Day 30 Germany 18/10/2010 Engen–Immendingen–Tuttlingen–Hausen–Sigmaringen. 48.56miles/78.38km, 4hr54m, av 9.9mph.

A grey cold morning today, although the tent has kept quite warm during the night. The only problem is leaving it!

We rather underestimated the terrain that we would be travelling through today and had set ourselves a decent distance to the next stop. After effectively climbing for the first 12kms of the day, it became apparent that we might not make it as far as we had planned. A final 2km descent into Immendingen helped, but didn't really make up for the already tired legs that we were suffering from.

The mighty Danube was really little more than a small river where we joined it and on relatively level ground we started to claw back some of the time we lost earlier. The route into Tuttlingen was quite straightforward and we rejoined the Eurovelo 6 signs that should guide us all the way to the Black Sea.

Due to the shops being closed on Sunday we had to make a quick dash into a supermarket for supplies, which ate up more of our day. Sigmaringen was starting to look unlikely.

Nevertheless we pressed on with the route and entered what must be one of the most beautiful areas we have yet passed through. From Mülheim to Beuron the Danube follows a narrow gorge which along with the autumnal colours of the leaves made for a breathtaking sight. The hills through the trees were somewhat breathtaking as well! Especially as the hard packed track we were on was a bit sticky due to the recent rains.

We made it to Beuron and having had enough of the sticky tracks, Debbie suggested we took the road instead. With no idea of the terrain it was a bit of a gamble, which fortunately paid off. We soon got back to making good progress, plus we got to ride through some albeit short tunnels. The next 20kms went quickly and we made it to Sigmaringen in reasonable time.

It has been our hardest day yet but we got through it, hopefully tomorrow will be a little easier.

A special mention has to go to Debbie today, she really struggled early on with the hills. She never gave up and never got off her bike to push, even though I felt like it at times.