I distracted Jesse last night at the bathhouse long enough his girlfriend eventually came looking for him. Jesse and Eve are cycling east to west (a rarity), on 19-year-old bicycles that Eve’s grandmother planned to throw out or give away. Living in Germany, Eva’s finishing up school, Jesse being from Australia. They just decided to make this tour from Eva’s grandmothers to home, with panniers of corresponding age.
I asked this morning if they minded company, and we set off. EV6 has changed temperament, with occasional rises and falls along the occasional steep cliff edge of the Donau. We made good progress until reaching Germany, and entering the city of Passau.
Passau, at the conjunction of the Donau and some other really big river that I successfully didn’t follow instead of the Donau, includes a lot of vertical space, making the town a rat’s warren of narrow one way streets. By the time we left Passau, we’d gotten a lot done, including:
-visiting a bakery for breakfast
-visiting a bike shop that couldn’t fix my bike (mechanic out)
-visiting a bike shop that fixed my bike
-visiting an electronics store to acquire a charger for Jesse’s camera
-restock at a supermarket.
A lot done, but a long time, 1:30 before we left town and only 20 km for the day so far. Still, we made good time, with only one castle stop, introducing them to the climb associated with castles. When the road said 20% next 800 m, even I got off and walked the rest of the way. When we dismounted, a woman at the house nearby asked where we were from, and laughed that she was from Argentina. She offered to let us leave the bikes at her house, and when we came back down refilled our water.
The only thing left was the 20 km to the next campground. As we entered town the rain began, just enough to hasten us on our way and answer the question of whether to head to the next campground. After a scramble to set up the tents before real rain, the rain stopped. We had dinner at a nearby Bavarian restaurant, and then retired to our .50 euro hot showers and tents.
In the shower I found someone hand washing laundry, and I laughed and said I knew that task well. Toby and a friend are cycling east towards Budapest, and we talked a while about the conditions ahead. They just arrived at the Donau, so I didn’t learn anything about my own path.