Fantastic, a thunderstorm early this morning. Not huge, but enough to enjoy the sound of rain on canvas and the odd fork of lightening and rumble of thunder. Not sure if it woke me up or I was awake anyway.
Two girls in the tent next to me. Honestly, a whole massive field and they decided to pitch next to me, but they were laughing so much and having a great time that it really didn't bother me at all.
I started getting up around 6.00AM and the flysheet was, of course, sodden. I was on the road by 8.00AM and the time I got to Gunzburg, the clouds got ominously ominous and I thought I heard a rumble or two. But joy of joys, in front of me were the golden arches of McDonalds and I stopped for breakfast and battery recharge (literally). McDonalds is not my usual restaurant of choice by any means, but sometimes you just want a frothy cappuccino and bacon sandwich. I think I may have mentioned this before, but the WiFi is always so good there that I now actively look out for a McD around breakfast time. I waited for about half an hour for the storm to break and added a huge slab of chocolate cheesecake to my bacon sarnie, why not eh! Another thing that is so great about cycle touring is that you can eat anything.
The storm didn't materialise but whilst perusing the google maps, I realised I was not following the Danube, so I doubled back on myself, via an Intersport where I bought cycling glasses (important after having some bug flew into me yesterday which was painful) and then I bought some hard core face masks. Bavaria is a place you don't mess around when it comes to facemasks and my cute little fabric ones just don't cut the mustard.
Next stop was the achingly picturesque medieval town of Lauingen, entering via an enchanting tower gateway.
It was straight out of a fairy tale with stunning fachwerkhaus (half-timbered houses), an impressive town hall and the famous Schimmelturm tower from 1478 with painted depictions of events and people related to the town.
One of the most important people was a Albertus Magnus, a scholar in the 1200s who navigated the tricky task of combining the teachings of Aristotle with the beliefs of the Christians. He went onto become a saint and there is a statue of him in front of the town hall.
I stopped off in one of the welcoming café terraces to bosh a slice of prinzregententorte, a layered chocolate cake that was a signature thing of the area (did I mention that you can basically eat with impunity when you are covering several thousand miles on a bike). I really love how these buildings are painted in such gorgeous pastel colours and as I was taking some pictures, a local guy on a bike stopped and explained that they were built by a v famous architect. At least I think that is what he said.
I was feeling good and really wanted to get some distance under my belt as I set off for Donauworth which was 40 KM away. Not spectacular views it has to be said, just endless cornfields but I was super happy to find myself in the village of Blindheim.
At first sight, not that inspiring but I suddenly realised that this was the German name for Blenheim, which of course peaked my interest as it was the sight of the famous Battle of Blenheim fought as part of the War of Spanish Succession in which our very own Duke of Marlborough fought.
The result of this victory included not only securing Vienna and establishing the Treaty of the Hague, but also gave Marlborough the right to build my second most favourite stately home of Blenheim Palace back home in Oxfordshire. Incidentally the only palace that has never had royalty living there (Chatsworth House is my most favourite stately home, in case you are wondering).
I found the rather non descript monument to the battle situated right by route #16, and made a short video which I uploaded to my Hamills of London Tours page.
I always find it a bit odd when visiting battlefields that are so calm and tranquil now, but the scene of such devastation at the time. Covered in corn, farmers say that they still come across the odd bone or two when ploughing the fields in preparation for the growing season.
I pushed onto my next campsite for the evening, the Kanu-Club Camping ground on the outskirts of Donauworth. It was situated on the banks of the Wörnitz, a tributary to the Danube and a good spot for eel fishing apparently, or so a group of hairy bikers told me who had all set up camp there for a long weekend break that obviously had continued on into the week (it was a Monday).
They were a really friendly bunch who were all good mates and laughed uproariously throughout the evening.
I set up my stove, had my dinner and as I was finishing up, a very fit, well equipped guy on a bike turned up and set up next to me. I was very impressed at all his kit with modifications on the handlebars to hold maps and it turns out that he was just on a short week long trip and had the whole cycle touring thing taped. Including notorious and delicious looking food, it has to be said. Put my miserable lentil and tuna dinner to shame. Really am going to have to rethink this whole eating thing.
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