Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 11

Bavaria D9 Last night’s Bavarian restaurant was very good and I had a very nice Deer Stew. The squares were very busy with people eating and drinking even when darkness fell. There are a few impressive buildings and churches around the centre. Once again, good to be out of the city and across rolling fields again. The villages are now pretty nondescript compared with the ones earlier on which had very pretty houses with exposed timbers and multi storied. They do though have loads of crosses with Jesus on them In their gardens and village greens. There are a number of old, small tractors still in use on the village farms with small trailers behind, some of which are converted muck spreaders. I went past a farm which smelt of hens so now I know where ... read more

Apologies, yesterdays blog should have been titled Gunzburg to Augsburg. We were cycling south east all day today. It was easy ride out of Augsburg, some times through parks and lots next to the river. It was through more fields of crop, small villages and forests but only a very little gravel today. About ten miles from Munich we cycled a few miles out of our way to visit Dachau Concentration camp. Dachau is synonymous with the Holocaust, as the site of the notorious Dachau concentration camp where over 43,000 people died during the Nazi regime. The KZ- Gedenkstatte Dachau is now a sombre memorial to those victims and the countless others like them. The entrance gate bears the slogan 'Arbeit Macht Frei' ' work makes you free 'but hard work did not guarantee survival. It ... read more

Bavaria D8 Good breakfast across the road before setting off around 9am into a steady headwind across typical farmland and villages with fancy Maypoles with tinsel etc hanging from them. Passing through a village I found a shed full of beef cattle eating green grass, which must have been freshly cut. There was another farmer walking a calf across his yard to its cubicle. Today we spent more time alongside busy roads but we also had some stony tracks, which unfortunately decided to gain height as we approached. Not allowed. There are many hunters huts in the fields where the hunters look for their prey. There is also much winter timber supply by most houses in the country, which is pretty alien to us. Perhaps we should consider this for when they turn off our electricity ... read more

Dinkelsbühl was founded on the wool industry but there are no sign of sheep around now. Tony said that they are all kept indoors as this proves easier and more efficient for the farmer. Poor animals. Breakfast didn't start untill eight o'clock so we set the alarm to go down for then only to find they had started serving at seven thirty so some of the group had already dined. After breakfast we finished packing and went down to the bikes to find everyone else had gone except Bob and Dave. Usually we had been told what time to meet at the garage but as the bikes were all outside no key was needed, so no mass gathering at the garage. Oscar had told us where there was a supermarket so we bought yoghurts and sandwiches ... read more

Bavaria D5 Last night was busy in the town square where some men in lederhosen were erecting a very tall tree. They were shaping badly but I think they were spinning it out a bit for the crowd who were eating and drinking in the street in 24 degrees. We were eating in Paladinos, just off the e square. I say eating but mostly drinking since they were that busy it took a while to arrive. The Allee Hotel was very nice with good rooms and good breakfast. Out along the river today in warm sunshine passing through a lot of farmland growing all crops and quite a bit of newly planted maize. There was some hay being made so their must be livestock which must be kept inside all year round. A stop was made ... read more