A grey cold day greeted us in Fridingen, with a biting artic wind , so it was back to 5 layers of clothing. A peaceful night in Gasthof am Sonne so a little hard to leave its warmth. Scenic ride through limestone scenery with more places with the Danube disappearing a little underground.It was very rural and suprisingly hilly on unmade cycle paths ie. Muddy and slippy.

Progress was slow and luckily we found a Hotel open on our route serving coffee and cake to speed us up a bit., that didnt last too long. Our last serious hill of the morning took us up to the monastery at Beuron which we couldnt stay at as it was fully booked. Thank goodness that hilly section at the end of our 2nd day would not have gone down well. Eventually we got to Sigmaringen with its imposing castle owned by the Hohenzollers german royalty. Our first Hotel we parked our bikes at offered Greek food so a welcome ouzo apperitif warmed Mick and myself up.

As the day progressed the wind seemed to pick up so peddling into the wind was very slow.At last we reached the side route Id planned to reach the nuns abbey I’d booked for the night seeing as we couldn’t get into the monastery.The trouble is when you’re booking these things in the comfort of your armchair a 6km detour seems nothing but at the end of a hilly, windy day its a bit different.

The detour started up a steep hill, first my chain came off, sorted out by hubby and I was back peddling. Then Mick stopped, his chain or something had come off, with my fully laden bike its almost impossible to do a hillstart on so I peddled around the corner to nearly the top of the hill and walked back. Mick was clutching his derailleur the whole unit had sheared off.Hubbys gaffer tape was produced and it was taped up, no chain, no gears an unrideable bike apart from downhill. The kloster/abbey was phoned and they gave us a taxi firms phone number.

We then realised we were in the middle of the countryside and it would be quite difficult for a taxi to find us. Hundersingen was just along the ridge and down, so we figured best to get there as would be easier to locate us. Just as we rode and Mick coasted into Hundersingen we met an elderly man. On talking to him he suggested asking in the pub as they might know of a local taxi service. I walked into the pub with our new friend, not a woman in sight. I felt as though I’d entered a secret mens enclave, they were all sitting around a huge table.

No, no taxis in Hundersingen, they suggested we walked to the local railway station 3 kms away. This was not going to get us to the Abbey 6kms away. The lovely man who’d led me into the pub was clearly embarassed by this and then offered to go and get his car if we could wait 10minutes. What a saviour. Tim and I went back into the pub and grabbed an alcohol free beer and before we knew it Manfed was back with his car. Luckily it was the same car Mick owned so he knew with wheels off he’d get his bike in boot. I explained to Manfred where we were staying. He was so lovely offered to come back and put our bikes in his car aswell. I said no we were fine, another 6kms at 5pm was nothing…So off went Mick with Manfed, Mick thought he was being kidnapped as Manfred decided to take him to a bike shop first!Manfed couldnt speak English and Mick couldnt speak German..

Hubby and i set off , beautiful ride along the ridge. We found the heuneburg celtic remains of a huge village en route.Quick look around before heading off. Trying to find the abbey proved a little tricky as someone we asked said best to go through the pine forests, eventually we arrived past 6pm, it was a huge place. Mick already there and bike at bike shop, a thousand thanks to our friend manfred.! As for staying in the historic abbey well…

•