Chad Is Everywhere

Yangshuo. Where is Yangshuo? That's exactly what most of you would reply. Or well some of you might add in a few might add in a few extra words. But same context of the response. My prior knowledge of China growing up was pretty limited. All we really learnt of Chinese history growing up focused on the Great Wall, the Mongol Empire, and Genghis Khan. If I were to refer to something more modern in history I'd admit to knowledge of the opium wars and then the resulting treaty that virtually created Hong Kong. But heck when I was young and learning of China I had no understanding opium was a basically heroin, and the British were basically a bunch of olden day methheads in the 1840s. Any description of China before this trip would omit any detailed understanding of the natural beauty of China. Sure I knew that pandas came from China. But it's only in recent times I even understood that you needed to go to Sichuan, and in particular Chengdu if you expect to visit them. The...

So the end of my cycling trip in Passau Germany meant I completed over 350 kilometres in 6 days of cycling. To some that wouldn't seem much. But think about it and you understand to the average person that's quite a journey. Nearly 60kms a day on a bike seat. Even for me as a casual cyclist it was quite a lot. Especially as I had learnt it wasn't a road bike on smooth flat roads and bike paths as I had become accustomed to back home. This was gravel paths and rolling hills included. Yes hills on a follow the river ride. Anyway the final day saw me on a larger ride to finish me off. Being the last day I really was looking for places to stop along the way. Not only because I was tired. But primarily because it was the last day and well the whole idea of doing this ride was to explore the smaller towns along the way. Get the experience of the small little places the big tour buses don't go. Stop in the places the locals know of but the tourist don't see.  These we...

Pedaling Deggendorf  By day 5 of cycling this tour along the Donau the body was starting to say "that'll do". Not to say that this cycling trip was a grind, or a wrong decision. No it's just that I was shattered, and no matter what I did, ate, or drank after the daily ride would matter. I was tired. The rides now were fairly relaxed compared to earlier in the week. There was a definite increase in the amount of bitumen as I approached Passau nearing Austria. And reality was the distances between towns was mostly getting shorter. Metten side step I was also getting much more relaxed about the weather by this stage. It's a much easier decision to just allow the time to take a diversion, or a iced chocolate break when you're not concerned it's going to rain.   On this day I remember the constant though of just taking the side trip to a side town just beyond the main path. However that little side trip was a few kilometres each time. A...

Departure from Regensburg was easy. Seems that that Regensburg population doesn't get out of bed before 9am on a weekend. I on the other hand was struggling with staying up at night. Doing over 40kms of cycling a day was influencing my sleep patterns. By the time I was finished each day on the bike all it would take is a meal and an ice cream and I was done. Plus, with my trip being destination to destination I was perhaps more aware to be on the road to the next stop to ensure I would see something at the other end. Even with late sunsets and daylight saving time it didn't mean museums or churches were always open later. I guess I could have taken the other view and seen the towns before leaving each day however I wasn't taking a chance on the weather changing. If it was fine in the morning the rule was, ride! Not far out of Regensburg was one of the tour stage highlights. A place called Wahalla. Personally I hadn't heard of the place until I started researching my...

After having the nightmare of a ride the day before I knew my ride from Kelheim to Regensburg would be fine. I knew this not because I had seen the weather forecast. I knew this because I had just spent $150 on a top quality rain jacket that was sure to keep me dry. After drying out in Kelheim during the afternoon as soon as my bag arrived I had hightailed it to a sports store, and then when not satisfied with the selection there I discovered there was an actually shopping centre just out of the city centre away from the tourist focused old town. Anyway I knew the rules. Don't buy a jacket and it'll piss down again. Or buy a jacket and have a dry ride for the rest of the cycling week. It wasn't really a choice in the end. So with my unexpected purchase on, and extra clothes in the side pannier of to Regensburg it was for me. The extra clothes were just in case I again beat my suitcase to Regensburg. The ride on this third day of cycling was also much shorter than I had ...

Before even booking my trip I spent hours deciding up what I wanted to do. When I decided upon taking a self guided cycling tour the second level of the decision was where? And from there the decision would cascade down. Germany was the country as I am very comfortable travelling in Germany. Then it came down to region. This decision was made by google research on the Weltenberg Abbey . My searching had come across this picture perfect summer cycling day involving the oldest Benedictine Monk Brewery Monastery in the world. In my head it was going to be great. The ride was to be only about 55kms. Then I'd arrive at the monastery do a tour of the grounds, have a taste of their famous dunkel beer, and then hop onto the ferry that would transport me the remainder of the way. 15kms to Kelheim by ferry. And Kelheim itself was going to be another picture perfect town with plenty of history. The day was doomed from the beginning. I left Ingolstadt early as I knew it was likely to rai...

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the review coverage of this year's Tour de Donau. For those who may have just joined the coverage the path was to take riders along the Donau river through southern Germany over seven nights with 350kms of cycling coverage over 6 days. Unlike the Tour de France where we see 19 teams with 8 riders, each with their 2 team cars, support crews, team buses, a gendarme fleet, and the related tour caravan of promotional advertisers the peloton for this tour was much more subdued. In fact pared back very significantly. The number of riders was in fact one. One solitary rider. Marketing officials were quick to point out that the rider was in fact an amateur cycling tourist from Australia who had paid for his own sponsorship, accommodation, and support team. The support team, Radweg-Reisen were to provide services along the way including accommodation and the transport of luggage. Heck the instructions from Donauwörth hotel reception on arrival the aft...