We’ve looped back to cross the Donau River again from the Inn River, a bit of Austria, and some little visited country in the south of Bavaria.

The canal provides us with an interesting way to return to the Main River, which took us downstream from Frankfurt to the Rhine at the beginning of our journey of rivers. We will return to Frankfurt on the Main from upstream.

I’m not sure of this, but from what we could see, the conjunction of the canals (it’s in a Y shape so really three) have been disconnected to allow the middle to develop into a rich riparian habitat. We did see one small sailboat headed south and wondered if it could be going to the Black Sea. I want to learn more about how canals work, and their effect in the riverine enviroment; a study of engineering and the environment, and whether reverse engineering works.

The rivers of Europe have been tamed for a very long time. A system of canals built over centuries for commerce, are now the backbone of a number of natural areas and system of trails used, by my unscientific visual estimate, millions, for transportation and recreation.

We rode for a couple of days in Naturpark Altmühltal, an area of limestone karst hills and agricultural valleys.We took a day in Eichstatt to get the stitches removed from my gum, necessitated by the tooth extraction a week before. It is a beautiful medieval town spared bombing damage in WWII.

It was sunny and hot the day we left Eichstatt for more trails along Altmühltal River.

The Altmühltal River, and the trails along it, led us to the Main River, the very river we began our journey of German (and a bit of France) rivers.

We enjoyed this section of trails which followed a large natural area between villages and towns. Germany is so populated that natural areas have to include agriculture and pre-existing populated centers, mostly small.One of the best surprises of this area was that it is a little known wine region with some lovely properties, and surprising wines.