But the overall theme (if there is one) was waterways. Cycled the Rhine and Danube as well as Belgium, Dutch and English Canals. With Debbie and Aaron we toured the Loire Valley by car – can’t really say I cycled it as 10k in Samour doesn’t count.

Met some interesting and great people along the way, too many to mention. Only used my “cold weather” gear 3 times as the temperature was consistently hitting 30C + all the time.

In the spirit of today’s trend of having the “Ten Best of…..” My top 10, in no particular order are:

• The cycle paths of Belgium, Holland, Austria, France. (Worst by a long shot were England and Hungry)
• Madeira – very pleasant surprise
• Best Bridge – the wooden bike/Foot bridge near Kelheim
• Best Campsite. – Vilshofen an der Donau, totally geared for cyclists
• Bad Days – None, well there were some not so good days but then without them the good days would be ordinary
• Accident free days – all except one – when the bike and I parted company on a bridge
• Punctures or mechanical failures – none
• Best piece of gear – My ultra light weight camp chair with the Brooks Saddle coming in a close second
• Best website/app – hands down Komoot.com in combo with the Garmin Edge.
• The people you meet along the way.

I felt a rather naughty and evil joy when i came across an e-biker whose battery had died somewhat far from town. It would be interesting to see how e-bikes have changed bicycling along the Danube. I suspect quite a lot as probably 70 per cent of the cyclists I saw were on e-bikes.

Tonight I’m camped right next to the Danube, just 30 is outside of Passau. It’s a campground run by volunteers Andy geared to cyclists – yeah! Across the river is a river cruise boat that’s probably headed to Regensburg later.

Anyway, here’s what my little campsite looks like. Cruise Boat is under the bridge. Time for a cup of tea.

Neuberg was also nice, lovely, tourist picture perfect. but does suffer from a fighter base nearby that could be rather deafening at times.

When waiting for lights or to cross a road, I often get people looking at my bike and saying something in German. I nod with a complete lack of understanding, maybe mumble something like Passau or London, and then we go our own merry way. I suspect its because my bike and panniers are now elegantly and impressively decorated with mud and the occasional bits of forest. I keep thinking I should clean everything but then again, all would be dirty again within the hour.

By the way, for the price of a two bedroom Auckland house you could probably get this one with money to spare for an extension to the Patio.

As I move thru different places, I always look at the signs by which towns announce themselves. Apart from the obvious stuff that is included – town name, maybe a twined city as well, they is always an image that promotes what the town elders think is their crowning glory. Normally this is a religious building, a castle maybe, the town hall or something similar. Earlier today it was simply an image of kids splashing in the river.

So far the routes I’ve taken have been well signposted and German signs are very precise, not necessarily accurate, but they are precise. – in fairness the route or path may have changed.

This was an interesting portal. I felt it had better be worthwhile as I’d had to climb a significant hill to get there. It turned out to be part of a 900 metre Monestery built in the 1700. Now it is a centre for Arts and Leisure. At least that’s what I gathered from the information board that showed people doing abstract painting and other people in leotards standing on one leg with their hands held above their heads.

And finally, the most impressive castle yet. It’s Schloss Sigmaringen. Check it out at .Schloss Sigmaringen

Needless to say there are always some challenges. the first today was this bridge. It’s not so easy carrying 45 kilos of unwieldy bike and bags down wobbly stairs. If I’d been smart, I would have cycled just ½ kilometre further and used a lovely wide smooth bridge. C’est la vie.

Now I must say that I can fully understand why the Danube Cycle Route is so popular. It has superb scenery, towering cliff (at least this part has) and the obligatory castle dotted here and there.

I could have cycled on for ages, but my legs said NO. They considered that they’d done their work yesterday so we compromised on distance. In fairness it was surprising the amount of up and down one had to go along the forest paths long side the river.

Even the Thunder and Rain co-operated and waited til the 5pm….

To start the ride was lovely, lots of other cyclists about and it seemed as if everyone was on holiday – unfortunately this turned out to be the case when I discovered all Supermarkets were closed and all the food I had was. – not much.

Any way, the land was flat and no hills visible, that is until the mist started lifting and then the hills started appearing. Even here there were castles. There had been some very busy people back in the day.

So as I continued, the hills started closing in a wee bit but I was able to block out the true nature of what I faced.

There are no pictures of the climb, I just kept telling myself, that it would be over at some point. When the gradient turned to 15 per cent, my bike finally became a push bike.

Luckily on the climb, thunderstorms started rolling in, when gave me the pretext to stop and shelter every so often but once I summited it was game on. The result was dead heat as I reached Donnaueschingen.

Now I knew that the Start of the Danube wasn’t a cute babbling spring in a grotto, but rather where two other streams joined together but,it could have had a bit more grandeur

Particularly as I’d cycled over 1000ks to get there.

So tomorrow I shall just rest the legs a bit and only go as far as Strasburg.

It is a bit funny but being in France is almost comforting. It seemed that no one in Germany spoke any English and I spoke even less German so conversation was difficult even with Google Translate. I have had conversations in which I hadn’t the slightest idea of what was said. But now I can again converse and understand signs, people and even stuff in Supermarkets!

Apart from that there was quite a few cycle tourists. Most were ‘day trippers’ but there was also a fair number of long distance cyclists heading northward.

The tour bus tourists were generally huddled together wrapped up against the cool wind and probably glad to get back on their buses.

The weather was cool, breezy and tended to be somewhat hazy so there’s no attention grabbing iconic photos of Castles, just one that look like they were shot thru a misty lens.

Tonight I’m camping at a unique spot just short of Mainz. For the princely sum of 15 Euros, I get a piece of ground (carefully cleaned of goose droppings). There no shower or cooking facilities but it’s right on the Rhine. There’s also a place within 50 metres that has Beer, Pizza and Chips so all is good.

Cheers

The first thing to greet me was this large headache sign as I started the day. But I didn’t need their products – yet.

For the most part I followed the bike paths and soon hit Cologne. I was determined to see the Cathedral as it had twice been the endpoint of other journeys (via boat) down the Rhine. Not much had changed. Tourists were everywhere, except they now take selfies instead of having a friend take the picture. So it was onwards and out of Koln.

One of the discoveries I made is that the route wasn’t exactly smooth and I often thought about getting a suspension seat – or maybe it is just age setting in.

Anyway, it was enjoyable and my mind is still taking it all in.

I just wish German people would smile occasionally and not look so grim and grumpy.

Anyway, today I was due to cross the border into Germany sometime after passing thru Venlo. It was a anti climax, I didn’t even realise I had, until my phone pinged with messages telling me I was roaming in Germany.

After the flatness of Holland I even had to climb a hill, well it wasn’t exactly a hill, more of a rise in the road followed by a slope down again.

The most excitement I’ve had was in Düsseldorf, I was sitting on a park bench figuring out my next stop when a group of men, in need of dental surgery and somewhat well lubricated decided I might be of interest. As it turned one of them turned out to love Lord of the Rings and wanted to go to Hobbiton so I went on my way and they took over the park bench.

Tomorrow I head up the Rhine toward Bonn, Not sure how far I will go as rain is forecast for most of the day.