The End

I'm back home now. Uneventful journey - train to London, another back to Sheffield. My house, which has rumbled on in a state of approximate cleanliness for the past few years is now as clean and shiny as a new pin - I've had a friend and his gf staying over whilst I was away, house-sitting, and they've only gone and cleaned the place from top to bottom! I wonder how long I'll be able to keep it like this???

Final Kit List, and notes, follows.

Item	Weight	Quantity	Total Weight
Bags of Stuff
Bag for misc bits	303	1	303
Air mattress repair kit, rubber bands, cable ties, brake & gear cable, general purpose glue, bolts, matches, puncture repair, brake pads, clothes pegs, spork
Toiletries	365	1	365
Electric toothbrush, razor, shaving oil, hand sanitizer gel
Saddle Bag	634	1	634
Pedal spanner, Dumbbell Spanner, screwdriver for adjusting derailleur limit screws, multitool, passport in protective case, nail clippers, coins.
Clothes
gloves	38	1	38
socks	26	3	78
rain legs	146	1	146
Flip Flops - ultra cheap Tesco	166	1	166
hand towel	189	1	189
fleece	271	1	271
normal trousers	373	1	373
Normal tshirt	201	2	402
Normal socks	165	3	495
raincoat	623	1	623
cycling shorts - dhb	318	2	636
Road Shoes - shimano R132	772	1	772
Others
Spork	9	1	9
Phone Cable	21	1	21
Tissues	27	1	27
Strap	28	1	28
Cable Lube	35	1	35
Tyre Levers	36	1	36
Saddle Oil	48	1	48
Hand Protect Cream (grease barrier)	50	1	50
Chain Lube	58	1	58
Playing Cards	91	1	91
Pump	119	1	119
Insect Repellant	130	1	130
Food box	130	1	130
Silk Liner	131	1	131
Suncream	131	1	131
Toothbrush Charger	144	1	144
Chamois Cream	186	1	186
Inner Tube	120	2	240
Battery Charger	282	1	282
Air Mattress - NeoAir	404	1	404
Lock	583	1	583
Batteries	650	1	650
Sleeping Bag - Rab Quantum 250	754	1	754
Tent - Terra Nova Laser	1351	1	1351
Pannier Bag	919	2	1838
TOTAL WEIGHT			12967

I have built up most of this equipment over the last couple of years and used most of it previously.

Generally, the kit did the job as expected. Some of the more expensive items performed extremely well - the neoair air mattress / down bag / silk liner combination make an excellent camp bed; the neoair possibly the best of the three - it's thickness smooths out bumps and lumps on the ground, and shapes, to an extent, to the body lying on top of it.

Some of the cheapest kit worked surprisingly well also. The flip flops turned out to be great campsite shoes, easy enough to walk about in and in the end I wore them in preference to the road shoes for the journey home - all the way from the airport in Bratislava. It helped that the weather was very hot - had it been cold and raining they would not have done so well.

The total weight of 13kg is a disappointment. I had hoped to be lighter, although on the road it felt manageable - even on the very hilly day. The quest continues to get down to under 10kg and preferably nearer 8. I'm deliberately including kit I would be wearing as well as carrying in this figure, as gravity acts on it all equally on the long ascents!

What wasn't useful?

• Rainlegs.
• Playing cards.
• Saddle oil or cable lube - neither necessary. Oil saddle before departure, use chain oil on cables if need arises.
• Spork (a combination knife and spoon).

What would I change?

• Shoes. Although the R132s are great road shoes, they have the spd-sl cleat that sticks out from the base of the shoe and makes walking clunky and damaging to the shoe - not much good for touting in. Replacement would be normal insert spd's.
• Batteries. There's a lot of weight in the many spare batteries I carry for the GPS. Maybe it's time to go down the dynamo / li-ion / headlight / regulator -> gps route?
• Pannier bags. Although the Ortlieb bags are strong as anything and 100% waterproof, together they are the heaviest piece of kit on the bike. There MUST be bags out there with the physical merits of the Ortliebs but without the weight?

Preparing the Bike for Transport on an Aeroplane. I picked up the following hints from a bunch of last minute web searching the day before my flight. Bike preparation is all about reducing the physical size of the bike and taking steps to reduce damage should your baggage handler be in a particularly bad temper.

• Wheels off, deflate tyres. Ensure pump available to re-inflate afterwards.
• Fit spacers where the wheels were. Your LBS should have some from delivery of their own stock. They prevent the frame deforming if the bike is crushed.
• Take off the rear derailleur and cable-tie to the frame.
• Take off the pedals
• Loosen the handlebar and turn 90 degrees so the front of the bike is flattened. Perhaps this is only necessary if a mudguard is fitted?
• Use cable ties to secure the chain around the largest cog at the front. This will lessen damage to the teeth if that cog comes into contact with the ground.

And of course check the web pages of the airline beforehand to determine any other requirements. Bikes will generally need to be boxed or bagged - as I've written previously, I used a shower curtain and a load of Sellotape / cable ties to 'bag' my bike but with better preparation (and not being a sunday in a country where most shops shut at 4pm on Saturday and reopen Monday) could have done it better. It's said that LBSs will have bike boxes to give away, but the web man says to make sure the bike is secure in the box before going down this route.

So, The End. Final thank you to everyone who put us up overnight, feeding, watering and entertaining us - you were all marvellous and added hugely to the trip. Everyone who let us camp on their land a big thumbs up. Everyone who offered directions or other help along the way - thank you.

Final Stats: 16 days of cycling with two rest days. Distance: 944.2 miles, 1519km. Longest day: 91 miles, 146km. The hilliest day, getting to Medenbach, included 5000ft of climbing - about 1,545 meters.

Thunderstorm

The hotel had put me in the wrong room. The correct room was made up in the standard manner, plus it has an excellent shower - on full blast it would be just like standing in a hot thunderstorm. Even on medium blast it was impressive - the jets of water under such pressure as to sting.

It's almost as warm here as it was in Bratislava, allowing for it being late evening now. It was nuts over there, high 20s in the shade, absolutely baking in the sun. Great!

Location:Sun St,Hitchin,United Kingdom

Hitchin

So part of my last minute internet planning of the trip home included an overnight stop in Hitchin, a little town a few miles from the airport. It has two distinct advantages - a direct train back to London in the morning and, via a cheap hotels website, a room for half the normal price. Which, when I got here, has worked! I expected them to say that they'd never heard of the website and why on earth would they sell half price rooms?

Anyway, checked in, found bed not made up so they're fixing this now whilst I go out for fast food.

Of course, if I had gone for the last train tonight i'd have missed it uttery - took ages to get out of the airport, then to reassemble my poor tired bike.

Location:Market Pl,Hitchin,United Kingdom

Queues

Back in uk now, and in the first of the inevitable queues. Flight boring, uneventful. Not a window seat, not even any turbulence to liven things up.

Location:Airport Approach Rd,Luton,United Kingdom

Air

Got the bike checked in - their only concern was that the tyres should be deflated - no mean feat with all that wrapping on! And it's not what the website says... The website claims tyres can be left at full pressure - it notes they could explode but it's phrased such that it's both extremely unlikely and only of consequence to the owner - not an event to cause damage to the plane.

Bored now in departure lounge.

Location:Ivanská cesta,Ružinov,Slovakia

Airport, early.

In the airport, some two hours before the check in desk opens. Riding through Bratislava wasn't the nightmare I was told it would be - the roads are potholed but no worse than Sheffield, the drivers lack the courtesy and awareness of the Germans, again not so different from Sheffield. It's a flat(ish) city with a few pavement cyclists, I saw very few other bikes on the road. Also very little traffic because of the day of the week - it would become more dangerous, I think, at busy times.

Stopped off at a handy Lidl for supplies. Now have a shower curtain to wrap the bike in, this will be a second layer over the bin liners.

Location:Ivanská cesta,Ružinov,Slovakia

Sudbahnhof

Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! Set off for the southern station in Vienna only to find a building site. Our host had said to expect building work but as the carrier webpage gave this as the start point, I assumed that the station would still mostly exist.

But when I arrived all there was was a massive hole in the ground and off to one side a ticket machine and steps down to the underground.

No need to panic! There's at least 20 mins for them to finish building the station, before my train leaves.

Brought a ticket anyway. Little time later spotted a road sign for station, followed it and ended up at what appeared to be a temporary station building. If it wasn't temporary I can see why they're rebuilding it!

So caught the train with 10 mins to spare, it's set off now and already got to another more outlying vienna station.

Location:Hintere Südbahnstraße,Vienna,Austria

Sand

Rest day. Trip to centre for a late lunch, again in evening so the others can watch the football. It's being shown in a block of the city that hosts ice skating in the winter and an open air cafe bar at other times. The added touch is that rather than concrete or (yuk) cobbles, they use sand. A lot of sand.

Looks like I'll be catching the train to Bratislava tomorrow. It's not a huge distance, just over half what we've been doing each day but the timings by bike don't leave much room for delay, given that we are getting later each morning - and all my tickets are non-refundable.

Brought a bag for my check-in luggage. Have some plastic to wrap the bike in and hope that this is sufficient for ryanair!

Christian - if you're reading, here's the inside of one shop that I thought might interest you:

Location:Lothringerstraße,Vienna,Austria

Silly german names

They called the Danube Bike Trail, which most people can both understand and pronounce, the Donauradweg. We've been following this for the last few hundred km - it's a remarkable achievement. Basically a paved mostly car free route stretching for thousands of km across europe.

A hill!

So this is the fourth day of flatness. And whilst flatness is easy especially with the slight tail wind and allows many miles kilometers to be covered, and the Danube is undeniably an impressive river with picturesque hamlets, villages and towns on its banks, it does eventually get boring. Happily though as we approached Vienna we decided to leave the river and shortcut to the south of the city where, yet again, we are staying with friends of Calin/Raul. Half way through we hit a range of hills and ended up climbing some 700ft over 4km which may not sound much but was a welcome break after the flatness! As was the descent on the other side.

Vienna is a big city! We crossed maybe a third of it getting to the house. The bike provision is patchy - great in places but non existent otherwise. Terrain not so different to Sheffield, but without the potholes.

Had a bit of bike trouble today. Calin and Raul managed to run into each other (one turned, the other didn't). Fortunately no-one was hurt but it wasn't until we set off again that we realised the rear derailleur on Raul's bike was twisted and poking in at an alarming angle. And that whilst it was rideable the chain wasn't happy and Raul couldn't use most of his gears because the bent arm would come into contact with the wheel spokes and so we needed a bike hospital asap. Unsurprisingly then, the next few villages had zero facilities and it was many km before we eventually got it fixed.


1447km.

Gudrunstraße, Vienna, Austria

Cobbles

So in the early days before the invention of the modern road surface all they had were the little stones left over from building the houses. And some bright spark realised that dirt roads were so 17th century and what was needed was geometric patterns and swirls and, of course, general unevenness and he saw all these stones going to waste and spontaneously invented cobbles. These spread infection-like through Germany and Austria and no doubt lots of other countries that only pretend to like cycling. I'm sure it's not an issue on a mountain bike with its big fat tyres but I got a great deal shaken about on my tourer.

We said hello to the Danube again:




And passed through St. Florian which was mostly church:



But did also have a very nice cafe.

1358km. Very late start, indirect and then hilly but eventually got back to Danube, flat fast travel and a slight tail wind.

Joined last night by Adrian, he'll be riding with us for the next few days.

I've booked my journey home despite a growing inclination to tell work I'll be needing more time off. So it's ryanair from Bratislava on Sunday, hotel near London Sun night and then train back up north Monday.

Something I meant to say yesterday - or maybe day before? Really losing track of the days now! - is well done (and about time) to the second member of the Browns - my
brother Jules - for eventually passing his driving test!

Location:Rollfährestraße,Melk,Austria

River

We followed the Danube to just north of Wels, Austria and then dropped down to that city, the 6th biggest in Austria. So yes, we are now out of Germany and staying with another of Calin's friends. No tent required tonight.

The Danube is a vast brown slug of a river. It has all the mod-cons - tourist boats, hydro stations, ducks.




We followed a quiet road on the south side as it snaked through the mountains, meeting just a handful of cars and passing tiny villages, lots of other cyclists and a remarkable number of cafes.

Raul's foot is giving him problems again, although I do not think bad enough to force another rest.

1217km.

Location:Friedhofstraße,Wels,Austria

Campsites

The Germans have a bizarre calculation for the price of a night in a campingplatz. They charge once for the tent and once for each occupant, so a single traveller in a tiny tent pays relatively more than an entire family in a massive one. This one, in a small place called earring, charges €10.50 for one tent and one person - within the range we'd pay in the uk.

Easy day today despite the distance. We're following the Danube so whilst not exactly a straight line it is very flat, and with a slight tail wind progress has been almost effortless. The river itself is up on its normal level to the extent where parts of the trail we were on today must flood if it gets just a foot or two higher.

Raul is back with us now wearing different shoes and a modification to his pedals and seems to be doing well.

1109km.

Location:Am Sonnenhang,Tiefenbach,Germany

Rest Day

Another rest day. Got up late, did some route planning on google maps, had a walk around town, brought a replacement bottle holder. Meal tonight of the biggest, flattest pizza I've ever eaten, then off to the town theatre to watch the owner of this flat play in a jazz quartet. Which for whatever reason didn't seem to happen - some other groups were doing stuff, perhaps they overran?

Fresh fruit is really expensive here, worse than the uk.

Also managed to get the new ios 4 on my phone, so no more speling mistakse from now on!

Tomorrow we aim for Passau, almost the end of the Germany part of this ride.

Location:Fröhliche-Türken-Straße,Ratisbon,Germany

Drizzle

Says it all really: Neither hilly nor flat, not very warm - and frequent bouts of drizzle.

Tonight we are in the house of a friend of both Calin and Raul. Tomorrow's a rest day, which after 400km in three days we both need.

974km. Highest point today ~1900ft.

Not eaten much during the day. Big meal last night, it's Sunday so most places are closed and a lot of the villages we passed through were not large enough to support a cafe or store of any kind. So snacked from the panniers and another big meal tonight.

However we did chance on a firefighters festival - lots of formal flags, music and beer, all in a giant tent thing in a small and otherwise quite standard village. Probably a couple of thousand people packed in. Every village around was even quieter than usual, everyone pulled into the black hole.

Location:Fröhliche-Türken-Straße,Ratisbon,Germany

Crops

Today we saw fields full of sugar beet, gm corn, normal corn, sweetcorn (as usual, looking much more fully grown than the ones I've planted back in sunny Sheffield), sunflowers and solar panels.

That's right - solar panels. The Germans have a great passion for photovoltaic panels (or perhaps just the gov subsidies) and many houses over the past several days have had all possible roof space covered with arrays of panels. We've seen industrial units and other large buildings with literally hundreds of them. But the fields are something else - thousands upon thousands of these panels in great long rows, soaking up the sunlight.


This photo does not capture the scale of what's been done here. It's not just this field, it's the three or four around it as well - it has to be seen to be believed. And it must have cost many millions. But they've done it anyway!

Obviously not every field can be given over to growing electricity. The ones that have edibles are compatible with wind turbines and these litter the landscape - again, there's no messing about with half measures - these are massive and often dwarf the small hills they sit on top of.




This one, as it was in a field right by the cycle path, was taken right at the base.

828km. Weather dry, cool, not much sun, slight tail wind. Early start for once - 7:30. Despite this we've not covered more than yesterday, just stopped earlier. Tomorrow we should get to Regensburg which is more or less the half way point! Second half is hillier though, so not expecting to finish in 2 weeks.

Tonight we are camping behind a petrol station. It has a toilet! Unfortunately though it's locked overnight whilst it's closed - hopefully opens early tomorrow morning. (but it's a Sunday so who knows???)

Probably stop for a day in Regensburg - must charge toothbrush! It's down to one bar :-(

Location:Neustädter Straße,Emskirchen,Germany

Bah

This is the morning, we've already ridden a bunch of km so the location is beyond where we stayed last night. Last night the shitty software on this phone lost my posting for yesterday so I'm going to summarise briefly. 685km. Ate lots of strawberries from a stall. Less hills than Wed. Using supermarkets more now as cheaper although I prefer the cafes, the food in all of them is delicious.

Location:Denkmalstraße,Himmelstadt,Germany

Resting

So today we covered 0 miles by bike. Marianna drove us to a nearby town where we walked around for a bit then had ice creams in an ice-cafe. And when I say ice creams I mean creations born from ice cream, cream, bits of fruit and various tooth rotting and spare tyre building sauces, assembled and presented so as to prove irresistable to children of all ages. Tasted good too!

Other than that there was a dog walk, some meals, route planning, snacking. Day fillers, but the time passed quickly. The dog here, if it was smart enough to know it, would realise how lucky it was at dog walk time. Most dogs get to piss on grotty pavements or if they are lucky, a park. This dog goes up the road for two or three houses, the road becomes a dirt track and before it knows it, it's on the hill above the village with zero cars, just miles and miles of rolling hills, all as green as you could hope for - but possibly fewer other dog smells!

Location:Schulstraße,Breitscheid,Germany