Today we chose a shorter route, as we are both feeling tired and stiff (maybe still from the Alps?). Our route was only 28km, from Falkenbach (Freyung) to Spiegelau. We were on nice small roads, all sealed, and nominally following the Donau-Bayerwald cycle route – in any case we spotted cycle route signs every now and then. There are no other cycle tourists on these routes – probably too hilly!

We left late (9.30!) after a good breakfast in the historic cellar of the gasthaus.

Typical German breakfast

The areas we rode through became more wooded, but remain very hilly – some long stead uphill climbs and some nice downhill runs. The only largish town we rode through was Grafenau.

This is a typical scene half way up one of the hills.  Notice the tractor in the foreground – we have seen a lot of activity involving silage cutting over the past couple of days – even though today is a Saturday farming activity continues.

We arrived in Spiegelau around lunchtime. We stopped at the Penninger Schnapps brewery near the start of the town – where we admired the beautifully packaged and decorated bottles and were given some to taste. My favorite was the Lusen-Hexe Heidelbeerlikkor. We bought some little bottles to try out later.

We got to our accommodation too early to check in. Hotel-Pension Salzsumerhof is alongside a big green field with plenty of open space, so we used our time to give the bicycles some attention. Kris needed to try to re-seat his tire, which has been running uneven since he changed the flat tire three days ago. Jenny gave the bicycles a wash and oiled the chains – they were getting very grubby after much riding on unsealed paths.

We had a quick look around the rest of the town – not much to see – it is the start of a number of tramping trails into the national park (Bavarian Woods) and that seems to be the main tourist activity.

We ate in the gasthaus in the evening – it was a treat to have a home cooked meal of salad, soup, and goulash with dumplings.