Day 63:Munderkingen to Leipheim, Germany: Peace and quiet (or not)

July 21, 2012

This day can easily be divided into a great first half and a dubious second half. We said goodbye to Aude and Roman, who had come late and shared our 10 acre preserve, and headed out.

We got only as far as the E-Center, where we rustled up some good stuff for lunch. Somehow that used 45 minutes, so our early start was a little compromised.

Aude and Roman from Paris are heading to Budapest. They shared our 10 acres, and took over the ladies, while we cooked in the men's room.

The grampies are not cowed by Rene's lightweight approach (see yesterday) and today added not a kitchen sink but at least a bottle brush to their kit!

We often see organized groups of early morning walkers.

Next followed some now standard cycling on paved path through corn fields. We are used to it, but it is still great.

We were greeted at the entrance to Ehingen by a berry stand, with top quality strawberries and raspberries. However the best of Ehingen was a large market underway in the central square.

At Ehingen, a roadside stand. Just a hint of what we were to find in town.

We lucked into a market in the central square

Yummy sausage and with a good quality bun

Blackberries - one of Dodie's favourites

The cheese man was really busy, suggesting cheeses and cutting off just the right amounts for the customers.

This stuff was great and highly addictive. It was not just the peppercorns but a really flavourful base cheese.

The central square with the market also had an elaborate fountain, that clearly told a story. We found a pamphlet explaining it, but despite our growing German skills (now up to 1 1/2 year old level!) we could not make head nor tails of it.

The famous town fountain had a descriptive pamphlet that we can not decipher

These ladies added an exotic touch. I do not know the whole story of immigration to here from the east.

The next stage of the day had us noting over and over how we could see each town as a separate entity on the valley side, each marked by its own church, and each with its own unique shops and especially bakeries.

There is the Danube, running through its lovely valley

Villages, like Gamerschwang, an be seen on the valley edges

Ulm is a big city, with older and newer sections. We liked both, and saw that once again all, whether old or new, was clean and orderly. We like clean and orderly!

Would have liked to try this too. We heard about Thuringer sausage from our German friends back home.

Beyond Ulm things went downhill (except the path, which stayed level!). The clouds opened and it really poured. At first we hid under a tree and in front of a barn, but in the end we knew we had to go for it. So with full rain gear we swam on. The scenery became basically just a path by a roadway, but at least after fooling around in grocery stores and farmers' market for a lot of the day, we now made good progress.

Threatening clouds (made good on the threats)

The last part of the day was on paved pathway beside a normal highway

It seems always a problem to find camping at just the time you need it. When we got to Leipheim we had not quite gone as far as we wanted. But, it was really pouring and getting late, so since there was camping at Leipheim we went for it.

Rather than set up the tent in the really heavy rain, we decided to eat something in the on site restaurant first. It turned out the restaurant had only a deep fryer and a griddle, and was producing deep fried schnitzel and french fries, or griddled sausages. Making ours took 45 minutes! Meanwhile we sat at the family style seating, where families with seemingly 10 or more children were making such a din, we could not communicate with each other, even by shouting.

The camp site itself, unlike the former kayak outfit, seems partly a working farm and features a large barn with a petting zoo, many horses, and some kind of "hay hotel". The whole structure was swarming with shrieking unsupervised children. Outside, at our patch of lawn, two soccer nets had been set up adjacent. Further shrieking children were running up and down, and booting soccer balls through our tent site.

Now Grampies by definition like children. But we were wet, and feeling queasy from deep fried schnitzel. Now frazzled by noise, we were crabby.

Possibly seeing this, a lovely man made us some herbal tea. It helped a lot. We are hoping for some actual sleep tonight!

Camping at Leipheim featured a whopping 20 Euro price, crowded piece of grass, swarms of shrieking children, and barely edible schnitzel from the "restaurant".

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 2,853 km (1,772 miles)

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