Budapest – and Going Offline for a While

OK, so I cheated a bit today. Taking the train from Vienna to Budapest (see luggage taking a break too), where I’m going to lay up for a while, see old friends and make a serious attempt at learning Hungarian. The Hungarians are so keen that foreigners should master their imposssible, upside-down but fascinating language, […]

The Ultimate Mobile Office

And while I have access to a decent, real computer here in Vienna, able to post serious photos taken with a serious camera, here’s a shot from back in France, on the Loire at La Charite (once a major stop on the Camino to Santiago), of my mobile office. O2 Stellar Blackberry-enabled mobile on the […]

One I took earlier…

These three cheerful types were spied rather earlier on the trip, back in Paris almost a month ago, where I stopped to take some photos, in the rain of course, of self, Raven and the Arc de Triomphe. The two on the left started eyeing the bike with clear expertise, and when I greeted them […]

Vienna. And Why Blog?

Beware, this is a long blog. Take a deep breath, jump in, but be prepared to navigate in manageable segments. Yes, the tent last night stayed dry inside, as did the sleeping gear, and I even dreamed of warm and snuggly sleeping bags. OK, I have had to wear my socks and expensive 100% waterproof […]

The Danube cont. And rain. Lots of it.

The less said about today's ride the better. Eighty-four hard, and for the second half spectacularly wet miles (see grey pic above), the last 30 slogging through a succession of thunderstorms in a vain search for a warm dry B&B. I've ended up having to put up the tent anyway, in Tulln on the Danube […]

The Danube and Pilgrims

The banks of the Danube, which I reached today and along which I ploughed for a healthy total of 83 miles into a ferocious headwind, are indeed flat, as expected. But they're also, to be honest, a bit boring, despite the last couple of days' fabulous explosion all around of tree blossoms in this very […]

Salzburg and The Sound of Music

Now into mjy fifth week on the road since leaving home on Easter Day, this was one amazing day's ride. 64 miles heading east from Salzburg through Austrian pre-Alpine landscape for which the word idyllic was invented. Stayed last night with Dart Centre friend and colleague Susan Moeller at the Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, home […]

Another reason why Bavaria is green

Of course another reason why Bavaria and the Northern Alps are so green, apart from the muckspreadng, is that it rains. A lot. Yesterday was glorious sunshine. But today, as I approach Salzburg, it's back to form. Hence shot above of another serious biker encountered today, togged like me to the gills for the rain […]

The rest of today’s photos

The Alpine flowers are at last beginning to bloom. Very late, but delightful. Mum, this photo was for you! And on the same theme, the green of the meadows here in the German south takes one's breath away. How do they do it? Like the English lawn, it's easy. Just nurture/roll/manure for hundreds of years. […]

Bearing One’s Cross

After spending an hour this morning re-posting my Serious Wistful Thoughts from yesterday, which Blogger.Com had got all confused, I'm going to try one post today with three pix, and then a separate one just with pix, but text will refer to both. Make sense? If yes, then read on. After yesterday's thoughts about the […]