Day 6: Angels with paddles

Neustadt to Regensburg (50km)

After a good night’s rest, I headed back down to the river. As I approached the river, I could see what seemed to be another tent much higher up the bank, I simply assumed that someone else had joined the nice couple that I’d spoken to last night. I then saw my own kayak, considerably higher up the bank than I had left it. A little confused, I headed over a small hill, revealing that the river had risen over 2.5m over night and had completely flooded the area of grassland form yesterday. The tent atop the hill was not a new guest, it was Andreas and Nici from yesterday who had been abruptly awoken at 1am with the Danube as their unwelcomed guest. Selflessly, they had saved my kayak even before their own, moving it up the bank and out of the reach of the swollen Danube. Naively, I hadn’t tied my kayak to anything, without their intervention the kayak would’ve been swept off down the Danube, almost certainly bringing a sudden end to the trip. I thanked them several times, but it will never be enough, a very near miss and a big lesson learnt, saved by the angels with paddles.

The rise in water level also meant that the Danube was now flowing at a tremendous speed. This section of the river is quite popular for kayaking and it was clear to see why. In addition to Andreas and Nici, I saw another large group of kayakers, whom I briefly stalked, mostly to try and copy their paddling technique. The river then powered through a gorge which produced dramatic surroundings, through Kelheim and onwards towards Regensburg, my destination for the day.

Towards the end of the day, I came to my first portage lock. There are now large boats on the Danube which means that the locks have to be considerably larger in size. Therefore, it is not always a good idea for the large boats to mix with kayaks. To counter this, they have created kayak shoots at the side of the lock, which you simply paddle into and scoot down. I was a little apprehensive, so instead decided to chicken out and drag mine down the shoot. Still a much quicker method of manoeuvring passed a lock than the previous days.

It was a great day of kayaking and I was welcomed into Regensburg by the 3.15pm bells (they seem to have bells every 15 minutes in Germany). At the campsite, I got chatting to Clare, an English woman teaching geography in Brussels, who is on a cycling trip to Budapest. Apparently, the river had risen so high over night that it was causing chaos with the bike paths, perhaps I have chosen the smartest method of transport. We headed for dinner with Clare proving to be a more than able translator.

Best scenery so far, amazing current and beautiful weather, definitely the best day of kayaking so far, all made possible by my guardian angels, Andreas and Nici.