June 23-27 Vienna to Budapest

We arrived in Budapest yesterday, the halfway point of the journey! The city is not cyclist-friendly, so we did the last 25 km as a group. It was exhilirating to cycle across the Danube from Buda into Pest, the great city opening out before us along the river banks.

We left Vienna and Western Europe on Monday for the short ride to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is easy to miss the border crossings -- we have yet to show a passport since leaving Paris. There we stayed in a boat hotel, moored on the Danube -- cramped and hot, but more comfortable than camping. Bratislava is a city of contrasts -- beautiful city centre lovingly restored to at least German standards, ringed by communist-era suburbs with drab tower blocks. We wandered around the tourist sights and cafes, then went out for a group dinner hosted by Henry Gold, the founder of Tour d'Afrique, who has joined us for a few days. He is Canadian-Slovakian.

On Tuesday we had our last long ride along the Danube -- 40 km along a beautiful straight causeway along the water's edge, with scenery reminiscent of the 1000 Islands section of the St Laurence, and a profusion of bird life. We crossed into Hungary, the border marked only by a crumbling, deserted, communist-era police building, and arrived, after considerable navigational difficulties, at a rather nasty campsite in Gyor. The next day the Danube Cycleway became harder and harder to follow, both from lack of signage and poor road quality, and we finally abandoned it for the main roads. The afternoon ride took us over a range of hills (our first significant climb in many days) and into Esztergom, a lovely town, and this time an excellent campsite. Every town seems to have a castle and a cathedral and Esztergom's are conveniently colocated on a nearby hilltop with cafes along the route... it has become very hot, 35 degrees plus in the afternoon, and we are consuming a lot of beer and ice cream after our rides. (I can still get Austrian-style ice coffees in the larger centres). There was a violent thunderstorm during the night.

On Thursday we left camp early and crossed another line of hills -- a steep 15km climb -- and gathered at our assembly-point on the other side for an early lunch and the group ride into Budapest. The tourist guides use the expression "faded grandeur", which accurately describes the overall impression of the city. Restoration and modernization is patchy, but there is always an underlying elegance. There remain small remnants of the communist era: for example, the laundry was not coin-operated, but had a motherly attendant who put everything through according to our instructions.

June 17-22 Regensburg to Vienna

Five consecutive days of cycling in increasingly fine, hot weather. Reached Vienna early yesterday afternoon, with time for the coin-laundry visit before dinner. A group of us went out for a delightful Viennese evening: Wiener Schnitzel and Sachertorte, followed by Strauss and Mozart at the Wiener Konzert Haus.

Our first day out of Regensburg was a short 60 km, allowing a late start. We camped at Straubing, then continued to Passau on Wednesday. Passau is a lovely city, with yet another massive cathedral -- this one boasting beautiful frescos and the world's largest pipe organ. We stayed at a pretty campsite for cyclists and canoists by the river Ilz, just before it enters the Danube. The next day we crossed the Austrian border just outside Passau on our way to Linz. Austria has clearly put more investment into the Danube cycleway than Germany -- most of the 340 km between Passau and Vienna is gorgeous, paved bike path right on the river bank (sometimes both sides) with occasional excursions into the surrounding, lush countryside -- initially cereal crops, later orchards and vineyards.

On Thursday evening we camped at Pleschsee, a small lake and resort near Linz with restaurant and swimming. Linz itself is a large, busy city, and less fun to visit than Passau -- although all German and Austrian towns and cities seem to have traffic-free centres, with restored cobbled streets and beautiful buildings.

Friday's ride took us past Mauthausen, and most of the group took the detour and steep climb to visit the infamous Nazi concentration camp and associated memorials to the many national groups, Jewish and non-Jewish, who were its victims. The visit brought home the sheer scale and organisation of the Nazi horror.

That night we camped at Emmersdorf, at a pleasant campsite near the river. Emmersdorf is just a village, but it provided a small shop selling cold beer, and a restaurant for dessert and coffee after the camp supper. We left early on Saturday for the final 120km into Vienna -- beautiful farmland, orchards, terraced vineyards in a hilly landscape, then a final stretch along the banks of the Danube leading onto the Donau Insel and into Vienna.

The cycleway is heavily used: stout German couples on solid bicycles with loaded paniers containing everything they need for two weeks of riding and camping, and groups of school-children on outdoor education or similar.

On a much less happy note: We have lost two more riders to injury. Neil the 82 year old was involved in a bad traffic accident just before Passau, and another rider had a fall and broke his collar-bone yesterday.

June 13-16 Ulm to Regensburg

Regensburg is one of the prettier cities we have visited. Our hotel is in the old medieval town centre, with its narrow cobbled streets and every building beautifully maintained in traditional style. It was a pleasure arriving by bike yesterday -- bike path all the way in to the traffic-free old town. Tradition does seem to be giving way to pan-European culture in at least one sense though -- almost every restaurant near the hotel is a pizzeria. Fortunately we were able to find a lone Biergarten for a more typical German meal yesterday evening.

The weather has stayed mostly dry, but our two camping nights and breakfasts were bitterly cold. Our first camp after Ulm was at Egglestetten, continuing along the ever-widening Danube. On Saturday we took a scenic detour away from the Danube, heading north-east along the river Altmuhl cycleway. We reached Eichstatt on Saturday afternoon to find the city celebrating its 1100 years, with an eclectic mix of Roman centurions and medieval citizenry engaged in archery, axe-throwing etc. and a folk group singing songs of a distinctly Carmina Burana flavour.

The Altmuhl cycleway skirts the ancient line of Roman fortifications built to stem the barbarian invasions -- quite successfully during its first few hundred years. The forts are perched on high cliffs overlooking the river valley. We camped at Kipfenberg, watched over by a Roman fortification on one side and a medieval castle on the other.

During Sunday's ride to Regensburg we rejoined the Danube, now a major waterway with locks and barges appearing for the first time. We had to delay our morning coffee break until the population emerged from church and the cafes opened; we are in devoutly Catholic Bavaria. Most of the past two days of riding has been along fine gravel bike paths, shared with all kinds of cyclists, from serious campers with loaded paniers to families out for a Sunday afternoon ride.

June 9-12 Freiburg to Ulm

Today's rest day is in Ulm, Einstein's birthplace, marked with a rather modest modern sculpture. The city seems rather more proud of its other famous son, a gentleman who invented hang-gliding (sigh). The weather is much better, warm and fine with occasional thunderstorms.

We left Freiburg on Monday morning in sunshine. The day consisted of a long steady climb all morning through country that reminded me of the Juras, then an exhilirating descent into Donaueschingen, "source of the Danube" and the start of the Danube cycleway. The source of the Danube is marked with a monument, although a neighbouring village a few kilometers away also claims the honour.

The Danube cycleway is a network of secondary roads and dedicated cycle paths, paved and unpaved, that criss-crosses the Danube from Donaueschingen to Budapest -- 1350 km and our planned route for many more days to come. So far it has been quite well signposted, but it is easy to get lost. We thought it would be flat, but the young Danube flows through hilly country, and the cycle route took us on abrupt climbs opening out to breathtaking views. The countryside is magnificent, and every village -- and there are many of them -- picture-perfect. As in France, there is always a church and a Rathaus (town hall). During the first day the Danube was little more than a muddy stream, but on the second day it gathered strength and here in Ulm it is already a good-sized river.

We camped near Donaueschingen and Sigmaringen, both good campsites, and here in Ulm we are staying at the very nice Movenpick hotel. It is asparagus season, and many restaurants offer Spargel menus -- white asparagus with hollandaise sauce, new potatoes, accompanied by a schnitzel or wurst. Such is the status of white asparagus that, in a reversal of roles, the meat accompanies the vegetable. The twice-daily boulangerie/patisserie has been replaced by the Backerei/Konditorei, to equal satisfaction and with the addition of wonderful ice-cream concoctions -- strawberries are coming into season as well.

Some new arrivals have joined the group, including another couple from South Africa and a pair of Harvard MBAs who have returned from their graduation ceremonies and will continue through to Beijng. Sadly, we have also lost a couple due to a fall and a fractured fibula yesterday.

June 5-8 Chaumont to Freiburg

Three days of cold, rainy weather!

We left Chaumont Thursday morning heading for the village of Xertigny, our longest day yet at 130km. It poured with rain the whole way. The route was beautiful though, taking us mostly on quiet roads through small villages. The "campsite" at Xertigny turned out to be a rough, recently-mown field with a long walk to shower and toilet facilities at the local football (soccer) stadium. We huddled like penguins, cold and soaked, and rebellion was in the air... Fortunately the good citizens of Xertigny took pity on us and opened up the local recreation centre for our indoor camping pleasure. The next day took us through increasingly mountainous terrain and over the Col de la Schlucht (1140m) into the Alsace region. The summit was swathed in a damp mist, with a long, chilly descent into Munster, a charming little Grimm picture-book town with storks nesting on the chimney stacks. The architecture is more German than French, and we began to hear German in the streets. Here the campsite was decent, though the rain continued all night. Saturday's route to Freiburg was relatively short, so I joined my tourism and cafe-oriented cycling companions and we meandered through Munster, Turkheim and Colmar taking photos. We crossed the Rhine into Germany at Breisach and reached Freiburg early afternoon. Our first hotel since we left Paris! Everyone is bright and cheerful again today.

We are beginning to get to know each other better -- it is a very diverse and interesting group. There is the recently-retired chief executive of a large South African company riding tandem with his wife, consultants and academics in various fields, a dentist, an outdoor education teacher, a retired dairy farmer, a lobbyist for the NZ oil and gas industry... about 40 people in all.

June 1-4 Paris to Chaumont

We are in Chaumont today, our first rest day. We left Paris as a group on Sunday morning in sunshine and fine style, stopping at Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower before circling the Arche de Triomphe and heading out along the Champs Elysees. Our overnight stops were at campsites near Provins and Troyes and we are also camping two nights here at Chaumont. The weather has been very variable, with intense showers seemingly timed for when we roll into camp. In fact my greatest challenge so far has been re-learning the skills required for camping in the rain... the Chaumont coin laundry received lots of attention this morning.

The tour has been quite well organised, with only a few minor glitches so far. My fellow riders are a varied and interesting bunch, from Canada (including Quebec), S. Africa (anglo and afrikaaner), Australia, NZ, UK, US, Netherlands and Switzerland. The bike mechanic is a young Frenchman, and his wife is the tour nurse. Ages vary from late twenties (including three cycling though to Beijing) to 82, but most are in early retirement. I've found several people with similar cycling speeds and interests to ride with -- incl cafe/patisserie stops for second breakfasts and afternoon snacks. The Tour provides breakfast, lunch-en-route and supper on cycling days, so far good and plentiful and sourced locally each day by Jon the Tour cook.

There has been ample opportunity for tourism, including the medieval town of Provins in pouring rain, the General de Gaulle memorial at Colombey-Les-Deux-Eglises, beautiful well-kept villages each with church and Mairie in equal splendour -- separation of church and state on display even in the tiniest jurisdiction -- and glorious rolling countryside. Yesterday we began to see the transition from wheat and barley to vineyards as the terrain became hillier -- we are in the Champagne region.