Cycling from London to Istanbul - Leg 3

The Donau Radweg (Danube Cycleway)Guest Blogger Ben Wade is cycling from London all the way to Istanbul. Here is the fourth of his dispatches, documenting the leg from Stuttgart to Budapest:

'It’s pouring with rain and I'm going out cycling.' I seem to have been thinking that a lot over the last couple of weeks. My original plan was to wait for it to stop, but if I’d have done that I think I would still be sheltering in Stuttgart, and that would have been a shame, because the cycle to Budapest has been great fun. The last 1,200km have included wide-open plains, steep wooded valleys, historical old towns, 3 capital cities, the help of many friendly people and amazingly, still hardly any hills.

Leaving Stuttgart I headed southeast in order to reach the Danube. There are cycle routes throughout Germany and I could have followed these all the way to the city of Ulm. Instead I choose to ride along some of the main roads on a more direct heading towards the town of Gunzburg a little further downstream. For someone used to cycling along busy British A-roads I found the German equivalents surprisingly quiet, with the majority of motorists preferring to use the super fast Autobahns. Unfortunately, a slight miscalculation of the distance between Stuttgart and Ulm meant my planned easy day to the Danube turned into a bit of a slog. In fact, I got the measurement so wrong I was forced to camp in a field for the night as the evening light faded.

The Donau Radweg
I managed to meet the river the next day though, and here joined the Donau Radweg – Danube Cycleway. There are lots of websites dedicated to this route, many of them written by travel companies offering guided tours but I found these two particularly useful when researching the trip; www.eurovelo6.org and www.donau-radweg.info. The Donau Radweg is one of the most popular long distance cycle routes in Europe and is a joy to follow. Well signed, and relatively flat, with plenty of places to stop for beer or coffee it is easy to see from where its popularity arises. The route is part of the EuroVelo network www.ecf.com (check the links on the left hand side) and follows the river all the way to the Black Sea, which just happens to be exactly the way I was heading. Suddenly Turkey didn’t feel so far away, although it was.

A 'bike station' (known as a 'Radstation') on the Donau Radweg, which stocks maps, local infomation and refreshments and where you can book accommodation aheadMy first stint along the Danube was relatively short, however, as a good recommendation from a borrowed guidebook, The Danube Cycle Way, (www.cicerone.co.uk), sent me North near Donauworth into the Altmühl Valley (http://altmuehltal.de/). This relatively short d-tour avoided some of the more industrialised sections of the Danube around Ingolstadt and the new scenery more than made up for the extra miles pedalled. It is a valley well equipped for cycling, with great cycle routes away from the main roads and during the busy summer months there is even a dedicated bus service that allows you and your bike to be dropped off at various towns and villages along the way.

After a couple of days in the Altmühl Valley and with the help of some music from my MP3 player I rejoined the Danube at Kelheim and was soon singing my way into Austria where the cycling, unlike the weather, just got better. From the historical border town of Passau, the Danube meanders its way through the Austrian hills before flowing past the towers and domes of Linz. This is a particularly popular section of the route and even this early in the season I met many other cyclists on short, organised 2 and 3 day excursions, many having there luggage transported from one overnight stop to the next. Unfortunately the drivers on these tours seemed reluctant to offer a similar service all the way to Istanbul! After Linz the path continues along both sides of the riverbank to the Austrian capital, Vienna. It was great to see so many people out cycling here, from long distance tourers, to local commuters and families out together with a picnic. Being overtaken by a young child complete with miniature panniers and basket made me feel proud, his enthusiasm for the road ahead matching my own and that of any other cyclist I expect. This feeling was then replaced by despair as I failed to catch him up on the next hill!

Ben's d-tour meant he avoided some of the more industrialised sections of the DanubeOne thing I’ve learned along the route so far has been to avoid big cities where ever possible. The busy traffic, the ease with which I seem to get lost, and the inevitable nervous dash into shops while my bike and everything I own is left outside to the mercy of passers by, make built up areas stressful and time consuming for a cyclist. The Danube flows right through the middle of Vienna however, and it was great to explore the Austrian capital on my way through. The same applies to Bratislava, whose suburbs loomed menacingly on the horizon long before I’d crossed the Slovakian border. The relatively small city centre was very inviting and revealed a particularly good coffee stop away from the rain. After an amazing section of dual lane dedicated cycle way leaving Bratislava though, the recognised route became slightly more erratic and badly maintained. Was this a taste of things to come? The occasional thundering truck and beeping cars were quite a shock after so long on dedicated cycle paths, and the continuing rain meant that by this point I even had to wade along some flooded sections of road. Then suddenly Budapest appeared around a bend in the river, which after 2500km on the bike I decided would be a good place to stop for a rest and a dip in the city’s famous thermal baths. The city also marks the halfway point for my trip and I celebrated this not with a beer, or a glass of local wine, but with a packet of Jaffa Cakes that had somehow survived in my panniers all this way. It’s great what a month on a bicycle can do to your diet.

So half way there, and fortunately still a long way to go. Western Europe has been a wonderful area to begin my cycle touring adventures and has been a great introduction to this form of travel. Campsites and accommodation have been well advertised and easy to find, there’s always a local bakery or fruit shop around the corner, and routes have been well signed and often safely away from the main roads. From Budapest, where western and eastern Europe meets, I look forward to seeing how the journey continues and these two ‘halves’ of Europe compare. A look out of the window and I can see it's raining again, but I’m excited about the adventures that lie ahead, and a few raindrops definitely can’t compete with that.

Read Ben's previous missives:

1. The Preparations
2.  Leg 1: London to Amsterdam
3. Leg 2: Amsterdam to Stuttgart 

You can follow Ben's route from London to Istanbul on this google map of Ben's route.

For a wide selection of unique and adventurous cycling holidays, see greentraveller's Cycling holidays in Europe reachable by train.