Day 35: to Engelhartzell, Austria (95; 2214)

Last night ended with companionable watching of the World Cup opening match, and today I rode on with these same three companions, Boris, Henry and Danielle. V nice to have company to chat to though they do ride quite fast (Horace clocked 45 kph on the downhill from the campsite, and I was going the slowest!).

Today was perfect cycling conditions, including a reasonable tailwind. We made it to Passau mid afternoon. Passau is a big tourist destination and the start of the heavy cycle traffic on the classic holiday route - though I haven't seen noticeably more yet. The river Danube meets it's bigger sister, the Inn there, and there is a startling effect where the two rivers meet: the Danube is dark and the Inn light brown so you get strange swirls until it mixes fully. From then on the southern bank is Austria and the northern one Germany.

In the midst of a 'which campsite' debate we crossed by ferry and so I hit my 8th country of the trip! Hello Austria.

The final campsite (all others had been rejected for not showing football) is slightly mad. Coming towards it the road was closed - in essence so the region's firefighters could park on it while they all take part in some kind of river races, happening immediately in front of the campsite. The races seem to consist of upstream punting, which looks quite a lot like hard work! The campsite also has big outdoor swimming baths in the middle of it - and the space for tents is a narrow strip with a hardcore base. Since my tent can't stand without tent pegs this wasn't really working for me. However I've been allowed to move to the end of the children's play area which is a rather select spot and decidedly softer!

Early morning swimming, here I come.

Day 34: to Kapfelberg (88; 2119)

An absolutely super day, in which fortune has been favouring the bold.

I returned to Regensburg old town first thing in order to visit the cathedral which is marvellous; beautiful stained glass and wonderful sculptures of St Peter everywhere. Also the full set of bones of the 13th C founder of Regensburg in the crypt, lovingly wrapped in gauze and bound with gold braid. 

Unlike many I have visited of late the cathedral was completely silent, the loudest noise being my bike clips on the stone floor. 

I've always thought cathedrals to be wonderful places, sort of like National Trust parks in that you can't quite believe that something so awesome is free and available to all. This year I have become a bit of a connoisseur and I have to say I find them incredibly moving - Santiago is not the only cathedral that's had me welling up. Not that I have suddenly found the god that they are built for. But the human durability and love of beauty that they represent is something really special.  Time away from the scurrying of the rat race (or at least from work concerns and my usual sources of stress) has made me much more interested in such matters. Or perhaps I am just destined to become an old buildings buff in my old age.

I also picked up an exact replica of the Swiss Army knife I just lost which was exceedingly satisfying and lessens the blow.

I finally set off into a sunny but breezy morning, notably cooler (below 30!) yet still no thunderstorms.

For lunch I got detoured into the small town of Worth, which I imagine had to petition hard to get cycle signposting into it. Like on camino it happens fairly often that you get diverted into a one-horse town, presumably so they increase the chance of you patronising the local businesses. Whether it's useful or really annoying depends on how good the town's facilities are, whether they're open, and indeed whether you actually need a stop. I had a quick carb fix in a nice bakery and listened to the daily business being conducted for a bit. There's a lot of 'gruss Gott' here (which I think is literally 'God's greetings'), even the local cyclists were greeting me with it.

I hit one possible camping site early afternoon but for some reason kept pushing on even as multiple reasonable alternatives flew by. I finally went for a campsite a good few km off track but highly rated on my camping app. It was up a massive hill, but as a result has a view out a long way across the Danube plain. It's really a lovely spot and, even better, has three other cyclocampers who are friendly! (Two of whom are cycling to Dubai via Athens, Turkey, Iran... Hardcore). Very nice to have people to chat with even if they did invite me to watch the World Cup with them, which starts tonight.

Perfect weather, excellent cycling, and now some company. Perfect day!

Day 33: to Regensburg (95; 2031)

What a day.

At 4am the weather broke, at least temporarily, and I lay awake enjoying the cool and listening to the freight-train noises that squalls of wind make as they howl towards your tent across a wooded area. By 7 it was cool and overcast, by 10.30 it was sunny but I was thinking 'yup, definitely cooler than yesterday' when I saw a thermometer registering 30 deg. Comes to something when that feels cool. Big thunderstorms are forecast... As yet no rain has fallen.

Good news from Greece means that I spent a fair bit of this morning reconsidering my plans. If Alex and Duncan won't be there in July, my motivation for heading south (into increasing heat and mountains) is considerably lessened. Suddenly I feel free to go anywhere... After Budapest I mean.

Anyway: cycling. I set off the wrong way but a friendly local cyclist stopped me and put me right. The first 15k were straight and beautiful along a cycle track bordering the Danube on one side and a military zone on t'other. The Danube by now looking much wider and more peaceful.

The morning in general was easy - I had been rather fearing it as my map noted loads of uphill. When I found it quite easy I credited this to Nutella (breakfast of champions), only to notice on a reread that the steep buts were downhills, not up. Oh well, either way my legs aren't burning half as much after 24 hours off from hills.

At noon I arrived into Weltenberg, a hot honeypot due to its ancient monastery which continues to brew beer and milk tourists. 

Oh happy day! There's a boat, which is the traditional way for cyclists to avoid 10k or so of hot uphill while viewing one of the most spectacular sections. So I finally cruise the Danube, through fast-flowing limestone gorges. There's a handful of souls kayaking and little boys floating downstream on their bellies (these guys absolutely have the right idea) but other than them and our boat it is a very peaceful scene indeed. There's a German commentary, of which I of of course understand one word in five ('left-hand side' etc). I think one of the landmarks was a '5 million year old meteor crater' but it's entirely possible it was 500 million or indeed 5 thousand. I've not had reason to learn large numbers yet!

A hot afternoon was vastly improved by two swims: one half way along where I startled the locals by just ripping off my Tshirt and shoes and running in, bliss; and one instead of a shower this evening. 

Destination Regensburg - a town with 1000 listed buildings. Thus far I have seen the park, the river, and Netto. (Why does Germany have such abysmal taste in supermarkets? I've seen only Aldi, Netto and Lidl for days...) 

Update, later: well it's still massively humid but possibly less hot tonight, cool enough at least that I found the energy to head into town. It is a nice and rather majestic place with lots going on, including an organ recital in the cathedral so I couldn't enter. It also has both a travel book and map shop, and a penknife shop (sad to say I left mine at my breakfast perch earlier today, and miss it already). The shops don't open till ten though, so part of me thinks I may start late tomorrow and go for a short leg after perusing the cycling Europe maps for a bit!

The wind is rising - let's see what the night brings.

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!

Day 31: to Donauworth (92;1864)

Well without moments of bad you wouldn't enjoy the good, or something like that. After a FaceTime talking-to from Mum last night about avoiding sunstroke ('why don't you get up at 5am and cycle then?') I decided to just give myself a break today. Yesterday felt more like survival than pleasure, and given my lack of time pressure, there's no sense in that.

So, today I got going by 8.30 and made it to my planned destination (Dillingen) by lunch. No hills! Cool breezes! Some shade! Also, enough off-road that I was literally coated in white dust. Which presumably only enhanced the sunscreen it was sticking to.

Dillingen was an extraordinary looking town: not cute and medieval as most are around here, with their tall crooked buildings which often have either painted scenes on them or elaborately painted woodwork. No, Dilligen was grand: Oxford to most of Bavaria's Cambridge. (Though ironically it seems to be the only town around which does not have a university. How many medieval university towns are there in Germany?).

So that was 50+ km before lunch, and while it was hot I was prepared and not drained. I was not really ready to stop, but the next campsite was 40k away... 

These are the biggest dilemmas in my life right now. Sheryl Sandberg says, work out what you'd do if you weren't afraid, and then do that. And so, I went onwards.

I stopped twice more in the afternoon - once by a village fountain, where there was a blessed drinking-water tap, and then for a second alcohol-free weizenbeer of the day at the biggest Biergarten I've ever seen, also a sort of farm shop-cum-music venue. Quite a happening place and literally miles from anywhere in a sea of ripening cornfields.

I got fairly lost and honked at coming into Donauworth but made it round to the canoe club, which doubles as campsite in these parts. It was rammed with weekend canoeists but I found a far corner to pitch in, at which point they all packed up for the weekend! Leaving me with a pretty peaceful site, I reckon.

There's a good breeze today which I think has made a difference, temperature-wise. Well, for whatever reason, I feel fine after 90k today whereas I felt dead after 60 yesterday. I guess I just have to roll with that!

Day 30: to Ulm (69,1772)

Just wrote a long and slightly self-pitying entry, and then accidentally deleted it, hurrah for the iPhone! In summary: it's bloody hot (32 at 6pm) and staying so for a while, and I need to find a better strategy to cope with it.

Also: Ulm is surprisingly nice! Tallest minster in Europe.

Day 29: to Riedlingen (91; 1703)

I woke up singing Florence and the Machine (...'it's always darkest before the dawn..'). With a start like that, this was always going to be a good day. Though with a forecast of 32 deg it was also going to be a total scorcher.

Without any breakfast or other distractions I speedily got through the morning pack-up and was rolling by 8.15. Definitely a record, though by the time I had returned my key to the swimming baths, which keeps them, and been to Lidl for emergency supplies, it was after 9. Incidentally, if you should ever go to Tuttlingen the thermal baths look amazing. 

This section of Danube was simply stunning: limestone gorges and only bikes, walkers and tractors for miles. The path was through hay meadows and forests, and the sluggish-looking river had white flowers growing all over it and beaver living in it, apparently. The morning's countryside in general looked a lot like the bits of southern Bulgaria that Mum and I rode through a couple of years ago, including a towering monastery on the cliffs overhead.

After 35k the gorge began to widen and I passed the campsite I had vaguely hoped to reach yesterday. (No chance: plenty more hills this morning, one of which took my chain off as I crunched gears badly, though no permanent harm done).

The rest of the day was a mix of hilly woods and flat fields, merciful shade and hot breezes. Early afternoon I shot through Sigmaringen, a large-ish town where the population was walking around the riverside in bikinis, and then broke the golden rule with a large beer at a museum cafe around 3pm, with still 20k to go. It seemed to help though, and I powered through the remaining cornfields in a happy daze.

This seems a very religious part of the world, with crosses and shrines and crucified Jesuses liberally scattered around the landscape.

On a funny roll with low-key campsites. I shared my park last night with a bunch of French families, and an (unrelated) French boy who I had seen repeatedly yesterday. He is notable for having his lovely scruffy dog in a trailer behind him. 'So I'm not travelling alone' he told me. Very sweet, but I felt for him pulling the trailer up those hills!

Tonight is a small field in someone's farm. It's very nice however and, though nearly empty when I arrived, now filling up fast with other cyclocampers. I'm constantly amused by a) how much effort caravaners go to (lace tablecloths, flowers etc) and b) the need to plant a national flag wherever you go. I had been thinking it would actually be quite useful to show a British one, so people would stop speaking German to me and might be more inclined to English. But I am amused by hastily put-up tents with proud flags erect. Also by the need for old Dutch/Deutsch men to walk around in speedos... We're not near a bathing place you know!

Due to the proximity of a supermarket, my evening meal was delux: guacamole with crudités, spinach and ricotta pasta, and beer. There are more courses available but I'm too full for 'em. And the 'empty' gas cannister is still going strong!