehow rings a bell - I'm not exactly sure what there is in Metten, but hey, learning from past experience, why not make a detour. Why of course, there is a Benedictine abbey in Metten, and the church has a baroque interior. We welcome the chance to leave the pretty but somewhat monotonous bike path and become acquainted with yet another church.

Ceiling frescos tell stories from the life of St. Benedict.

Baroque interior at Metten - with spiraled marble columns next to the main altar

It's noon, we are hungry and ... we only need to follow our noses. There is a May Day barbecue on the main square of the town, sponsored by the fire department. Benches and tables have been set up for a crowd. In addition to barbecued sausages and meat, there is a stand selling home made cake. Hard to make a choice from such a sumptous variety of home baked goods! As we eat our lunch, we can do some people watching. Everyone seems to know everyone here, it's a small town scene.

We find our way back to the bike path and it's 15 more kilometers to Niederalteich where we have booked a room in "Pension zum Glück", a very new pension run by a young and competent young woman. To allow for flexible check-in times, when we booked we were given a code for the key safe at the front door. In the safe is an envelope with our name on it. A friendly note welcomes us. The envelope also contains the keys to the front door, our room and the garage for our bikes.

Niederalteich has a church, too! But we are saving it for tomorrow.

Almost every abbey will have a restaurant nearby - Klosterwirtschaft - featuring local fare. Here we are deep in the vaults of the monastery buildings.

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Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 211 km (131 miles)

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