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.