Day 46. Ulm to Ehingen via Blaubeuren. 44km, 2h45.
RAINCHECK: 442 RHINO POACHED IN SOUTH AFRICA THIS YEAR - a sobering thought!
World Cup fever is epidemic here now, with almost every house and car and many bicycles flying a flag, 99% German but there is a good spread from other countries. We would love to be flying our SA flag from the bikes, but it would be a bit out of place as Bafana Bafana and their incompetent bosses are sitting at home squabbling and wasting taxpayers' money. Pathetic and embarrassing - the best resourced country in Africa and we didn't qualify!
Anyway, now that the French Open is finished, it's great to be able to watch some brilliant soccer in the evening. Holland's thrashing of Spain came as a real surprise to me - and I'm still totally amazed at Van Persie's header.
Today is our long overdue rest day, so instead of spending the day in Ulm, we decided to take a gentle cycle westward. We took an alternative loop away from the Danube along the Blau River which flows into the Danube in the Fishermens' Quarter in Ulm. This took us along an easy route into the attractive limestone Blau valley to the village of Blaubeuren, famous for the Blautopf. This is a deep blue pool at the base of a limestone mountain where the water wells up from below to form the source of the river.
There was quite a gathering of people in Blaubeuren, drawn by the sights and a large craft market. The motorbikes were out in force. There was a huge mob of thuggish bikers with greasy grey ponytails and aggressive emblems on their black leathers. I heard the one American biker telling another about a KluKluxClan gathering he attended back home. Isn't it disgraceful? When will we humans ever learn?
From Blaubeuren we doddled along slowly to meet up with the Danube at Ehingen. Ehingen has a huge factory manufacturing massive cranes and other huge engineering equipment (Liebherr). We found a pension in the old town for a quiet evening. Jen had maultaschen for supper, a local pasta dish like big ravioli. The lady at the next table told us that the monks used to make it during lent to hide meat which they were not supposed to eat.
Taking a break at Blaubeuren.
Local pub in Ehingen.
It looks like you have cycled through such picturesque towns & countryside - well done on cycling 2000kms! That is a massive achievement - you must be so fit!
ReplyDeleteWonderful work you are doing spreading the word about rhino poaching. We woke up to the sad news yesterday morning that one of Kenya's oldest and biggest tuskers was killed a few days ago. I feel so heartbroken because the slaughter of rhinos & elephants continues at an alarming rate in Africa and one feels so powerless to do anything to stop it.