Still in Munich!

My phone is broken, so anyone trying to contact me, this is the reason! I am going to stay in Munich until tomorrow to buy a new one.

Inventory List

For those of you interested in the stuff I am taking with me, and those of you who might like to join me, here is a list of the kit I am bringing:

Bike, etc
Thorn Raven Tour bike
Brooks Saddle
Cateye Rear and Front Lights
Cateye micro wireless Trip Computer
Thorn Racks, front and back
Zefal HPX pump (and a spare mini pump)
Large Ortlieb Bar Bag
Ortlieb Map holder
Ortlieb Classic Rear Panniers
Ortlieb Front Roller plus panniers
Large Ortlieb Dry bag with shoulder straps
Shimano Deore LX brakes
Schwalbe Marathon XR tyres
Photocopies of Passort, driving licence and NHS card

Clothes
Fleece Balaclava
Buff
High Viz waistcoat
Short Finger gel gloves
Sunglasses
Alpkit Filo Down Jacket
High Viz raincoat
Ortlieb Sleeping mat
Thermal Top
Thermal Tights
Padded Tights
Baggy cycle shorts
Padded Lycra Shorts
Thin Fleece
2 pairs of thick Socks
Short and Long Sleeve Cycling Shirts
Light weight tracksuit bottoms
Travel Towel
Waterproof gloves
Warm Hat
Turnbull & Asser cotton shirt (well, some luxuries?)
Cashmere jumper
Blue jean cords
5 pairs of boxers
Exustar Stelvio leather SPD cycling shoes

Random Useful Stuff
Petzel Head Torch
Antibacterial Gel
Top Peak multi tool
Scissors
Combination lock with wire
Leatherman style too (thanks Jam Pot)
Sewing Kit
Sterilisation Tablets
USB Keys (Thank you Lucy!)
Vaseline
Camera, memory cards
Sunglasses
Ipod
Plastic Bowl
Wooden Spoon
Digital Dictaphone
MSR Whisperlight Stove and fuel bottle
Bike Cable, a highest level Lock, and another cable lock
Helmet
bungee cords
Terra Nova voyager tent
Spare tent pegs
Tarp for under tent
Zip lock bags
Ortlieb Sleeping Mat
Plastic Mug
Soap
Mess Tins
Loads of dry bags
Mozzie net
Large water bladder
Lapsang Souchong
Dried Soup
Military parachute cord
Plastic clothes pegs
water purification tablets
Plastic water bottles
Seamgrip
Lightsticks
Deet
Small and large cable ties
Emergency blanket
Duck Tape
Power monkey
Phone charger
wind up charger
Cables for elecronics
Travel adaptor
Alpkit Sky High Sleeping bag
Jag bag silk sleeping bag liner
Casio watch
Docksiders
Compass x 2
Europe on a shoestring Lonely planet (irrelevant pages ripped out)
Pritt Stick
New Testament

First Aid, and Personal Hygeine
Wash bag
Ortlieb First aid bag
Adhesive tape
Surgisilk
Antiseptic cream
Elastoplast
Urgostrips
Eyebath
Paracetamol &codeine
Razor
Nail Clippers
Chap stick
Shampoo
Moisturiser
Tissues
Plasters (cushoned)
wound dressing
gel blister plasters
Emergency antibiotics
TCP Spray
Anti Perspirant
Immodium
Sudocream
Ibuprofen gel and tablets
Gaviscon
Adcortyl for mouth ulcers
Piriton
Electric shaver

Spares:
Brake and gear cables
Rohloff Oil Change kit
Spare Rohloff Oil
Spare brake pads
Spare rear spokes
Spare Rohloff cable
Tyre repair kits
Brooks Saddle wax
Torx Screwdriver
Spare Rohloff fittings
Multi bike tool
Polyurethane adhesive
scalpel
chain tightening tool
Chain oil

Dinkelsbuhl, Donauworth, Augsburg, Munich

I left Rothenburg on the 22nd and headed for Dinkelsbuhl, another walled city (are all cities in Bavaria walled?!)

I have been following the "Romantische Straße" cycle path, which conveniently took me in the general direction I needed to go. I have seldom ever had to use the road in Germany. The annoying thing about cycle paths over roads is that if you lose your way, not only are you lost, but you could be in the middle of farmland. You have to retrace your steps looking for the little indicator signs.

I cycled with another chap for half of that day, but he wasn't terribly friendly, and I was pleased to part company at the end of the day. The only times he stopped were to pick up empty plastic bottles from litter bins to claim the 25c deposit back. I have seen quite respectable people in Germany going through rubbish bins picking out plastic bottles for that reason.

In Dinklesbuhl, the hostel was closed so I stayed in a b&b which was only a couple of Euro more than the hostel would have been anyway. I fell asleep at 9pm for the first time since the age of 13 (that is 8 pm in the UK!) The b&b was run by a very sweet old lady who laid on the most fantastic breakfast just for me. Different types of bread, sausage, and cheese, a boiled egg, yoghurt, EARL GREY, orange juice... It felt as though Father Christmas had been as I entered the Breakfast room to see it all spread out.

I then headed for Donauworth, where I was yet again the sole hostel resident, and the sole recipient of a lavish breakfast. The lady on reception spoke very good English, despite only having studied it for a short period, and I made myself a very Germanic supper of smoked frankfurters and sauerkraut!

On the morning of the 24th my heart sagged when I was greeted with a view from the window that was more South Pole than South Germany, however thankfully the air temperature was too warm and it melted pretty fast. It snowed nearly all day but never settled. I stayed that night in Augsburg, which is a pleasant city west of Munich.

The following day it snowed hard all day, but never settled thankfully. I left the Romantische Straße and passed through Dacau on the way to Munich which was the site of the first concentration camp. It is a truly vile place and I was surprised to see hoardes of adolescent school children giggling round the place and taking tons of photos. The calm of the buildings, and the huge "parade square" is quite unsettling. There was a very informative museum exhibit in one of the complexes. When cycling up to the memorial site, is very strange to note the normality of life that goes on around it, with suburban houses and children's playgrounds encircling it.

I eventually got to Munich that evening, and easily found the hostel for once, which was a boon considering the weather conditions. It is a large independent hostel that was recommended by Wolfi, and is very jolly with a lively bar and all sorts of people everywhere. The staff are also very friendly and interested in my trip. One of them, Cat, is really into cycling and helped me a lot in getting my bike safely stored underground. The only annoying thing is that smoking has not been banned in Germany, so clothes stink of fags having spent a few hours in the bar.

I took a city tour organised by the hostel, by a chap called Osbourn Kemp- who is proud to be the only black guide in the city. He told me he has lived in the Bahamas.

Met Nick Francis for a multitude of beers in the Augustiner Brewery beer hall, and we had an excellent supper of roast pork shank with perhaps the best crackling I have tasted. He has kindly let me stay in his flat, so I am going to take advantage and stay an extra day in the city. It is a good idea to have a proper break before taking on the hills that lie south and the weather seems to be improving all the time.

I now need to move my stuff to Nick's flat at the other end of the city!

Frankfurt, Miltenberg, Bad Mergentheim, Rothenberg ob der Tauber

Rothenberg´s City Walls

Snowball

Summer Gazebo for the night

Supper my friends brought me!

The kind people who looked after me so well

Frankfurt´s old area from the river (the church on the right)

A REAL Frankfurter!

"Grilled Rib"

Le Fort´s supper of Frankfurters

Frankfurt

My cycling pal down the Rhine

On the morning of the 17th, I received a text message from Justin Le Fort who is on business in Frankfurt that I should go and visit him. As I was only 50k away, this was a great idea and it turns out that there are cycle paths on this route as far as Munich and beyond, usually following rivers.

After a glorious morning cycling down the Rhine with Holyie, a German chap who is cycling the length of the Rhine, I turned onto the Main (pronunced mine) river for Frankfurt.

I looked a little odd walking through the lobby at the Marriot in cycling tights, clutching my worldly belongings in black pannier bags, however we made it unchecked to the lift, and the thirty somethingth floor which afforded an amazing panorama of the city. Frankfurt has skyscrapers like Manhattan, however it is as though all the people have permanently gone upstate. It feels like a ghost town, and there are not even nearly enough cars to fill the broad streets. It is rather like Birmingham, but cleaner. It was carpet bombed in the war, so very little remains of the old city, save the church where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. I had no idea Europe had a skyline like it.

We had a good evening sampling Germany´s best beers and some of her Riesling. Arguably too good an evening. We supped in the most extraordinary stereotypical German restaurant with kitsch gnomes and cuckoo clocks adorning every available space. The chiwawa which trotted about the place was the cherry on top. It was quite extraordinary, but the food was tasty and the service was friendly. Everything was served with sauerkrout and mashed potatoes, and half the menu was different types of Frankfurter. I plumped for the "grilled rib" on the English translated menu which turned out to be a pork chop, but it was rather nice.

We walked out of the first restaurant because they didn´t accept plastic- Germany has not fallen in love with credit cards as we have. I have found my card to be always refused in Supermarkets, and where they to accept it, there is never chip and pin. These wild barbarians!

The next day, the 18th, I didn´t feel as hung over as I would have thought and managed a long day to Miltenberg (a very quaint German town on the river Tauber) where I found the youth hostel that had been indicated on the map was closed. I therefore found the camp site, pitched up and lit my stove. The sunlight was by this stage gone. Just as I was preparing to cook my Pasta Sauce supper, I heard a voice near the reception kiosk, so I went over to let them know I was there.

"I am sorry, but zee cimpzite iz clozd". When I asked if I could just sleep there and move on in the morning, the little bastard just repeated himself. Looking back on it, it was rather humorous, like a scene out of "Allo Allo", but it placed me on rather a sticky wicket. I packed up my stuff, and cycled back to the bridge (the campsite was thankfully in the town).

As I looked at the tourist map, working out what I was going to do, a chap asked me what I was doing. I explained what had happened, and he beckoned me to the house where his daughter Tanja lives. "She speaks better English." She came out, and very kindly said I could sleep in her garden. It turned out that I could sleep in the summer gazebo. I was incredibly well looked after with a blow-heater, tea, a thermos of hot water, and a beef stew! I was even invited inside to take a warm shower, and we used an internet translator to just about converse.

I have therefore experienced coldness, but extreme kindness and hospitality in Germany.

Next day, I cycled to Bad Mergentheim, where I found I was once more the only person at the hostel and I received a buffet breakfast all to myself! The chap was a German student (Ben)- all German boys have to choose between 9 months in the army or 9 months doing public service, and youth hostel work counts as this. He is bright, and finds the menial work irritating as he wants to get to university to study science. It appears unfair that German girls don´t have to do it. He gave me a "Radler"- a German bottled shandy (tasty) and we stayed up talking about history. It´s the first time I have chatted to a German about that which Basil Fawlty couldn´t help but mention; it was interesting to hear him, and reassuring to know that Germans generally feel the same way about that period as we Britons do.

Yesterday, it was gloriously sunny but hideously freezing with head winds so I decided to stop in Rothenberg after only 50k. I have taken a rest day here. It is a beautiful walled medieval city, like St Malo but smaller and prettier. A quarter of the people on the streets appear to be Japanese tourists, and many of the menus are in Japanese and Germen (not English!) The local delicacy appears to be "snowballs" which are solid spheres made of ribbons of biscuit, dusted with icing sugar. I thought it was a little disappointing.

German youth hostels don´t have kitchens which is irritating for those of us on a budget. I have used my camp stove in the past, but tonight it is going to be potato salad and a few other cold things. I am sharing a dorm with a friendly Frenchman called Dominic who is addicted to travelling, it appears.

Need to go and have some supper!--but first I am going to try to upload some photos for the first time to all the blogs I have written so far

Bingen

In front of the Rhine outside the Hostel

I think this is posibly the most expensive internet mchie in the world! Cycled along the Nahe rivr toay toBingen which is on the rhine. good brekkie- all by myself, which was salami, cheese, more slami and sugar bet syrup- very sweet but very tasty! Very good cycling weather, and at one point Iwas cycling through vineyards on the edge of hills which were terraced rather like paddy fields. Some friendly vineard workers gave me a short cut hint which was very sneaky! A secret tunnel under the railway line saved me a 50m climb! Here at Bingn, the Rhine is amazing, and you can see the enormous brges going up it from the hostel. There are som spectacular castles perched on rocky crags. The hostel is on a hill so the view isinredible! I have noticed that the Blgiens and Germans are happier to ue english words than the French in everyday use. I saw some interesting graffiti today which read "fuck coff". How quaint! This computer is wful so I am going to stop and go and wash my clothes!

Idar-Oberstein

Currently parked at Idar-Oberstein, on the river nahe.

Yesterday, I only managed about 35km due tko a late start messing round Trier sorting out maps (why on earth don´t they sell one for the south west quarter of Germany?

When I eventually worked out the direction I wanted to go, I realised I had pointed my nose in the direction of a small mountain range! Little wonder that having started at half 12 I only managed a piddly distance before the end of the day.

I found rather a grand camp site for a small village (Reinsfeld) which had rather nice warm showers and loos to make up for the sleeping-in-a-field bit. It wasn't really worth the 10 euro they charged for it! I was out of fuel for my stove so supper was tinned herring in curry sauce (YUCK! why did I buy that?!) and the last bit of chorizo. Not quite Chateau de Sauveterre standards.

On the way to the second mountain range this morning, I bumped into a couple of friendly German cyclists. Bernhard and Paul took me out for a few appletises and explained that the route I had set myself was headed for mountain after mountain all the way to the alps. After much map pointing and discussion, they agreed I should head down the Nahe, which in turn feeds the Rhine, and then to follow the Rhine all the way down. So that is the plan...but these can always change which is the joy of being on a bicycle with no ties!

Idar-Oberstein itself is a very spectacular little town with a church built into a rocky crag. I have the youth hostel all to myself (hope it´s not haunted!) and it is rather smart- the sheets are already on my bed with the towl in a fan shape avec chocolat on the summit.

I really have been surprised at how open, friendly and eager to help the Germans are. I am always in need of a little help from strangers, usually directions, andf they have been seriously helpful. Frank, the chap in the bike shop in Trier would not accept anything for a good half hour's skilled work getting my gears one and two back into action. If you are going to have a problem with a Rohloff speedhub, best to have it in Germany.

Onward to Luxembourg and Germany

Trier´s beautiful Cathedral

Alive and kicking in Germany!

Market Square, Trier

Another Border!

My hostel in rural Luxembourg was next door to this castle!

Into the Grand Duchy

Barge Lift!

The computer I was using for the last blog deleted hqlf of what I wrote so I´ll try to backtrack. This Gerpam keyboard is similar to UK ones, except that the Y is at the bottom left. How irritating!

Right, we got as far as Ypres which was 7th March. That was a lovely sunny day, and come the evening I was rocketing along the Belgian calals under blazing sunlight so I thought I would push on another 30km. Big error as night fell earlier than I had anticipated, leaving me no option other than to camp on a village football pitch (at the suggestion of a local). This was actually rather jolly, and I enjoyed pesto with chorizo pasta from my new camp stove. Rain the following morning made packing up a little messy.

Next day I cycled along the canals further to Mons, which is a lovely student town with a clen an and pleasant hostel. En route I met a Flemish couple who had bought a 120´ barge and were converting it into a guest "house". They invited me aboard for deliciously tart apple juice from their garden.

On the 9th I discovered that the cycle paths in Wallonia are awfully signposted cmpared to Flanders, and I was horribly frustrated to more than once find myself on the wrong bank of the canal as it broke off in another direction with no bridge to cross. Grrrr. At Namur youth hostel that evening, I discovered the joys of 9.2% belgian lager with a friendly Japanese tourist.

I also saw the most incredible barge elevator (pictured).

10th was simply awful weather and I managed to get to Champlon, about 90km away due to the fact that it was straight down a straight road. Boring but satisfying:

Next day, I cycled into Luxembourg which was an absolute pleasure. The north Luxembourgeois countryside is like the Highlands of Scotland with a Narnian attitude. It really is lovely, and I stayed in a lovely hostel on a cliff next to a castle.

I then made it to Luxembourg (city) which is a nice little city, but not as amaying as the countryside to the north. I was concerned it may remind me of an unmentionable rock in the Channel, but thank heavens no.

I left Lux this morning. I cycled under sunshine along the border with Germany, which is the river Mosel, before finally entering Germany. I managed to sort out a few bike problems in Trier (new lock, gear problems) and the Germans have been so friendly and helpful which is brilliant!

Trier is another lively and pleasant student town with roman ruins and an ancient cathedral. I met a Singaporese student this evening and went for a drink. Out of internet time!

England, France, Belgium

I am sorry this has not been updated- unbelievably none of the youth hostels I have stayed in until today have had internet connections.

I fear there will be a fez typos as I get used to the continental AZERTY keyboards again.

The trip eventually got underway on the 4th March from Buckingham Palace (mainly because from there both Blonde and Guy could wave me off and get to work semi-on-time. Her Majesty was in residence, but she didn't come down to wave a hankey which was rather a shame.

Blonde, the little darling even brought me tea, banana and marmite sandwich!

Having left the sending off committee, I negotiated the City, stopping off at the Gherkin to see Jonno and Emily, and past Grenwich and into Kent. The first night was spent in a youth Hostel in Medway which was un utter nightmare to find.

Second day took in Canterbury, and I stayed with the Loder-Symonds who conveniently life near Dover!

An early start got me into Europe (Calais) at about 1pm local time, and I immediately headed for Dunkirk which has a youth hostel which was just about open for business- I had to hang around for a while for somepone to turn up.

I arrived in Belgium to be greeted by scores of shops peddling cheap tobacco seemingly exclusively to the British, and the area was full of "fag cruisers" coming down from Kent.

I headed south to Ypres, and passed by a great many British WWI cemeteries. That, along with passing through the Menin Arch was a highly sobering experience. The arch is dedicated to those who died fighting for the British Empire.