Hump Day!

It’s hump day. Notwithstanding that today is Thursday, for this trip it’s hump day because today we go over the hump that dominates the profile of this entire trip.

We are some of the few numpties that are riding EV6 west to east. We’ve been riding upstream nearly every day on La Loire, Le Saône, Le Doubs, the Rhine and most of the canals (with a couple of exception moments). That means we’ve been riding ever-so-slightly uphill. And there have been some butt-nutters.

Today, after we climb over this inconvenient hump we will meet up our old friend – the Danube – and it will be downstream all the way to Budapest.

The signage out of Radolfzell is dreadful. It’s the worst signage of the trip so far. We have a route planned out, but our route turns out to not follow EV6 very well, and we make fateful decision to abandon our route for now and follow the signs.

But the signs are rubbish, ambiguous and in some cases just plain wrong. There’s lots of stop and start while we check and double-check maps, make recoveries and in sticky warm weather that can all get a bit tetchy. Add to that my never-quite-cleared UTI from nearly three weeks ago is niggling away at me, and it makes for a pretty grumpy start.

We finally reach the point at the base of the main climb and the first part is a real butt-nutter. Fortunately the road levels out some and becomes a gradual but steady climb for about 12 or so kilometres. There are a few false tops before the final few rather unpleasant butt-nutter climbs (one of which my have reached around 14%) that bring us to the high point of the day and of the whole trip. I measured it at 854m with a climb of 549m just to reach this point.

From my Garmin 820 device: 1) climbing, showing what’s coming; 2) what a route looks like on the device; 3) at the top – 854m!

Enough of that. With breath recovered we continue on and pretty much fall off a cliff down into Tuttlingen. That is a 15% downhill cliff that runs for several kilometres. If you were coming east to west that would be a real killer!

We treat ourselves to lunch in Tuttlingen and, fed up with not feeling 100% I go in search of a doctor. A friendly and English-speaking pharmacist advises me to go to the clinic just upstairs which just happens to be a gynaecologist clinic and the lovely, sympathetic and English-speaking receptionist (once she is assured I am good to pay) says she can help me without me having to see a doctor. The only catch is that I have to pee in a cup. Cycling uphill in the heat is thirsty work and most liquid consumed goes to cooling the body. I’ve already had two bottles of a very nice cranberry and rosemary drink but it takes two glasses of water and patience before I can deliver.

Once I offer up my meagre sample it takes less than 10 minutes before I have a prescription in my hand. All up about €30 for blessed relief.

The supposed source of the Danube is further upstream of Tuttlingen, but this is the first place we meet it. It’s a pretty unimpressive trickle here, but as we get further downstream on our last 20km of the day it swells somewhat and enters a gorge.

The gorge makes for some pretty amazing scenery as we make our way to Jägerhaus Gasthaus, but we are also racing against the weather, with rain predicted for this evening. We beat the rain, thankfully, and our accommodation is pretty amazing, nestled in the river valley with towering granite cliffs on all sides. It’s so lovely here and with rain predicted for tomorrow we immediately ask if we can stay two nights. But tomorrow is Friday and the place is booked out. Damn! There’s some pretty heavy rain predicted so we cross our fingers and hope there is a cancellation before we leave in the morning.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 59.56km
• Climb: 636m
• Average speed: 14.8km/h
• Average temperature: 26C
• Moving time: 4:02:05
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken on the balcony of our room in the Jägerhaus Gasthaus which has wonderful views of the valley and cliffs surrounding us.

Along the way today: