We rode from Landshut to Deggendorf today, mostly along the Isar River. The Isar flows into the Danube, which is where Deggendorf is situated. It was a very scenic ride, but about half of today's 50 miles were on unpaved trail, making it a little slower than usual. Along the way we passed a nuclear power plant, which seems to be a popular way of generating power here in Germany. We also passed many dams and water control structures, so the Isar appeared, at times, calm and serene, and, at other times, more violent and fast, depending on whether you were upstream or downstream of the structure!
But today started out with rain! A steady drizzling rain that I noticed at about 6:00 AM! And it was still going relatively well at 7:30 when I "officially" got up. But by 8:00 AM, when we went to breakfast, it had mostly dissipated, and by 10:00 AM, when we pushed off, it was dry. And much warmer. So no leg warmers today! And only the base layer and rain jacket to start. And the rain jacket did not last too long before it was doffed.
Like yesterday, we were mostly on an unpaved, natural surface, which made the going slow. But we were only doing 50 miles and following the Isar downstream the whole way, so the cycling was easy, if not technical. When riding unpaved surfaces, you really need to pay attention to the road, or else you might find yourself someplace where you don't want to be! But the sightseeing was limited to the river and surrounding terrain, which was mostly wooded, so the eyes did not wander far.
Not far out of Landshut, the river opened up (due to downstream dams) to some great views.
Not that the surface was all bad. Most of it was very rideable and was hard-packed enough to ride comfortably. Only isolated sections were rough, but both of us, Happy and I, have wide tires, so while it was bumpy at times, it wasn't a showstopper! But there were some detours . . . I presume due to the heavy rains, which we had mostly avoided but must have come down somewhere upstream!
Around MP 15, we went rogue and decided to use a parallel road, which resulted in some unanticipated climbing! Which had been sorely missed! Happy did not complain, and riding on a real road surface felt good!
Having gone AWOL, we approached the small village of Loiching from the land side.
As we neared Deggendorf, we moved away from the Isar, which becomes more of an estuary where it joins the Danube. And the riding shifted to mostly paved trails and roads and was fairly flat. We crossed the Danube about a mile upstream of the Isar and enjoyed the views up and downstream.
