Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~Seneca
I started the next day with high spirits that I would
catch up on my schedule and instead of taking breakfast right away, I indulged
myself firstly after 20 km. I was heading to Regensburg, a well-known Bavarian
city where I wanted to do a little bit more sightseeing as in Passau. As
usually, the first 40 km went pretty smoothly. I pulled out at one small town
to replenish water, wash my clothes and buy some food. Speaking about the food,
today I had a typical Bavarian salad. It basically consists of ham, ham, some
onions, cucumber and again, ham. I bought it at a local store, but still, even
for a readymade food, it gave me a good taste of the local cuisine.
In the afternoon I continued listening to my
audiobooks. After finishing with Plato in the morning, I did a small
recapitulation of Sartre and Spinoza. The last 20 km to Regensburg were awful.
I was pretty tired and the soaring heat was killing me. Right after arriving in
Regensburg, I went straight to the nearest McDonald's. Normally I loathe McDonald's
and its products, but having free internet, an electricity plug, and tasty ice-cream
is an offer you cannot refuse, especially after biking the whole day in
the sun. What a pity that I did not have more time for sightseeing, Regensburg
looks like a nice city that breaths with history. At least I can say that I saw
something, as a fast-sightseeing tourist. On the bike it is namely very convenient to do sightseeing
in a town: You travel triple so fast with minimal effort. I tried to soak into
the city’s atmosphere as much as possible. In the evening,
there was not much hustle - people were just hanging out, dating and enjoying
the nice weather. While leaving for the Donauradweg,
I went through an interesting bridge that was decorated with a myriad of small
locks. Interestingly, it became a habit for lovers to engrave their
relationship by putting a small lock on the bridge.
As every pilgrim to Compostela, I also wear a special
sign: a small shell that is a symbol of this holy pilgrimage. Not many people
recognize it, not even among Catholics. Today, however, I was nicely surprised
as I overtook a young cyclist and she immediately caught up on me because
she recognized the shell. We spent another 20 minutes engaged in a pleasant
conversation before she pulled home. I discovered that a friend of her did
Camino François on the foot and that was actually the reason that she
recognized it. I am curious how many other people will know it, but I think the
closer I get to the beginning of the official pilgrimage; the more people will be
familiar with it.
Tonight I have also missed the desired finish and
stopped about 5 km earlier. Firstly, it was really dark and the paved
Donauradweg ended, and secondly because I have found a perfect spot to build my
tent. I have "claimed" a small half-island in a park and set my base there.
Now I am sitting on the bench writing this blog and indulging myself with the
rest of my small bottle of whisky.
My daily routines looks like following: In the morning
40 km, lunch, rest until 3 pm, then until 6pm another 40 km, dinner, rest, 20 km,
setting the base and preparing for sleep. According to my map calculations, I
do about 100 km, but in reality it is about 115-125 due to wildly inaccurate
route planning (e.g. turn right, which is actually a curve could by marked in
my map software only with setting points that formed a triangle), and due to my
to and fro sightseeing and losing
directions.
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