74 miles ridden – 913m climbed – temperature 21C (max 25C).

Today was a day of two halves. The first half was lumpy and the second half was flat. There were two climbs of note and the first about 3 miles in was 18% which is not to be underestimated. Many cycled a part of it, stopped for a while and then cycled a bit more. Some walked it but with 70 miles still to go everyone was careful.

We had a tailwind for most of today which was wonderful but not the consistent road surface we enjoyed yesterday. Annoyingly I got a puncture which although quickly fixed slowed me down sufficiently that I couldn’t fully enjoy the first tea stop at 19 miles.

The scenery was very similar to yesterday.

No picnic lunch today but Peak Tours presented us with a conundrum. We stopped at a small hotel which provided some wonderful food. I had Turkey schnitzel with a creamy pineapple curry sauce and rice. It was delicious but I still had 32 miles yet to ride. What should I do?

Answer : I exercised self-control and left about half of /it hoping that it would not repeat and that if it did, it would hopefully taste just as good second time around!

The afternoon was fairly straight-forward. We followed a section of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal (now that is what I call a lock!)

We then followed the River Altmühl for a short period until it merged with the Danube itself.

The structure on the top of the ridge is the Befreiungshalle or Hall of Liberation built at the confluence of these two rivers to commemorate victory over Napoleon.

By afternoon tea a slight ticking noise on my bike was seriously annoying me and as another rider needed to get to a bike shop for a front derailleur problem the decision was taken to rush to a place near Regensburg station so see if they could help. Fortunately for us they could – great result but that did mean exploring time was reduced and I don’t have pictures of the city yet. Let’s see what time I am awake in the morning…..