The Nekkartal ... and a "Day to Remember"

The journey up the Nekkar continued on from Gundelsheim and by shortly after lunch-time we reached Besigheim. Stopping for a beer in the sqaure we discovered that later in the evening was an outdoor performance of the opera Nabucco. There weren't any campsites in the area but I asked a couple at the next table if they knew of anywhere we could pitch our tent for the night. The lady only owned a vineyard overlooking the town and said we could stay there for free! ... and her brother drove me up in his car to show me the way, before bringing me back to the cafe where Di and his sister were waiting. The hill was a bit daunting and after the Fat Lady had done her stuff we toiled up to our "campsite" ... only to find in a nearby vineyard an impromptu rave was going on. Nabucco was enough music for one night so we upped sticks and found another quieter spot and 'wild-camped'.

Stuttgart and the industrial middle section of the river soon passed and once more we were out in beautiful countryside heading towards Tubingen. The river was now no longer navigable and we began to notice we were climbing, still fairly gently and steadily but climbing for sure. By the time we reached Horb, the weather had turned really hot and sunny and after a wander around the steep narrow streets of the Alt Stadt, we fortified ourselves with a beer before setting off on the really long and steep climb up to the campsite. The tarmac was melting and still the track climbed; a welcome respite came from the shade of the trees, but in the gaps between the sun really was beating down.

We were rewarded at the top with some cold beers from the campsite kiosk, and as soon as the tent was up I went for a swim in the pool. We decided to forgo cooking in the evening and ate in the restaurant instead - we figured we deserved it!

It's 100k from Horb to the Nekkarquelle (the source of the river) in Schwenningen, and then across the watershed to the Donauquelle (the source of the Danube) in Donaueschingen. There's also about 450m of climbing to do as well. We set out from Horb with the intention of doing it in two stages; the first involving the big climb to the town of Rottweil (of dog fame) where we'd wild-camp, and then on the second day cross the watershed. As it turned out, with an early start and slightly cooler weather we reached Rottweil by early afternoon. It is a truly beautiful old town and after we'd had a look round, took a few pics and had a rest, we decided we were fit to carry on all the way. It turned out to be a pretty exhausting day in the end though, and the last 10k were 'elastic' - (seemed to stretch for ages!)

Nevertheless, today we managed to see the sources of two of Europe's major rivers - The Nekkar and The Donau (Danube) within a couple of hours of each other. Today was also very memorable in as much as we passed the 1000k overall trip distance at the Altebrukke in Oberndorf; but most significantly of all, today brought us to Donaueschingen and to the campsite where we first met just over a year ago.