Day 14: Dormagen to Wageningen

116 miles, mostly around in circles and back-tracking!

Had breakfast bright and early and set out in the dark again. It wasn't long before the sun was up and it looked very nice with the shallow mist over the Rhine.

I re-routed the first section to avoid a ferry crossing that may or may not have been running and went over a bridge in to Dusseldorf. 

I was a bit apprehensive, but it transpired that the cycle paths were very good, plus the fact that I was there at 8 am made for a quiet ride through what I thought was a pleasant city.

Half an hour later I was heading in to Duisburg, which seemed more modern. I stopped for an coffee and apple strudel before heading to the bridge that the EV15 crosses, only to find it closed. 

I had to navigate to another bridge to cross the Rhine, then rode up the riverside to another bridge, which looks like it's been closed a long time - yet another obstacle. 

The day continued in a similar vein. The EV16 was closed in so many places that I circumnavigated most of it. Eventually I came to Emmerich and it was close again. At this point I gave up and just headed straight to Arnhem. I had hoped to have time to look around, but it was already getting late and I had another 25km to go. The parts I saw of Arnhem looked very modern though.

I eventually stopped in Wageningen, which is less than 90 miles from Hoek, so I should be able to catch tomorrow night's ferry to Harwich. Then it's just the 190 miles remaining to Worcestershire!

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

#tractivegps

Day 13: Boppard to Dormagen

I'd never heard of either of these places, but I guess that part of the adventure. Breakfast in Boppard, then off in to the wild blue yonder. A couple of nice little places before the Rhine widened out towards Koblenz and the industrial sprawl started.

 I put in 25 miles before stopping at Weißenthurm for a short rest and a bite to eat. Those are my self-imposed rules. No stopping unless I've done 25 miles, unless it's to take a quick photo. 

Koblenz was complicated. Cycle path closed and a big pile driver in it, so had to navigate around it through the centre.

 There seem to be a few closures, some easier to negotiate than others. All the stopping and consulting maps takes time. 

I passed The Bridge at Remagen, famous for being the last intact bridge over the Rhine and immortalised in the film of the same name.

Rode past Bonn, famous for being the capital of West Germany before reunification. Once again, it would be worth revisiting with more time. 

On through flat agricultural and industrial landscape then through to Cologne, which gave me Déjà vu, as I was only here in July.

After Cologne more of the same industrial landscape, until it stared to rain. By that time I'd done the obligatory 100 miles, so I booked in to the first cheap hotel I could. That turned out to be the "Top Hotel Garni", but when I arrived there it was very much closed! Not amused. There was a note that said it had been taken over by the Hotel Ragusa (only revealed by judicious use of Google translate) and I should go there, which I duly did. I was going to end up as the only resident in the "Top Hotel Garni" but they decided to put me up in the Ragusa instead. This seems to be the most happening place in Dormagen, which doesn't say much. Still, bed for the night. That's all that matters. 

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania

Day 12: Supposed to be Darmstadt to Koblenz...

Well... Last night's ride was supposed to end in Mainz, but there was no way I was going to make it, so as you know, I stopped in Darmstadt. This morning I fired up the Garmin and loaded my "Mainz to Koblenz" route and the SatNav asked "would you like to navigate to the start of the route?" Normally I say no, because I am at the start, but on this occasion I said yes. What could possibly go wrong? What should have been a 25 mile ride to Mainz, turned in to a 28 mile ride to Worms! 

No idea what algorithm the GPS was using, but I think it must have been "use the longest and most complicated route to your destination". Proper annoyed.

On the bright side, I suppose I got to see Worms, which looks like a nice place. 

Once I'd manually re-routed, I had a pleasant ride down through a wine producing area of Germany. Plenty of wineries offering sales and sampling. Would have been nice, but would have collapsed by the roadside if I'd started that.

Once I eventually got back to the Rhine at Mainz, progress was good, which made me more annoyed, because I could have been 3 hours further down the valley. 

The River Rhine is a lot different than the Danube. There seems a lot more commercial shipping, although there are still some river cruises. 

I stopped to take a picture at Bingen am Rhine and a youny Dutch lady asked if I could take her photo. We chatted about where we'd come from and where we were going as we rode on together, but I was struggling to keep up, so I made the excuse of taking another photo and she rode off in to the distance. Normal speed then resumed!

Ran out of time and energy at Boppard, so checked in to a hotel using my usual method - find the cheapest hotel available. Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to make better progress, past Bonn and Cologne. We'll see.

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

#tractivegps

Day 11? I think. All the days are merging in to one: Rothenburg to Darmstadt.

107 miles. Early start again. Up at 5, on the road by 6. I stayed at a Chinese restaurant last night, which was OK, but not as good as the majority of restaurants at home. Odd "hotel". Gave you cups, but no coffee or kettle. Did think about firing up my Trangia, but best not to.

Was on the way downstairs and there was a German lady coming upstairs with her bike over her shoulder, as had I. Nowhere to leave the bike outside, so it came into the room with me. We spoke a little in my pigdin German. Turns out she'd just ridden 160km from near Darmstadt to Rothenburg, the opposite direction of my ride today. 

Cold again this morning. Had all my cycling kit on, but soon warmed up climbing the wall of a hill out of Rothenburg.

Stopped in Niederstetten in a supermarket for breakfast. Long drop in to town and I was shivering with cold as I walked in. Sat a while to warm up.

First part of today was very uppy-downy, although seemed more up than down. Weary legs meant that as soon as I hit a hill I was clunking down through the gears 😔 

Fortunately I then rode down the valley of the river Main, which cheered me up and good progress was made. I even stopped for lunch with real food, which made a change. 

I had to leave the Main at Eisenbach and head west, otherwise I'd have ended up in Frankfurt.

That meant more hills and the last big one was a struggle. 

20km from Darmstadt I pulled in to a petrol station to grab a drink and a German guy on a bike struck up a conversation with me. Let's just say he was a "character"... He offered to guide me in to Darmstadt as he wanted to chat about my trip. I was a bit apprehensive, but you have to put your trust in people sometimes, don't you? Anyway, it worked out OK, because he knew that some of the cycle paths were closed, plus I got a guided tour of the university campus and the part of Darmstadt that wasn't destroyed in the war.

Checked in to a hotel tonight and washed my clothes in the shower. Basically I just walk in to the shower fully clothed and do a little dance on them while having my shower. 

Feeling pretty crispy again today. Yes, I did use suncream Jill, but while it stays on arms and legs, it washes off my face with perspiration. 

Never mind, I'm sure the weather will change soon and I'll be wetter than an otter's pocket.

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

#tractivegps

Day 10: Regensburg to Rothenburg

112 miles. Awake at 5, away by 6. Riding for 12 hours and 47 minutes according to my Garmin. Cold and damp to start with. Didn't want to disturb my hosts, so left without breakfast. I left the Danube behind today and started to cut across Bavaria towards the Rhine and the EuroVelo 15, which I will follow all the way to Hook of Holland. 

Pretty much straight out of the door and down the road and there was a huge hill to deal with. To be honest, I didn't deal with it. I walked.

Fortunately I found a bakery open in Nittendorf, so grabbed a coffee and a pastry. I mentioned to the lady that it was kalt, to which she replied "yes, summer is over!" Cheery.

Anyway, my path winded it's way across Bavaria and it soon became obvious that finding food and drink was going to be a problem. While all the towns and villages are immaculate, none seemed to have shops. The first place I arrived that did have a supermarket was Mühlhausen, so I stocked up!

The scenery was again very agricultural, with some forests. There were also huge tractors charging around the place as harvest was very much in progress. 

Some of the towns and villages were old and walled, but I didn't stop to take photos as time was pressing. 

In fact, by 3pm I was wondering if I was ever going to arrive in Rothenburg. Unfortunately the route I planned, while it used a lot of cycle routes, used a lot of unpaved cycle routes. Most were OK, some were no more than grassy paths and some were closed. The back-tracking and rerouting took quite a time and at 3pm I just took the direct route. A lot of this followed main roads, but fortunately most have cycle paths, so it's not necessary to mix with the traffic. 

I eventually arrived at 7pm and just walked into the shower with my clothes on.

Now all I have to do is see if I can sort out tomorrow's route...

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

#tractivegps 

https://my.tractive.com/p/a059d68e4c

Day 9: Passau to Regensburg

Woke up way before the alarm went off again. Unable to sleep any more so thought I might as well crack on. Quick porridge and coffee and I was out of the door. Cold, 9°C, so I was wearing just about everything I have. Things didn't start well, as only a mile or so down the road and the cycle bridge was closed. 

Had to back-track to another bridge and crossed the Danube there. A short while later I saw a man crossing the road dressed only in swimming trunks and carrying a towel. Imagine he was off for a dip, but rather him than me!

Had a nice breakfast in Winzer, after covering 25 miles, progress was good, but unfortunately as I got towards Deggendorf the EV6 was closed.

 Looks like they're building a new road. The diversion was a bit vague and I ended up wandering around and getting lost for a while. Had a bowl of pasta in Bogen which kept me going - just as well as the afternoon seemed to go on forever. It got to a point where I just had to sit down in the shade and rest a while. 

Generally I feel OK in the morning, but as the day wears on and the sun takes its toll self doubt sets in.

I tried to boost myself by singing a bit. As I'm in Germany I tried a bit of Rammstein but it didn't work. I then moved on to a bit d-i-s-c-o, which never fails to work. 

Closer towards Regensburg my phone rang, which I thought was a bit odd. I couldn't answer it in time, but I called back and it was BBC Hereford and Worcester, who wanted to do a spot on Amicii and Stella's Journey. Fortunately I managed to make it to my host and have a shower, before my spot on the Andrew Easton show. You can listen again if you're so inclined and the interview was about 2:20 in. Hopefully it'll help boost us on our way to our target and help the dogs.

Tomorrow I'm heading away from the Danube across country, so should be somewhat hillier. Let's hope my legs are up to it!

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania

Day 8, Enns to Passau

Only 75 miles today, so I feel a bit of a lightweight. Have to see if I can make it up tomorrow. 

Absolutely stunning scenery along the route. Kept stopping to take photos, so that slowed me down somewhat. 

Proper Goldilocks day though, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy. When I wasn't taking photos I made good progress. 

Loads of people out cycling, quite a few from the cruise boats, because a lot of the route has no road, just the cycle paths. 

I arrived in Passau nice and early, sat on a bench and looked for somewhere to stay. Limehouse apartments seemed considerably cheaper than anywhere else, so I booked one.

That's where the fun started. No reception, all online. Great, unless your mobile phone doesn't have any signal! I wandered around trying to find signal but no luck. Fortunately Angelica at "Pommes Freunde" came to my rescue, she shared her Internet connection with me. What a star. So then it turned out that my surname and forename were switched, hence when I filled the form in I got an error. I'm just not very good at IT. Apparently. 

Anyway, I'm here now, thanks to Angelica...

Should be away from here early in the morning, as breakfast not included. I'm sure I'll survive. I might have to break in to my emergency porridge. 

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney 

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

#tractivegps 

https://my.tractive.com/p/a059d68e4c

Day 7: Tulln to Enns.

Early start today. I slept OK in the tent, despite waking up a few times due to neighbours talking in his sleep and turning on his air bed. Found a few bugs whilst packing up. I think there's one in the bottom of my handlebar bag still.

Set off at 6.22 in the dark and rode for a couple of hours or more before I managed to buy some breakfast.

Some very pretty scenery today. This was what I imagined it was going to be like, briefly.

 Hampered by a headwind all day though, blowing down the valley and slowly me down. Plenty of people cycling in the opposite direction, including a group from Sao Paolo, Brazil, who stopped for a chat.

Surprisingly the majority of cafes are already shut for the season, which made it tricky to find anywhere to eat. I eventually found a place open near Ybbs, but the old lady shouted at me for wheeling my bike up the wheelchair ramp. Bearing in mind I was the only customer I thought it was a bit OTT. I had visions of being locked in the basement for the next 20 years...

108 miles ridden today, the last ones dragged on somewhat. Especially as I had to get the Radfähre ferry across a tributary of the Danube to Enns. Fortunately he was very efficient and arrived in a few minutes. He also suggested a Gästehaus in Enns, so that was great.

I think a slow start might be in order tomorrow. Feeling pretty tired and nursing some saddle sores, so a bit of rest might help. 

Justgiving.com/page/stellasjourney

Blog.goingtothedogs.co.uk 

Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 

Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 

#tractivegps