Project Petal ~ Outer Circle Part 3 ~ Donauwörth to Ingolstadt

16-Nov-2025

Since I didn't feel quite at home at the Furvaria (apart from getting those two-an-a-half hours of cuddles by the fluffy snep wolf) and since the weather is going to turn pretty crappy on Monday, I decided to cut my stay short and use the reasonably good weather today to complete the next part of the outer circle, and cycle onwards to Ingolstadt. The route there takes me almost entirely north of the Donau, with the exception of the part until Marxheim, where I chose to take the less hilly southern bypass. For a ride that pretty much runs parallel to one of the greatest rivers of Europe, this ride turns out to be pretty hilly. My key takeaway here is that the Donau valley is considerably less flat that the Lech valley.

But first, breakfast. Today that's a chocolate croissant and a pepper pretzel.

This morning, it briefly looks like it's gonna be a clear and beautiful day.

 

So I pack up, leave another empty room behind, and am on my way.

However, as soon as I'm on the road, mist starts to rise, and by the time I have reached the bridge south of Schäfstall, it has engulfed all of the land.

That gives the lakelands beyond through which the path winds a pretty mystic feel.

I then cycle on all the way to the Lech and across, the sun vainly attempting to beat back the rising mists.

 

 

 

On the other side, I try out yet another new road.

 

That takes me to this very nice bench.

 

The bench says "Come sit here", and the sign translates to the following:

I am the forest

I am ancient

I nurture the stag

I nurture the deer

I guard you from storm

I guard you from snow

I ward off frost

I protect the spring

I protect the plaice

I am always there

I build your house

I heat your stove

So, you humans,

keep me precious! 

 

After that, it's across the Donau once more, to the northern shore, and past the Furvaria (although no one is up yet at this hour, it's only 9:00 after all).

From here on, the ride proper begins. Into the heart of the mist. And before long, I find myself entering the Country of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen.

From there on out, the roads I take grow progressively more challenging.

 

They bring me to a nice Friedenskreuz ("Peace Cross") standing in the middle of the fields near Hatzenhofen ("Harrying Farmyard").

The roads get a bit better from there on out, and eventually, I find myself on a very pleasant segment leading down the northern shore of the Donau.

 

 

Here's a whole wedge of swans.

And the shoreline path also takes me right past the very impressive Finkenstein ("Finch Stone"). From the distance and through the trees with their few remaining leaves, I first thought it was a fancy castle with red roofs hewn into the living rock. But even so, it's impressive enough.

And now: Ducks!

That's enough Donau for now. How about a dead cyclist next?

 

It is now 11:15, and I am finally getting first signs of drawing close to Ingolstadt.

 

But before I get there, I still have some distance to cover.

Well, at least we're in Ingolstadt county now.

But not in the city yet. In fact, here's my most adventurous bit of the entire ride, taking me across fields and down a hillside.

But I manage to cut through, and soon end up on better roads again.

 

In Gerolfing, the search for a Geocache leads me up a small hill that is famous for its fantastic views... on non-foggy days.

And after that, I'm on the victory toad to Ingolstadt.

 

Within the city, I cross the Donau one last time by means of a very interesting bridge. It's a pair of wavy hanging bridges for pedestrians and cyclists, built on either side of a solid road bridge, with the middle parts drooping so low that you can cross beneath the road to the other side. That's the Glacisbrücke, by the way.

Afterwards, I make my way through the Luipoltpark, featuring the ruins of the Gumpe.

Shortly thereafter, I reach the central station of Ingolstadt, where I am very happy to find a heated waiting hall where I can sit down and warm up while I wait for the train home. It also has a neat mural inside.

By the way, you may have noticed that I did not mention lunch yet. That is because I didn't have any so far. Maybe you can imagine that I was not very eager to sit down on a damp bench in the cold fog on my way here, and since I had a good breakfast, I kept delaying lunch until I figured I might as well wait until I'm at the station or in the train. Looks like that plan worked, so now I get to heartily dick into by Nussecke and cheese bread roll here in the relative warmth of the station hall.

Unfortunately, the connection between here and my home is a bit more complicated. I could either take the Regionalbahn to Petershausen and then continue by S-Bahn from there, or the Regionalexpress to the Munich central station, and then backtrack by S-Bahn from there. Both take more or less the same amount of time, which is still more than twice as much as the train from Pasing to Augsburg took. In the end, I take the former, because of the simple fact that it departs earlier. And two train rides later (and a short ride by bike from the Allach station), I'm finally back home.

And that's it for this ride! For the next part, I plan to cycle from Ingolstadt to Landshut, but that won't be for a while. Now, it's time for winter break. But I'll be back next year. Until then, stay tuned, and be of great cheer! =^,^=