Black Forest to the Black Sea - and people getting away with it!

I have no knowledge of, or interest in ,Modern Art but when I read about the apparently well respected  Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum i found the description of its setting was too tempting to miss and fortunately it was only 8 miles from my Europop infested pension and smack bang on the Danube.

On a man made peninsular facing back up river to Bratislava the building itself is dazzling and surrounded by a sculpture garden. On a glorious sunny morning it was wonderful strolling round looking at those sculptures ... I tried walking round inside too ... but philistine that I am I could not but think that "Art is anything you can get away with!" (Said by Marshall McLuhan apparently not Andy Worhol) is so, so true. And yes there was Worhol's masterpiece.

I was thrilled though to find that even a rusty plough can be awork of art ... I have one so that's my winter project sorted,

There was an excellent café too and I must admit I did while away most of Saturday morning there...

                                                                                                        A hard day at the office!

 A strange find on the way in to the museum. Apparently there is a Pilgrim  Route from Bratislava to Santiago de Compostela that joins up with the route I took in Spain a few years ago.

The water surrounding the Museum didn't look so much like a river as a lake... and a few miles further down stream you find out why ...  the  Gabcikovo Dam and hydroelectric power plant.

As with pictures of the river ... and churches ...and castles ,,, I'll limit photos of Dams but this was the first I'd come across  ... and if I make it to the Iron Gates Dam I must show that. 

The Dam was proposed in 1953, begun in 1977 and didn't start producing power til 1990's.  That was partially because as dams on the Danube ( and elsewhere I guess)  must significantly harm wildlife there has always been strong opposition to them and partially because the project was initially a joint effort between Hungary and Czechoslovakia but Hungary eventually pulled out.

Inside the Dam's visitor centre there is a 17 minute film of why it was all worth it ...  The Cycle Route Book I'm basing my trip on is fairly neutral in most things but must have had input from the same PR guys when it acknowledges  " ... the destruction of the floodplain landscape and the destruction of a sensitive ecosystem .." but goes on to say "instead a huge reservoir has been created that amazes visitors with its masses of water" Yeah right, Dam One, Sturgeons Nil!

Sorry, I'm going on a bit aren't I.

It is though an amazing construction with several generating stations and 2 massive Locks.

From the video.

Oh and mentioning churches, well I was, I've been showing you the really big ones. This one must get the "Smallest" prize it was in Sap or Szap.

Well nearly at my day's destination.....that's it across the river Esztergom in Hungary 

 taken from Slovakia.

and the Basilica ...

                                       ... and one happy traveller ...

 Talk tomorrow...

Black Forest to the Black Sea - and on to Slovakia.

 It has been truly a day of contrasts today.... riding my beautiful bike along the twisty roads following the river in brilliant sunshine and 27 deg is motorcyclists' heaven!

However within 8 or 9 miles of last nights stop is the Mauthausen Concentration Camp and the memorial to the 90,000 people from 40 different countries who died there. I won't dwell on that experience save to say 2 things.

How can we ask today "How did people let it happen"  

              and if Donald Trump visited the site these plaques may show him the true role and service of American Troops.

The rest of the day was like a travel programme....just view after view ... and, forgive me Gary and Bruce a bit like the American in Europe "it's Friday must be Slovakia.

Now I've never been on a River Cruise as I've said and although there are some lovely little towns and villages nestled along the river  ...

... I am noticing that there is an awful lot of bare green banking between places now. Still I suppose that's what the Gin and Tonic Deck is for!

As I travelled east through Austria the river got slightly more industrialised. In fact the factories around the docks in Linz could hardly be seen from the hills above the city due to the yellow smog hanging over them all.

I hit Vienna at rush hour on Friday evening so the centre held no attraction for me. Well you may say that’s not keeping to task – you are meant to be following the Danube. 

Here’s a pub quiz question then, What River flows through the centre of Vienna? You are right, it’s not the Danube. That flows around the city to the north. It started is northward progression in the 13th century becoming fixed in its current route in mid 19th century which means it wasn't even running through Vienna when Strauss wrote his hit (and ... spoiler alert ... it isn't even blue, it a mucky green colour)

The waterways in Vienna are Donaukanal and The River Wien

And no Mark I didn’t know that before I planned this trip … I'm as knowledgeable about Geography and Classical Music as I am Geology!

On arriving in Slovakia Bratislava was a surprise...as you approach the city it looks surrounded by scars in the hills from quarrying which bodes ill but it is so beautiful yet modern.

This photo obviously not mine.

Not speaking, or even being able to guess a rough interpretation of the language is an issue. I admit it does make casual acquaintances seem distant or brusque but to be fair how should they be expected to react to an old guy in big baggy dayglow clothes obviously unsuitable for the weather who mutters "Morning" with an unrecognisable english accent..

The staff at the places I’ve stayed have all been friendly and helpful though and most, after apologising for their bad english, put me to shame. 

They have all been fairly "straight laced" places but tonight's Pension in Rusovic was a kind of a cross between a bierkeller and what I imagine an old wester saloon to be like. 

Oh ... but the music,  makes me feel as if I'd been transported to the Eurovision Song Contest and Slovakia Nil Points!

Good Night!

Black Forest to the Black Sea - on into Austria.

 I was hoping to inject a bit of culture into the lives of anybody who takes the time to read this but as my so called mature, professional friends are discussing the merits of  Karstified rock v Blackpool rock I realise I'm on to a loser.

I think if I have to summarise today its been the outward affluence of this part of Germany ... and now Austria. Brand new BMWs, beautiful houses, boats, road and bridge building, new factories and pristine farms with acres and acres of rich farmland. I mentioned to someone already that there should be a per capita "Wealth Map" of the Danube ... I can't think that furthe down the river where I'm paying 13 pounds for B & B will be as charming. We'll see!

Today was full on, the sights just kept coming and coming and as I promised not to keep posting pictures of the river I'll also have to limit the sights.

 Just a few miles from Bad Goggin where I stayed last night  was Weltenburg Abbey  

a Benedictine monastery founded in about 617. Not only a beautiful building but on a peninsula at the point where the Danube stops its meandering over the flat valley bottom and follows the path it has cut through rock  - the Weltenburg Narrows (The ariel view obviously not mine)

the "Liberation Tower" on the hill above the town of Kelheim in Bavaria built on orders of King  Ludwig 1
                                             in order to commemorate the victories

                                             against Napoleon in 1815.

Passau is a place I must visit again ... but when the temperature is not 25deg C and I'm in full bike gear ... oh and when so many river cruise ships aren't in!  It looks a beautiful vibrant place.

And on into Austria ...

                 A lot more cruise ships now. A bit like my trip on Route 66..that is 2448 miles long but tourists are usually steered to just 225 miles of it ... well most Danube Cruise typically start in cities like Vienna, Budapest, or Passau  and few go all the way to the Danube Delta and the Black Sea.

 Never done one but they look amazing ships ... or are they boats?

I was fascinated by the field and fields of what i think are melons but I may be wrong  (Roger???)...how do they get them in rows when harvesting them.

 Easy use a melon plough...

Clarkson should get one!

Anyway, I prattle on and am probably boring you.

                                Am in Austria tonight Slovakia tomorrow..... good night.

Black Forest to the Black Sea ... now you see it, now you ...er still see it!

 

Well I guess you could say the trip starts properly today...I'm saying goodbye to Hotel Waldblick where they let me put my bike in their garage so no one taking the micky out of me for covering my beloved bike in a tarpaulin ... and setting off along the Danube at last. 

Remember yesterday when I gazed pensively at the water flowing from the spring at the source of the Breg and I said it was amazing to think that some of this water will end up in the Black Sea  ... or even the Rhine ....well here's the explanation.

Some 20 miles from Donaueschingen just after the Danube has sorted itself out and is heading for the Black Sea it disappears .. or it does for an average of 200 days a year ... and leaves a dry riverbed. This is know as the Danube Seepage.  The young river flows over karsified rock ... my Civil Engineering friend will know what this is, I didn't ... and is full of sink holes, caves and the like and so down the water goes.

Then it reappears at different points, some rising the continue on as the Danube BUT some goes into Lake Constance and eventually flows into the North Sea via the Rhine.

This then explains this sign near the source of the Breg

       and starts me thinking of next years trip!

Now, I didn't know all this and so was looking forward to walking along the seepage like these children shown on a sign near the seepage site..... unfortunately today was not one of the 200 days so the Danube was in full flow.....

                     there are going to be a lot of pics of water in this blog ... the warning is in the title ... but I promise I won't post a picture every time the river comes into sight.

So moving away from the river I'm finding the churches fascinating...I think most in the area I'm passing through today are Catholic ... I'm sure I'll be told if I'm wrong  ... but the contrast on the skyline when they are based on Orthodox architecture with the globes is wonderful. 

          ... and loved this mural....it's how I imagine myself... hey I had hair like that once, 

                but my bike then was like this ...

... not quite easy rider eh!.        

In Bad Gogging tonight  ...   honestly  ...  217 Miles completed and hopefully counting.

Good night.

Black Forest to the Black Sea ... The source... which source?

Riding from the source of the Danube… an easy statement to make eh …wrong!

The source of the Danube River has been a bit of a touchy subject because there’s been rivalry between 3 competing sites … the source of the river Breg, a spring in Donaueschingen and the confluence of the 2 rivers the Breg and the Brigach.

If you accept the claim that it really starts at the confluence of the two source rivers then Hydrologically speaking (never thought I’d use that term in a blog)  the source of the Danube is the source of the River Breg which is longest and has a greater flow than the Brigach. 

The Breg which rises near Furtwangen just a few miles from Donaueschingen  at  a place near St. Martin's Chapel is also called the source of the Danube or Donauquelle and is now protected as a natural monument.

But romantically …and who doesn’t like a bit of romance … “by agreement of the German Parliament” who got involved, the source of the Danube is now considered a spring located in a stone basin on the grounds of the Prince of Fürstenberg's palace in Donaueschingen as “it has been bubbling in the city since 1488”.

Would it be cynical to suggest a few brown envelopes were distributed by the good Burgermeister of Donaueschingen.    

Anyway…as I’m here and it seems important I decided to visit all 3 then I can’t go wrong.  The confluence of The Breg and Brigach was a wonderfully peaceful place.

 Amazing to think that some of this water will end up in the Black Sea  ....... or even the Rhine ....why will be revealed in tomorrows blog hopefully.

A bizarre thing happened as I walked down to the statue at the source of the Breg. This text came up on my phone, honestly!!!

            I often go wrong on trips but ...

And just so you know how much I rough it on these trips by having to eat local…Apfelkuchen ... thanks for the recommendation Heidi!

Ah well .. On the road proper tomorrow.....

2840km to go according to the plaque at the spring in the  the grounds of the Prince of Fürstenberg's palace in Donaueschingen.

Talk later

 

To the Source

 

Well, finally on my way but uneventful so far, just a long slog south to the Chunnel then mile munching on motorways through France Belgium, Luxembourg to Donaueschingen the town in the Black Forest where the Danube starts. 

I say uneventful, and it was, but sobering at times as I rode past Ypres, Mons, Charleroi ... places our grandad had fought over a hundred years ago and here I was riding purely for pleasure.

The "long slog" ended dramatically when I entered Germany and the roads and scenery changed. I haven’t been to the Black Forest before and although it was dusk WOW… so beautiful and so vast. 

I had intended to split the journey down more but the weather forecast was strong winds and thunderstorms, so I kept going as long as it kept fine … and it kept fine all the way so arrived in Donaueschingen eightish tonight.

It’s obviously not the time of year when normal blokes take motorcycle trips. I’ve been on shuttles packed with bikes wasn’t another bike on time I had a carriage to myself  … is that an omen ?? 

You always see something on road trips that make you say “What” or “Why” to yourself.

On the way into Calais I saw a massive Viking God on the back of a truck …. ”What?”  

Then these pics turn up on facebook and I see there was a Giant's Festival earlier that day. Looks like it was throwing it down so the Viking God must have been with me.

The “Why?” was this ….. no idea!

Well one tired would be biker so off to bed.....talk tomorrow Viking God and WiFi permitting,

Good night.