Thursday 29th August

Hello friends! It's been a few days I hear you say. You've been waiting impatiently for news from the fatherland. Well, I'm alive and well but less could be said for my bike. I'm in Munich and the reasons for coming here was to repair/replace a broken rear pannier rack. This was done by the best bike mechanics ever at Guten Biken and then kindly returned to me yesterday. 90€ for a new heavy duty Tubus rack, then another 40€ to fix the utterly useless and deadly brakes. So after a rest and stopover for a couple of days the bike was ready to roll and off I left with a hunger to get some miles done and bang, there goes the rear spoke. It must have taken a big knock while I left it unattended somewhere as the supposedly bomb proof rims were completely buckled. Back to the shop, help! So must stay another night while a new wheel is built. Another €80...I'm haemorrhaging euros faster than they can print it.

So after nearly 3 days in Munich I'm still without a functioning bike. I await patiently the call to go collect it and FINALLY leave this place... A bit like hotel California - you can check out when you like, but you can never leave.

Can I just say firstly, the bike shop I found in Munich is perhaps the best bike shop I've ever found (sorry Saddle Safari). Run by an Ozzie and a scot, this is a Mecca for bike lovers and home to some bespoke built and renovated bikes. They're true bike lovers and I stood in awe surveying their workshop. Guten Biken is the name, check it out. They've also lent me a bike in the meantime. Which has ironically (or not) got a puncture....cheeeeers.

So apart from bike maintenance it's been very busy in Munich. Finally some time for some well needed R&R. I've got the 2 ton booze gorilla off my back now and I can safely say I do not want to drink again for a couple of weeks. Munich is for the beer lover and I've been casually knocking back beer after beer in beer halls and on street corners.

I've been staying in what I can only describe as a hippy commune. Somewhere between a Gulag and an immigrant internment centre. It's called The Tent and is made up of 2 tents with various other chill out areas. One tent is full of 100 beds. The other you can sleep on blankets on the floor. I can't help but think of pictures on the news of the Superbowl in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Bodies and possessions spread everywhere, ordered chaos. But it's fun and we've been treated to a passing Portuegeuse band serenading us each night plus some Basque travelling dance group. Certainly unexpected, but met some excellent people. I've laughed more here than I have in the last 2 weeks. Spent time with a lovely girl called Rachel and a couple, Mark and Samantha have kept me entertained with stories of wheelie bin domino rally: put the wrong colour bin out on bin day and see how many people in the street copy you. His top score was 5 houses in a row... I'm definitely trying this.

Also met a chap called Wolfgang. 73 from Bavaria. Went to the same beer house every day for 48 years. He came over as I looked lost apparently. He then bought me loads of beers. I felt guilty about fleecing an old man of his pension but he assured me he was a Doctor and had loads of it. He also wouldn't let me drink the last 3 of any of my pints as this was not fresh. So 2 more fresh ones were lined up and duly dispatched. At this point I was going to explain to him Minesweeping in pubs but I thought it best not to ruin the mystique of the English gent abroad.

So, well rested, well intoxicated and very well fed, I'm ready to leave this place. I've stayed longer than planned but I guess this is what happens. These set backs were put here to test me and my budget. Safe to say ill be living off scraps from the dinner table again...

I am however excited to get going. I'm only 120 miles from Passau and the Danube. Essentially Austria, the land of the Alps which I should be bypassing with some clever routing.

Now, just to wait for this bloody bike....

Cheerio for now

Loves, xxxxx