Wednesday 14th October – Paulushofen, Germany

Jane walked along the opposite bank of the river to an archaeological site whilst I followed the marked Three Castles Walk. The route was mainly on forest tracks and took me to the three castles around Reidenburg – Rabenstein, Rosenburg and Tachenstein. The first and last are ruins whilst Rosenburg is well preserved and is now a commercial falconry centre. It was a very pleasant walk with some lovely views over the Altmuhl, Riedenburg and the surrounding countryside.
We met back at the van for lunch and then walked into the town. It has a pretty main square with nice architecture and one of the buildings was a brewery. A feature of the Bavarian towns that we have visited is that they all had at least one brewery. Reidenburg is only a small town but it has two breweries. Bavaria has the highest density of breweries in Germany with 647 breweries in total. Bavarians are very proud of their beer and drink a lot of it – 130 – 135 litres per person per year compared with a German average of 84 – 88 litres. Walking to a small lake on the edge of the town, we came across a very large beer garden. It was clear that it was there to cope with the large number of tourists that visit the town, especially by cruise boats when the river level allows. The volume of visitors would help to support the two breweries.
We drove the short, but scenic, distance to Paulushofen. Some stellplatz are run by restaurants that allow overnight motorhome stays without charge if the occupants eat in the restaurant. I had found very good reviews of the restaurant so we decided to try it out. We found a pitch in the car park at the back of the hotel with a view over open fields and then checked with reception that it was okay to stay. Shortly after we arrived a coach and three more motorhomes joined us.
I wanted to watch a webinar at 8 o’clock, so we went for an early dinner at 6.45 and found that the restaurant was full of people who were just being served their desert. Given that they were almost entirely older females, we decided that it was a Merry Widows coach holiday. They were certainly merry – they were all drinking pints of beer or half litres of wine and then they moved on to liqueurs. Being slightly more restrained, we shared a half a litre of wine with our excellent meals. Jane had roasted venison that was very tender and had a lovely flavour and I had a huge piece of shoulder pork on the bone with excellent crackling. This was accompanied by help-your-self salad bar – very welcome given the amount of meat that we had. Landgasthof Euringer is a family-run hotel, restaurant and butchers and they proudly state that all of their meat comes from local farms (their own farm in the case of the pork) or local hunters for the game.
The village church is very close to the hotel and the clock rings the quarters with very loud bells. We were pleased that all went quiet after the 10 pm striking but at 6 am it started again with extended bellringing for a service.
Photos: The Rabenstein Castle ruins; A panoramic view of the Althmuhl River; Looking down on Reidenburg; Jane took this photograph of the pretty Reidenburg riverfront – note two of the castles on the hills above; Graffiti is nothing new, this carving, dating from the early 19^th century, was on the balcony in the church, perhaps carved during long, boring sermons; sunset at Landgasthof Euringer.

 

Tuesday 13th October – Riedenburg, Germany

The coldest night so far, it was 3°C this morning when I checked.
We walked into the town and headed for the museum that is housed in an old grain store dating back to 1480, which was constructed from the remains of a ducal castle. The ground floor is devoted to archaeology and very well displayed. The information boards were all in German but we were lent a very helpful booklet in English that had good explanations of all of the display cases. Upstairs was a display of Celtic life with lots to interest children as well as adults. A separate section was dedicated to local history. A really good museum and well worth a visit.
There are two drinks supermarkets within a few metres of each other and just a couple of minutes’ drive from the stellplatz. We drove there, did some food shopping  and then I checked out the drinks supermarkets. Aisle upon aisle of crates of beer meant that choosing a few bottles was difficult but fun. I managed to buy a selection of Weltenburg Abbey beers and also some from the local Kelheim brewery – Schneider Weisse.
We drove on up the Altmuhl Valley to Reidenburg, passing Prunn Castle set high up on a rock outcrop just outside the town. Reidenburg boasts three other castles close to the town and sits on a picturesque bend in the river.
We parked up in the extensive stellplatz (aire), which costs €11 per night with electricity at €2 for 12 hours.
Photos: One of the 14^th century gates of the Kelheim; Funerary urns from the 10^th to 8^th centuries BC found in a Kelheim cemetery; These beautiful pots were found in a Hallstatt (Iron Age) burial mound – the white decoration has been restored; I was like a kid in a sweet shop!

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.