18 days into a bike ride from doorstep (London) to Istanbul (Turkey). Hot and sunny here in Germany today ve are having ze rest day - walked around Dillingen today, Bavaria charm, ... tent planted by the river, plus a marvelous washing line of 2 weeks dirty laundry. Looks good from the other river bank.

1600km so far, all cylinders firing. Tough to get fit at first, carrying 4 bags on a bike takes getting used to, but don't notice it now. Good to set up camp and cook our own meals. Naturally, we have cheated and used the occasional hotel. Have used gas cooker to make dinner on bedroom window sill, so hotels need not be that expensive.

England & France done, now following Danube river downstream to Budapest, going though Austria and Hungary. then its Slovakia, Romania and finally turkey.

To re-cap on last 2 weeks:-

Had a marvelous send-off at my house with cycling friends and parents - Keith, Gavin, Maree, Ray, Rhona and Rod - lots of nosh, easter egg hunt (well done Maree), a little beer.

Beautiful weather in France and enjoyed all things French. Saw the northern part of France where the WW1 graves are. Verdun was great, then over the Vosges hills to the "Route du Vin" where we had a few gustations (free wine tasting). This a fabulous part of France with beautiful villages. Champagne was very cheap, so naturally we used it like water.

Gavin have to leave early, but expect he'll be back here to complete the journey.

The Danube bike path is excellent and all cycling is virtually traffic free. camping most of the time now. pitched our tents next to a "mayfest" one night with German beer hall music oom-pah-pah, followed by an excellent rock band. Keith is now really into rock. we were the guests of honour with a presentation of gifts, free entry, and food and beer vouchers!!!

Another day stopped at a 'biergarten' where there were dozens of cyclists. the weather has been a mixed bag with deep snow on one mountain road, a heavy frost with frozen bikes, but plenty of sun, tailwinds and not too much rain. glad to have a warm comfortable sleeping bag and lightweight tent.

The Danube is at a very high level and we have ridden through some flooding. So we are riding into the unknown as we are not sure how the flooding is going to affect us lower down. We are missing Gavin, Maree, Ray and Rhona, Rod but are looking forward to Peter's arrival.

Off to buy some more soap now - and cigarettes - catch you later.