Orient Express Day 14 Eggelstetten to Kipfenberg - 105km

Well, another night of camping down and, unfortunately, I woke up feeling OK so no excuse not to ride - although by the end of the day I would have dearly loved to have found one..

After our traditional campsite breakfast alternating between hot oats and cold muesli with bread, spreads and coffee or tea, we set out under grey skies and the certainty of rain until our first unscheduled stop, a cherry tree, where we utilised our very own 200cm+ cherry picker Alf from Capetown to harvest the fruit for us..

 

We then followed the Donau (Danube) into Marxheim along the various grades of cycle paths until our coffee stop at a quite nice bakery where challahs were on offer. I settled for hot chocolate and a cake and Edna continued her quest for the perfect schnecker. She remains convinced that the best ones are in Israel. Sometimes, you just have to settle for a buttered pretzel..

We pushed on through intermittent rain to our lunch spot and then on to Eichstatt where the local market was about to finish. Rain, rain, rain so why not have ice-cream?? I was wearing my Ciclismo Classico Gelati tour jersey after all..

 

It poured for the last 30km to camp and my computer threw in the towel at 85km - there is a serious problem in wet weather which just should not be!! Fortunately, Edna's computer keeps good mileage and she calls out our position to 2 decimal places when I ask.

We arrived into camp soaked to the skin and it just kept raining. Edna's tent, of course, was up and waiting but the rest of us had to pitch tents in the rain and then try to shower, stay dry and get warm. The majority decided to achieve the latter objective by drinking copious amounts of red wine. I settled simply for dinner of gnocchi gorgonzola and rissoles and, dressed in all the dry clothes I could find, retreated to my damp tent to sleep the night away. It is days like this that I wonder what I am doing but, as I have expressed on prior occasions, what does not kill you makes you stronger. It just does not make you drier or more comfortable..