Sunday 25th August

I hear it was a washout at the Oval in the last test of The Ashes. Well it must have been quite a big cloud as I've been under it for the last 2 days. It's a real wet one. The type of days where it just rains and rains. You think it's about as hard as you've ever seen rain then it comes down even harder and it actually hurts your skin. If its a day where if I was back in England, and I owned my on own home, I'd seriously consider hoovering it. Then decide against it and watch the 100 best cricket catches ever on Youtube.

I've seen people all day running in and out of cars, into shops, screaming because they're getting wet. Then I cycle past with water running down my nose. I actually think I've been drier in the bath. My hands are reaching a dangerous uncharted territory where they've gone past being wrinkly and prune-like and I fear the skin might dissolve and fall off. To make it worse, I've lost the feeling and control of two fingers on my left hand so I wouldn't even know if they did fall off. 

So as you can tell things are going well! I am now however in relative comfort. I'm sat in a kebaberie in a town called Crailsheim and have just polished off an extra large doner, chips and salad and a Bavarian beer. The man behind the till didn't understand my order as I ordered rice but I am too hungry to care. I'm also drying my clothes on their radiators while I watch one of the Harry Potters on the tele in German. I never did like Harry Potter but this will do.

Tent it is again tonight. I'm getting very good at finding hidden spots on public land. Tonight you will find me around the back of a tool shed by an allotment. It's always a danger putting a tent up in the dark because more of than not, you open the door in the morning to find you're on a public thoroughfare and dog walkers are mumbling disapprovingly.

I did another 80 miles or so today along the Kocken river. If I'm honest I've stopped counting each day. I always forget the number I started on in the morning so I just know I've done in total 1,393km. I'm looking forward to getting through Germany now. It's a bloody big country! The people are generally friendly but it doesn't help that I struggle with the language. I've only been to Berlin, hamburg and cologne in the past and now I can proudly say I've passed within 30km of High Wycombe's twinned town, Kelkeim. Can't wait to recount that anecdote to the grandkids!

In terms of me, aside from my hand, everything else is fine. I'm well into the routine now and I'm quite happy sitting and watching the world go by. It is true what they say. I've had a loooot of time to think through things. I think I'm running out already though. Need to go a bit more metaphysical and ponder my existence a bit more. 

My knee doesn't hurt anymore, it just clicks, and im coping well with doing 80 odd miles day after day. I now understand that when I start getting grumpy and swear a lot going up hills it means im hungry and I need to eat. I can also gauge how much I've eaten in terms of calories and when I will need to eat again. Essentially, I'm eating a lot. And that's amazing.

So tomorrow, well, my rear rack has now broken. Snapped properly this time. Im going to need to get a train to Munich. It's only about 100km away but the bike won't make it with all my bags. I will need to seriously consider rearranging my bags and placing some on front pannier racks as the roads are only going to get worse and this is twice already...

Anyhoo, ill probably sit through the end of Harry Potter and then head off to my the sanctuary of my tent. Dry and warm for another 8 hours. Perfick.