Monday 12th October – Kelheim, Germany

After the rain yesterday, the forecast for today was dry, which meant that we could do our planned walk. We took a bust to Weltenburg and walked for 20 minutes passed a Celtic defensive bank and foundations of a Mediaeval bishop’s palace until we arrived at Kloster Weltenburg. This abbey is in a picturesque position in a tight bend of the Danube and is a very popular tourist destination. Most tourists come by water with the cruise boats disgorging one, two or even three thousand passengers at a time at a wharf by the abbey. Fortunately, the Danube is so low that the cruise ships cannot navigate the river at this point and this meant that the abbey was blissfully quiet. We visited the abbey church, which has a beautiful but totally OTT Baroque interior. We also felt obliged to try some of the abbey products at their restaurant. They operate the oldest monastery brewery in the world, established in 1050, and I can confirm that their beer is very good. I had the Barock Dunkel, a dark beer with a very good flavour. Jane had some of the Weltenburg Kloster liqueur, which she also really enjoyed.
We were going to catch the chain ferry across the Danube from just north of the abbey but found that another small wooden boat was offering ferry services from the beach outside the abbey. This offered a simple trip to the opposite bank for €2 but for €5 they took us through the very picturesque narrows to a point where we could join the flat path that took us back to Kelheim along the banks of the river. A most enjoyable boat trip followed by a lovely walk.
Photos: A rather misty view of the Celtic bank; Approaching the monastery; The Danube may be at a record level but it does flood very badly at times – the highest flood shown here was in 1786 and was level with the top of the window; The interior of the church; A view of the monastery from the river; Emerging from the narrows; Autumn colours are appearing everywhere – the Befreiungshalle Kelheim (Liberation Hall) on the hill above Kelheim was built by Ludwig I to celebrate victory over Napoleon in the early 19^th century.

Sunday 11th October – Kelheim, Germany

The forecast today was mixed, with the promise of rain at some point.
We felt that being so close to Bad Abbach we should take a look at the town. We booked out of the campsite and drove the van down close to the footbridge over the Danube. We then walked into the town finding a flea market in the main street. It was a genuine flea market with many people selling off unwanted items. One man was selling CDs for €0.50 and I could resist buying a couple that I hoped were cheesy old German music.
We then walked to the Konig Therme (Kings Spa) and, as we arrived, the heavens opened. It was lunchtime, so we walked into the restaurant and had a very pleasant pumpkin soup whilst we watched people in towels and gowns appear from the baths.
With excellent timing, the rain stopped and we walked up to the tower on the hill above the town. They are not sure exactly what the tower was used for but it formed part of the keep of a castle that no longer exists. Being a defensive castle site, there were good views over the Danube.
We walked back to the van and it started raining as we set off for our next stop – Kelheim.
The aire at Kelheim is on reclaimed land between the Danube and Altmuhl rivers, close to the confluence.
Photos: The flea market in Bad Abbach; The Konig Therme with a motorhome aire next to it; The tower; The Germans put a lot of money into public facilities – this is a foot and cycle bridge; A view of the Danube from the bridge.

Saturday 10th October – Bad Abbach, Germany

The weather forecast for was not good and, unfortunately, it was correct. We had our first serious rain of the trip and it was 4 o’clock before the clouds parted and we had some sun.
Photos: Late afternoon sun at our pitch.

Friday 9th October – Bad Abbach, Germany

The forecast promised us a dry day and so it turned out. It was however much cooler today and having temperatures close to or over 20°C every day so far, the 14°C maximum was a bit of a shock. The T-shirt was replaced by sweatshirt and fleece and we set off before 09:00 to walk the 25 minutes to the bus that took us into Regensburg. The German bus service is very good and here we were able to buy a 24 hour pass for €5.50.
The bus station, next to the train station, is on the edge of the centre of the city and a short walk took us to the cathedral. The hugely high nave is impressive but most of the interior is surprisingly plain, the exception being the stained glass windows, which are dark but beautiful and very intricate. The other highlight is the Baroque silver altar that dominates the view down the nave.
We saw the name Dr. Johann Maier, a preacher at the cathedral, on a large plaque in the nave and also on his grave in the crypt. Using Google we were able to establish that in April 1945 during the Nazi retreat, he publicly pleaded with the authorities to surrender the city rather than have it destroyed during a battle. For that he was sentenced to death and publicly hanged.
We moved on to the Tourist Information Office that is housed in the City Hall. This is also the building where civil marriages are held and there were wedding groups all around the square, with at least three couples waiting for their ceremony.
We always like to try to get a town/city self-guided walking trail and we were directed to a QR code where we downloaded an app. This gave us an interesting guided walk with spoken information at interesting points.
Jane fancied a pizza for lunch and we stopped at L’Osteria, found a table in the window and ordered two pizzas. The waitress explained that their pizzas are very large – did we really want one each? The man dressed in a red T-shirt sat at the next table turned out to be English and he advised us to have half each. He said that he had been starving himself for 3 days so that he could eat a whole one. We now realised that he had ‘Viking’ on his T-shirt and he explained that he was the cruise director for one of their boats. Viking have come under fire recently because their Danube cruises have turned into coach trips with the boats as a base. He explained that the Danube is the lowest ever since records began and many sections cannot be navigated. Viking have boats all along the river that are either stranded or can only move up and down a short section. Viking have had to organise coach trips to transfer the passengers from one boat to another further along the river. It must be a logistics nightmare! Our friend said that it is the most difficult time that he has had in his fifteen years working for Viking. Having said that, he also said that the passengers have been very positive and understanding.
We continued the walking tour to the famous Mediaeval bridge. Built between 1135 and 1146, it has hardly been changed since it was built and looks just as good. I climbed the bridge tower to see a view over the bridge and the city.
We walked back to the bus station and caught a busy bus back to Bad Abbach for the walk back to the campsite.
Photos: The Main-Danube Canal on the way to Bad Abbach; The Baroque altar of the cathedral; A novel method of wine transport; Evidence of the Roman fort of Castra Regina – the Porta Praetoria; The Mediaeval bridge – Steinerne Brucke; Reputed to be the oldest street food shop in the world, the Wurstkuche was built in 1320, probably for the workers building the Steinerne Brucke and it is very popular with tourists, especially those from the cruise boats that dock close by – there was a long queue when we were there; A view from the bridge looking back to the city; A view looking east along the Danube with an old mill on the left and an historic paddle steamer, now a museum, in the distance.

Thursday 8th October – Bad Abbach, Germany

We have been very lucky with the weather ever since we started this trip but we heard our first drops of rain during the night. The forecast for today was for showers but we had already decided to have a relaxing day catching up with chores, reading and writing blog. The rain was only brief, light showers but we were happy to be inside.

Photos: None