Days Along the Donau

I had not looked forward at all to riding across Germany as I had imagined that I would be largely restricted to asphalt roads. But in fact to my surprise it has been a total delight, and with the help of our maps I have found myself riding along unsurfaced cart tracks through open fields and grassy paths through woodland and forest.  The tracks beside the Danube have been no exception ..........

 When I first encountered the Danube, or Donau as it is called in Germany, it was the wide waterway we ferried across to the south of Budapest in Hungary.   It has gradually become noticeably smaller as we travel upstream, and one is reminded of the great European river that it is by the signs showing distance from the Black Sea, which also remind me of the distance we have travelled from Ukraine ........

 I have had to cross the Danube several times, but on May 8th I made my last two crossings near Donauworth.   Andrea and Leo about to cross for my fifth time......

 The next crossing was over one of the many electricity dams on this part of the Danube.  The signs warn that riding across the dam is forbidden, but leading one's horse is permissible at one's own risk....

 .....and Zorbee and I made it safely across on our sixth and last crossing of the Danube! .....

 Another unexpected and intriguing surprise was to come across the northern end of the Via Claudia Augusta, an ancient Roman route across the Alps.  The circular stone is a replica of the Roman milestones found along the route.  And there is even a bench for Roman legionnaires to rest on at the end of their journey. See   http://www.viaclaudia.org/en/introduction.html  for more details of the road.

 Of course Andrea and I immediately had plans to ride along it some day!  But I would have to find a horse to keep up with Leo, who marches along at top speed as can be seen in the photo below - yes he is walking.  He would very quickly disappear out of sight where it not that he stops to graze every hundred yards or so. 

 Where is she taking me now?........I study my maps while a bored Zorbee waits patiently.....