Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Day 32: to Ingolstadt (72;1936)

Month 2 started early, and I was ready to go by 7.15 am. This was precipitated in part by being told that today was forecast to be 35 deg. This is clearly ridiculous. Though I spoke to a Frenchman yesterday who's ridden the Danube before and had had rain every day from Passau to Vienna. And the author of my guidebook had only 5 dry days out of 40 in July/Aug. So perhaps I shouldn't complain too much.

I say 'guidebook' - the map in it shows Yugoslavia as a country, so you can take it as being a little out of date. Don't worry, I also have maps.

...Which I made good use of today when a minor brainstorm took me massively off-route. I'd just done a bunch of hills, and then been signposted out of town into a hill-free plain and was feeling so happy about that I clearly missed the signpost that would put me back near the river. Instead I rolled along flat and straight for about 20 minutes before hitting the town of Rain. Which I had previously noticed in the far corner of my map, not on route...

So I had a little longer than expected before my lunch stop at Neuberg. Even so it was only 10.30, but luckily the cafe I picked at random was a brunch spot, so there were ten varieties of breakfast available. All centering on bread, meat and cheese of course, this being Bavaria... Since I am basically happy to eat anything I'm not suffering much from the menu translation problem, and it's quite fun to back-translate from plate to menu (ah, so  frühstücksei... That's 'breakfast egg' - meaning hard boiled egg...)

The afternoon was a change of scenery. Instead of villages the path took me out to an enormous (though closed) schloss, and then through sandy and woodland paths through its estate. Beautiful and cool in the woods, with the smell of wild garlic all around. A bit of a lack of signposting meant that every so often I did wonder if I were on the right path, and how long it would take someone to find me if not. Ironically the last time I stopped to check the map, having not seen any cyclists for ages, a string of ten tandems came along. That's got to be a recipe for the end of some beautiful friendships.

Ingolstadt is my destination tonight, but in truth I bypassed the town altogether and headed for the campsite, which is on a lake south east of the city. Unable to check in for a couple of hours I jumped in the lake instead. Absolute bliss. I write this from beside the lake where a string of baby coots are shouting at me because I haven't fed them.


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Hot, beautiful - and I have no idea where I am...



Lakeside camping tonight, no shower required!


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