Today has been a really good day. The sort of day I imagined before I left. It is the first really warm day. Even the wind which slowed my progress all afternoon was warm today. I slept well, having heard not a cheep from the two French families. Showered and ready to breakfast by 08.30. The French families invited me to have breakfast with them but I declined on the basis that I had bought things that wouldn't survive a day in the sun ( not forgetting that speaking French to nice strangers is hard work I could do without first thing in the morning) but it was nice to be asked.
Amazingly it was the Regensburg Marathon today (no Recreational Running entrants surprisingly) so I decided to combine photo taking with marathon watching. There was a really good atmosphere and an MC was revving up the crowd. Surprisingly the route was not completely closed. The side roads were closed but people were cycling along the side of the runners - very strange. I was having coffee on the route when the first tranche arrived at about 57 mins in. A runner who seemed of African extraction was leading by about 3 mins over the field which was almost 100% white. There were bikes in front of the first 5 men and women clearing a path for their runner.
I was able to tke photos of the centre of old Regensburg with marathon runners in the foreground. I hope they have worked out. I went back to the Canoe Club site with the intention of spending a lazy day but after half an hour I realised that I would be bored so I quickly took down my tent ( almost a contradiction in terms but I am getting quicker) and was on the road back into Regensburg to head South East for Straubing.
Unfortunately a lot of the roads I wanted to take were impassable because of the Marathon. I crossed the Donnau eventually after a few diversions, and I was checking my map to make sure I was on the right road. Getting in to cities is easy. There are usually signs to centrum / centre ville but getting out is more problematic. As I was consulting my guide book (for almost the first time in days) a man of around 60, who was with what appeared to be his daughter and granddaughter, all on bikes, stopped and asked me if I needed help. I explained that I was going to Straubing and he said that getting out on the correct road was a bit complicated but follow me. It transpired that he was going out of his way but not too far because they lived on the north side of Regensburg but yet another example of help offered without being sought.
I pressed on for about 10 kms to one of the sights and sites Walhalla. Whilst I was looking for Walhalla I came accross a strange Chinese looking wooden structure. The lady who was preparing an exhibition inside invited me to look inside. It is normally closed on a Sunday but she said she would open it just for me. She was well travelled and interesting. The exhibition was of illustrations she had made of her visit to Iceland, twenty years before. They had a certain style and it was good of her to invite me in but I was having difficulty leaving and I wanted to visit Walhalla.
Walhalla sits above the Danube. It is a reproduction of the Parthenon commissioned by King Ludvig 1 as a Parthenon for German heroes. It opened in 1842. It was quite something. Like Carcassonne quite something but not real. It was perched on the top of a very steep hill so I decided to leave the bike at the bottom and walk up - no bargain in rigid soled cycling shoes, but worth it. It was very busy. The Germans seem to be even more avid picnickers than the French.
There was still 40 kms to Straubing but they were largely flat close by the meandering Donnau and whilst the wind in the face was annoying it didn't halt progress too much. In general it is taking me the same time to cover kms as it did last year (apart from Cornwall) to cover miles. This is mainly down to the constant change in the quality of road surface and the need to negotiate walkers and children and other bikers. The maximum possible in a day is 90 to 100 kms and then you will see nothing but the Donnauradweg. Today has been a good compromise between tourism and "getting there". About 10 kms from Straubing I passed a German Radler who engaged his electric help and caught me up. We chatted all the way into Straubing. He was going from Regensburg to Vienna and had a hotel booked 12 kms beyond Straubing. We shook hands and wished each other "Gut Fahrt."
I am writing this outside the restaurant of the Municipal Camping Stelplatz of Straubing which unlike most other German Campsites was not a secret. There were good signs and I found it easily. On arrival I was met by the Australians of last evening's site and the French Canadians from several nights ago. It is starting to feel better. While I was writing this the German lady who was camped next to me last night and who admitted to speaking no English, arrived and greeted me warmly in English.
Still no working wifi so many photos to follow
distance cycled so far: 671kms
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