The next bit

After leaving lauren in vienna to catch her flight home i head back on the Donau towards Bratislavia,its 1230 and hot. Chris and i did this stretch a week ago so its all familiar the wind is behind me and im cruising along at 25 mph. Im very thoughtful of my next step of the journey, and with mixed emotions of lauren and my time with chis the last 2 weeks. Im alone again and it feels strange just like the first few days in Norway and so im reflecting as im going along. Ive stopped for a'break and im studying my europe map, ive realised wht a huge detour i did when i went west from warsaw to prague, dresden to chris and back east with chis to vienna. In that period of time ive probably added another1500 miles onto my journey where ive id gone south at warsaw to here about 200 miles, i hasten to add that i use my finger as a mileage guessar, the lengh of my index finger is about 150 miles on my europe map.
Im not bothered about the miles the journey through cheue republic and germany and meeting up with chis and lauren was more than worth it.
So im sitting working this all out and have decided to draw a stright line from Bratislavia to Athens and that will be my rout, its some 1200 miles and so i should be in Greece in 10 days or less, and im getting excited about, yes im alone but im not phased about that. I m looking forward to the challenge of navigating my way through to Greece, and very excited.

Vienna

So to Vienna we investigated, we saw the homes of  kings princes, the government and its subjects. The city is truly beautiful and sharing it with my daughter made it even better. We walked some miles we had a beer on  'a beach' by the donau deckchairs errected without any problem. We were offered dinner by a tout if we bought an opera ticket! we settled for a free outdoor performance of the opera in the park, we had lunch in the gardens of kings and ate delicous ice cream fit for my princess. We snuck into a gallery without paying and we sat and watched the world go by. Its been great  and  tomorrow she returns home and i head south to Greece. Ill miss her but its been great to see her she makes me smile and laugh and im a lucky dad.

Love is in the Air

I went to the airport to meet my daughter, she'd flown in to vienna to see her dad and of course the city. For all of you that have gone to the airport the arival lounge is a fantastic place for watching people greeting their loved ones. Everyone is watching patiently at the big screen for the moment the plane touches down, then the waiting starts again for the arrival doors to open, and out should come their visitor.  My daughters plane is running 30 min late so i spend the time watching the moment of joy that pours out when that connection is made. It makes no difference what age group nationality or sex that showing of affection is immense. if you could bottle that moment up and use it as medication, im sure it has the power to do so much healing. So if you feel like a tonic go to the arivals lounge. So i wait and wait and everyone but lauren comes through the door, and then she doors open and there she is i rush forward hell to security and give her the biggest hug in the world a 8 week,12 country and a few miles big hug, i am so happy. we talk like kids and i have a big smile we have a lot to catch up on and i feel sorry for her friend who has come with her so she must fel a bit left out. I lead her into the city to her hostel and wait for her to book in. we then go a walking into vienna, i become a dad and am very concious of all the dangers my little girl  could come too. we walk and talk and walk and talk and hug and hug its 2 in the morning when i drop her back in the hostel. I love my little girl, for the next few days its going to be great im really going to soak her all up, because in  a few days time we will go different ways and that will be hard to say good bye but if there is one thing ive learnt from this trip, is to live and enjoy the moment when its there.

The Donau trail

So chris and i have safely arrived in Vienna with just a few scratches and bumps, the perils of cycling with me. Its been a fun two weeks for us even though the burning 32 -38 c heat has made us drink copus amounts of liquids! if the body has asked for it we listen to it.On the trail we have seen all sorts of wildlife in animal and human form. One of the most intersting sites has been of the bevarians they do like to don their national costume, the girls in their pretty dreses and the boys in their leather shorts and both chis and i had trouble one day deciding the sex of one very hairy beer swigging high pitched, large in all ways in a dress whatever it was chris managed to stop me from asking as  it passed us by while we ate our lunch in pasau,but at least it was happy in its costume.This might also be a warning of drinking to much of the bervarian beer made usualy by the monks. Or as its made by the monks, you get this transformation and you head for the churches and forgivness, filling the pews hence looking good on attendance figs for the big man.
We took a little day trip on the bikes to Slovakia and entered Bratislavia  chirs's 3rd Country my 12th. It was easy riding as we had no baggage all this was left back at the camp site  pretty little city with some interesting sculptures a good mix of old and new.

The Donau river and chis

Sorry havent been in touch, its been really difficult to get access to the internetin germany. The river danau as its known here is spectacular and the cycling paths are brilliant. Its been great to see Chris and share some stories with him  even though hes probably heard of them allready. he has a calming influence and so far there has been no trouble. There was this one night when chris fancied another beer even though he thinks the beer here is only fit for disinfectent, wed been walkink down a lane from a village and came accross a beer garden. we ventured in only to be told it was a private party. as we turned to leave  the german asked  our wish beer goood beer ok come in we were introduced to the private party and soon after a few beers and shots of some strange liquid we were shown around the shooting range !! then introduced to some men in leiderhousen thats not spelt right but i assure you it doesnt look right either, more beer and shots and photos exchange of numbers and some singing and cussing and we were all best friends. we returned to our camp site very giggly and sore heads the next morning. Chris is doing really  on the trip considering the temperature 30 36c no rain and  on average 70 miles a day and we will reach vienna 3 days earlier than he expected. Hope your all ok, seeing my daughter next week in vienna xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Germany did i mention the war

So i hit dresden (as the british do) with a bang at 6am and considering the city got one hell of a beating in '45 the city has done a fantastic job at restoring the old buildings to its former glory, atcthat time of morning the city was quiet, no tourists except for me . the road in had been a cycle path tarmacced by the river all the way in, great job. I left within an hour and continued with the wind behind me and i was travelling along at 22 mph. By lunchtime i looked at my speedo and i had clocked 127 miles by 4 pm 'id done 165 miles and i felt fine. I hit the town of eufart at 6 had some food and my speedo had clocked 194 miles. Then as i tried to set off again my body gave in, the wind changed into my face and even thoughthe road was flat it was like going up a mountain. I headed towards my destination of wanderslebean where i was going to meet and stay with a german family i'd met at my sisters in spring. I arived late evening stuggling to stay upright, i recived a great welcome with beer and great food my speedo clocked 214.7 miles. I sleep like a log.
The next morning my body feels suprisingly ok but at breakfast i eat like a pig and i realise ive been on the road for to long and so have my manners. Judith theperfect host thinks nothing of it and keeps supplying me with food and coffee. That evening i'm invited to a birthday party, where they sing happy birthday in english because in german they say sounds terible they show me it does. I demonstrate it in welsh they prefer english. im greeted by uncles aunts cousins, grandmothers and grandfathers with much affection. They are a lovely friendly people and after a few beers they ask me how do i like germany. I take a breath and say ' this is difficult for me to say and im not sure if i should say this as to the reaction ill get , but i wasn't sure if wanted to come to germany, before the czech republic i was in in poland and went to Auswicz'.  It goes quiet and they shake their heads and look sad, i continue, after leaving there i didnt want to come here because i hated germany, but i'm glad i have because i realise that it was the nazis that did this terrible thing, it's your past, but here you have greeted me with much friendship that i'm glad i've come. its awkward for a while and the fun has gone, we drink more beer some of them have been too and they said they wept. perhaps i shouldnt have said anything. this group of people have been so kind to me.

The next evening i'm invited to visit caro's brother i've never met him before, caro his sister i have and she has asked me to visit him. He arrives on his bike and we cycle off to his friends barbecue, i have a great time, such a welcome from his friends to a complete stranger. caro you were right your brother is a cool brother. The next morning i wake up with a hangover the beer was good the vodka too. I go to Stuttgart today to meet chris.  I'm going on the train, judiths boyfiend kail takes me to the station in his pick-up. he's even worked out the times for me.. Judith and kail see me on the station such lovely people youve been very kind, and judith's son henry 10 yrs old with a great smile. Louis the older son took me for a great walk into the country. great walk good luck louis have a good summer.

Mr L Gone

To Germany Via Dresden. There are some great cycling lanes in Germany along some beautiful rivers and it was by this river i saw a photo opertunity for mr L I perched him on the wall overlooking the river, stood back camera ready, wind blows mr L too over into the water nooooo I look over and hes floating down the river , its a 20ft drop and i run along the bank  and scramble down into the water and save him, i give him a shake hes wet through,a nd then we scramble up the bank to a group of onlookers bewildered at me soaking wet , i point to mr L and to the river, i get the crazy look. They turn and leave  I then do a Cast a way  moment of cursing Mr L  and then feel sorry for him  we make up and take photos together. Later on we come accross a field of sunflowers and then this shop full of gnomes etc a chance for a hidden mr l photo i put him in and took photo then this chineese man came out looking at me before i could retrieve him. i prtended to look around i must have looked suspicious  i think he thought i was going to steal something , very  quickly i managed to get him back while he sorted another customer out, phew try explaining thhe photo oppertunity to the chineese guy mind you how bizzare is his shop