One of my wife's friends happened to mention she had picked mussels in the Danube and that was enough reason for us to have to do the trip ASAP. The result was the impulse buy of an Itiwit 100x+ inflatable canoe to go with the 3 man canoe her friend owns. To be honest, I was a bit anxious about this little venture, the wife is a weak swimmer and the Danube is a big river. However, since we had already had a paddle in the sea off Croatia last year, and I found some life jackets, I decided all would be okay.
The trip along the Danube is not far from where we live, from Vohburg to Kelheim:
To make it a little easier, we drove to the start point and dropped off the canoes and then drove to the end and left one car there. The start and end points are quite popular, with beer gardens for sailors and spectators to enjoy the sunshine.
The inflatable canoe was pretty simple to put together and inflate, took about 10 minutes. We then lashed it to the main rigid canoe to add stability and make things a little safer.
We just lashed them together with the straps used to attach the canoe to the car. It was a lovely sunny day and lots of people were out to enjoy the river. I was surprised to see very few people with life jackets, the river looks inviting and peaceful but things can go very wrong, very quickly, in my experience. So better safe than sorry.
Suitably lashed, off we set and the river looks deceptively calm. The current is actually quite strong and we are just drifting along without paddling at a little over walking pace.