Day 2: I prefer driving

Tutlingen to Ulm

Even though yesterday was a little shorter than planned in terms of distance, it was still by an enormous margin, the furthest I have ever kayaked. As a result, the arms were a little stiff this morning. I had a decision to make, my parents are heading back home tomorrow, meaning that this would be the last day where I could rely on their help should I encounter issues. I decided to leave the kayak on the car and we would drive to Ulm. Kayaking the Danube is not that common, but Ulm tends to be the place where most people start, most probably because of the exact issues I faced yesterday. While it would’ve been great to kayak the entire length, I simply didn’t know if there would be any more dry spells on the river. With a couple of people, it would be possible, but individually, it was taking around 45 energy sapping minutes every kilometre when the river ran dry. Ulm is about 110km up the river and any dry spells after here would be spectacularly rare.

We made the drive the Ulm and despite a massive diversion, arrived in good time and checked into the hotel. We stopped for lunch in a restaurant run by the eccentric Dany, where one member of the family managed to leave a very valuable item behind. I won’t mention names, but anyone who knows our family well will know exactly who I am talking about, fortunately the item was safely waiting for us when we returned.

The rest of the day was spent drying to plan a route across Germany, well not planning a route, that is pretty well determined, but planning where I might stay. It was proving quite difficult to know the exact distances between places. The bike maps were not very accurate as the bike path often drifted away from the road. Furthermore, having only one day of kayaking experience, I still had absolutely no idea how far I could realistically go in one day. I made a preliminary plan and we headed for dinner.

Another massive thanks to my parents for their long slog down to Germany. There’s no way this trip would’ve happened without them. The bike will now return home with them, but the kayak, it’s coming with me, all the way to the Black Sea.