Getting to grips with the local customs in Barvaria

The biergarten... not 5k into Bavaria as well. I had to stop for a cheeky lunchtime drink really,didn't I? Besides, it was 31°C out there and we've already established that hops based bevearages are a type of health drink.

The Danube cycleway

I'm going down the Danube now for the next 1500 or so until the Black Sea. Started off with a day of beautiful limestone cliffs.

The Black Forest

Caught in a thunderstorm going over a high part of the Black Forest. Spent half an hour 'sheltering' as lightening struck in a one mile radius... When it died down I high tailed it back to a hut I'd passed where I spent at least as long again waiting for the next lot of lightening to pass. Lost the photos as phone external memory packed up soon after taking a shot (wonder why?). Instead here's one from this morning. Doesn't do the hills justice though!

Au revior France, guten tag Deutschland!

This is about the border twixt the two. In Germany now, planning my route to the start of the Danube. In Strasbourg it was as if there was nothing to the East of them in terms of available maps! Smallest scale was 1:300 000, very bizzar!

Rest day in Les Andelys

Sunday 14th June 2009

In the normal course of things it might have been too early for a rest day but I needed to give my knee all the help I could and Les Andelys was perfect for it as well. I took a stroll up to the castle, broke my main pair of glasses and cursed the french for their closing on Sunday habit...

France had proved fantastic so far. The scenary was beautiful, food great and people wonderfully friendly. Particularly to cyclists: people kept waving at me from cars, one chap slowed and clapped and two piss taking bastards with a trailor offered me a lift up a hill I was plodding my way up at one point.

Leg 3, Le Havre to Paris

Thurs 11th June to Sat 13th June, 121.4 miles covered

I managed about five hours of uncomfortable sleep on the ferry, which is about par for the course I reckon. Cyclist were first off and away I went, into France! Yay! First stop, get some money (argent... Boris Hunt's French lessons weren't wasted after all!). On finding a cash point (er... le point de cash?) I was amazed to find that since my last visit France had stopped using francs and moved to the "euro". Whatever next one wonders?
Got cashed up anyway and pausing only to pick up a fresh baguette (see Britain? That's the way to do bread!) I got lost in the bad part of town: how did I know it was the bad part you ask. Was it the signs of urban deprivation, subtle graffiti marks, types of vehicles? Well, partly. Mostly though it was the motorist stopping and telling me, first in french then in broken English that I waz not in a good place and I should go that did it. Found my way soon after and headed out of Le Havre using the bike route provided by Via Michellin. Which took me along 10 to 15 miles of dual carriage way along an industrial zone. Fecking A. Eventually came to the end and was told by a chap in a car not to go down the Michellin avised route but to go a little further then right. Which took me onto a cycle route exactly the way I wanted to go! No more Michellen!

The next day, as my knee was still painful in the morning just did 23 miles to a campsite in Rouen. I had planned to take a rest day there but having taken a look at it decided one night was more than enough.

On the last day of this leg I tootled along to Les Andelys, a beautiful little village with a picture perfect castle atop it. The knee lasted a good 20 miles without a twinge so seems to be on the mend.

Leg 2, Bristol to Portsmouth

Sunday 7th June to Wednesday 10th June, 138.4 miles covered

Finally got on the road again, hoping that the time off and the exercises had done the trick. For a lot of the first day it seemed they had, but after some 20 miles the knee started to play up, until I was walking 2 miles and riding 2 miles alternately. Left me at a pretty low ebb all in all, having made 36 miles in the end. Still, the weather behaved itself which was something!

The next day my knee was throbbing with pain even before I got out of bed. I started off walking up Devizies locks, stopping in Devizes itself to get bread and cheese for lunch. I then actually tried cycling. Not good. Not good at all. Sat down at a country pub, had a couple of pints "from the barrel" and contemplated my options, which seemed to be quit and get public transport, try to heal the knee again or quit the whole thing and look for a job. Decided to head for Pawsey, the nearest rail station after speaking to Helen on the phone. Decided to gurn for a bit to exercise slightly different muscle groups then somehow dropped into using the heel of foot rather than the ball... and this hurt less... I made the 15 miles to Pawsey then out to Wilcot where I stayed at a campsite by a great pub, The Golden Swan. I'd made almost 20 miles...

With my new cycling technique I was able to limp 34 miles the next day, albeit with rests at Woodhenge, Stonehenge (as detailed in the earlier post) and a pub outside of Salisbury where I had a couple of pints of Lemony Cricket. Seemed to do the job.

On the last day of the leg I covered the 48 plus miles to Portsmouth, albeit in shozery rain and with my knee not in any great comfort but I was blowed if I was giving up! Thank goodness for pubs, ideal resting posts and I'm convinced the beer helped with the knee. The 400mg tablets of ibuprofen and the pressure bandage may have helped but mostly I think it was the real ale wot done it.

Mmm, cake!

Or in this case hazelnut meringue! One of the great thing about cycling 6 hours a day is you can eat what you want. Apart from people. Apperently there are still laws about that sort of thing although Germany might be different. We'll see...

Through the Champagne region

Apparently they make some sort of fizzy grape pop here.

Au revior Paris

Left Paris yesterday, which I found surprisingly easy in terms of traffic and cycle lanes. Did my first 60 plus mile day for a while and will be hitting Champagne, the region, today. Also possibly the drink..

Les Andelys

Stopping off for a rest day before Paris as I've been cycling for 6 days now. Normandy has been wonderful, very pleasant and very friendly!

Stone 'enge

Where the banshee's live and they do live well... Knee still manky but I made 34 miles today. Hopefully hit Portsmouth for the overnight ferry tomorrow. More detail when I hit a computer.

Back in Blighty and ready to go!

Well, my knee feels a lot better and I'm hoping it's going to be OK for now. Of course, I've done my back in now carting my dive gear about on the last day. Guess I should start looking at old peoples homes now the rate my body is falling apart.

Still, I'm currently in Bristol, and ready to get on the bike and go, bad back and all! Once the rain stops of course...