Today is set to be a scorcher: 32ºC. So I got up early at 6 am and out at 7:36 am.
Natan and I crossed paths again after I took yet another wrong turn. We rode together for 60km and stopped for lunch at a Greek restaurant along the way after a couple of closed biergartens disappointed us.
ZINC ZINC ZINC!
The campsite in Passau is on the river and is simply stunning.
I’m excited for tomorrow. I’ll ride out of Germany and into Austria for the first time. But more importantly, I’ll take the train from Linz to Munich where I’ll see Abby for the first time in over a month!
If you don’t hear from me in a couple days send help. I’ll be in a diabetic coma!
I packed up camp this morning and had a cup of coffee with Simon and Camilla. Then I was off on my own at 8:30 am. The forecast is set for the high 20s so I wanted to beat the heat.
I met a couple from Belgium today. The gentleman, Jens, flagged me down and asked if he could take a picture of me in my ridiculous looking sun gear. This is the first time anyone has done anything other than chuckle at all my sun sleeves. Turns out Jens is a skin cancer survivor and infectious disease researcher who spent his career trying (and largely succeeding) to cure HIV/AIDS. We talked touring bikes, climate, and sun protection gear for a bit then they zoomed off on their kitted out Dutch electric Santos bicycles, which were all I managed to capture from our meeting.
Note the Pinion gearbox with Gates carbon drive
I reached Regensberg where I had planned to stay the night. But it was only 2 pm and the town seemed like more of a tourist stop with prices to match than it did a must-stay destination. So I pedaled on after a quick ride through the town’s medieval bridge and streets.
From Regensberg to Straubing was a challenging ride due to its long straight unshaded dirt roads in the summer heat. But keep going for there is a reward on the horizon.
You’ll eventually reach Walhalla, Germany’s hall of fame. It’s perched high on a hill and well worth leaving your bike behind to go explore. In addition to being an imposing building reminiscent of, if not identical to, the US Supreme Court, its views out into Bavaria are unparalleled anywhere else along the EuroVelo 6.
By the time I reached camp it was 7 pm and I was dehydrated. So I did what any red-blooded touring cyclist would do and ordered a big cold German beer, dehydration be damned.
The campsite attendant responded with a stern “Nein” when I (politely might I add) asked if he spoke English. It wasn’t five minutes later that I heard him having a pleasant conversation in good English with another camper.
This attendant took my food order: “Vegetarier, danka.” My order manifested as a massive tuna fish salad so that’s what I ate, plus an order of fries after my stomach told me the salad wasn’t enough for us.
Then as I ordered my second beer, a Dunkel Weiss, who but Miguel showed up! Soon after, Natan the Swiss showed up too.
Then it was off to the mosquito-infested zeltplatz to set up camp and to sleep.
As I laid in my tent thinking about today’s journey, I was struck by how the people I’d met on this trip—people like Maac, Miguel, Natan, Bharti, Simon, Camila, the others— and I had all hatched our plans independently and yet they conspired to bring us together, sometimes for days at a time, and to take us from strangers to friends.
