We (Frankie and I) were taken to the airport by Scott and Chris at 11 pm Friday night. We checked in and went upstairs. Scott and Chris stayed with us until about 11:30, and then headed home. The plane was a little bit late, but not too bad. We landed in Anchorage for a few minutes, and then continued on to Seattle. Frankie's folks met us there, and we used our layover time to go out for breakfast. We had a nice visit, and (after a little confusion over gates--they changed the departure gate on us (between when we landed and when we left)) headed on to Chicago. It was a nice trip to Chicago, where we had a couple hours layover. I called Uncle David (it being an almost local call), and then called Mom & Dad (who I hadn't managed to call before we left).
Arrived in London with Frankie in the early morning. After clearing customs we looked for the car rental agency pickup point, but couldn't find them listed. So I called them. Turned out we were in the right spot, we just had to use a hotel bus!
Once we got the car all straightened out we drove to Canterbury. The cathedral was in use when we arrived, so we wandered around the outside for awhile, went and got lunch and then went back and toured this fascinating building. It has some of the best stained glass I've ever seen.
Our next stop was Dover, where we rented a room in a centrally-located Bed and Breakfast (the same one I'd stayed in when I was over in 1994). We got something to eat, and then (though still quite early) we went to bed.
Having gone to bed so early, we woke up at 3 am. Having nothing better to do we decided to drive to the castle. To wasn't quite the operative word, because the gate was closed for the night! So we drove around for awhile, found an all-night quick stop and got a bite to eat before going back to the hotel for a nap (jet lag, you see.)
Breakfast was early, for we woke around 7. Our first project of the day was Dover Castle, which we spent several (hurried) hours touring. Then we drove to a parking lot near the Dover
{Note: there is kind of a gap here, in which we wandered around the country visiting places. We stayed primarily in Bed & Breakfasts and made it as far north as Scottland. Then, unfortunately, Frankie had to get on a plane to return to Alaska. I spent a couple of days in London and then took the train to Nurenburg, Germany where I rented a bicycle and rode across Europe. This is where my tale resumes…}
Sunny, SE wind to 15 (ug--headwind).
6.5 hrs on road - 1.25 hrs resting = 5.25 hrs biking.
62 km => 11.8 k/h. {gosh this is really lousy}
Straubing to Eferding
I went down for breakfast about 7:30, and really stuffed myself (make up for the high cost of the room!) After eating I got my bike (which I'd brought up to the room with me) and paid my bill (130 DM - quite high, as expected). It was a pretty morning out, but it was destined to be a day of disappointment.
I wanted to continue on the bike path, clearly labeled Passau, so I backtracked about 4 km to where it had turned off from the bike path into Straubing. I turned down it and immediately ran into the first disappointment of the day - a 10 mph headwind. Which gradually freshened to more like 15. This was a direct headwind on wide open plains so there was nothing I could do but fight my way into it. This naturally made for slow going in a monotonous countryside. The second disappointment was the bike path. After taking me through a series of small villiages it dumped me onto route 8 and disappeared! This left me on a busy road with no option but to continue.
About noon I stopped in the small town of Platting and bought some pizza for lunch. There were public rest rooms there as well, which I made use of. There were, in general, enough of these so I seldom had to find a bush! When I continued I noted the odd fact that, where I used to slow down in towns today I was speeding up: buildings make great windbreaks!
By mid-afternoon I was worn out from fighting the headwinds so I decided to stop. I didn't much like the town I chose-Vilshofen had too many people with sullen expressions, which gave me bad 'vibes' about the place. But I found a nice hotel who let me put my bike in their garage, so I was set for the night.
Cloudy with rain showers. SE wind to 10.
8:30 on road - 1:50 resting = 7 hours biking.
84 km covered => 12 k/h.
Vilshofen to Eferding
I got an early start on the road this morning - - a little before 8. I had hoped to make Passau (on the Austrian border) the previous day, but I'd stopped 25 km short due to the headwind.
Today I gave up on the highway and headed across the river to where my map showed a small road going downstream. This proved to be a good move for there was little traffic on this road (whereas route 8, which I could see across the river, was very busy.) There were also several stretches of bike trail.
It was nearly 10 by the time I got to Passau. I crossed the Danube into town at the first opportunity. Then I followed the river, as best I could, downstream to the Salzach River (from which, I believe, Salzburg gets its name), and up the Salzach River to the first bridge which I crossed. The bike path from there (such as it was) followed the south bank of the river. It was a little rough at first but gradually improved. Within a couple of kilometers I came to the Austrian border. Crossing into Austria was the merest of formalities; he glanced at my bike, glanced at my passport and I was on my way. He didn't even stamp my passport - which was a little disappointing, but not that important (ie not important enough for me to ask him to!)
From here the bike path existed about half the time. Whenever the river got narrow it ended and I wound up on the road. About this time it started raining intermittently, so I dug out my raincoat and put the camera, which had been on the handle bars, into one of my paniers.
Then I missed a turn - I followed the road and the bike path followed the river. My map didn't show bike paths, so I didn't discover my error. Which would not have been a problem, except that the road went up. And UP. For 5 km! I was very near the top when I was informed of my mistake by a nice elderly gentleman who had stopped at a rest stop where I also took a break. Though he spoke no English we managed, with much gesticulating, to communicate just fine. He pointed out my mistake and counseled that I should turn around and go back down the hill! He showed me his map, which showed the bike path, and it looked like it would add about 10 km - and I was only 10 km from Eferding, where I planned to spend the night. I didn't turn around, and was glad I hadn't for it was only a little further to the top, and then a fast 5 km all the way down the hill. From where it was only a short ride into Eferding.
When I got into Eferding I stopped at a gas station, bought a soda (drained it) and asked about a hotel. He gave me directions (in sign language, since he spoke no English), which put me in the center of town, but I saw no hotel! There was a travel agency there so I went in and asked there. She sent me upstairs, to the information people, who pointed across the street at a tavern! So I was quickly settled for the night in a nice room, which, though cheaper than Germany, was still pretty expensive at 450 AS. The hill climb, coming at the end of a long day, pretty well wiped me out so I spent a very quiet evening and went to bed very early.
{Gap here which concludes the bike ride. I wound up in Bratislava Slavakia which was a city I very much liked. I met with a girl there I'd been corresponding to over the internet for several months. I spent about 5 days there exploring. Then it snowed about 30 cm, which did in my ideas of continuing on down the Danube River into Hungary. So I took a train north to Krakow.}
My first night in Krakow I met three girls from Norway; Synne, Inglin and Kristin. When I returned from Europe they had sent me an e_mail, part of which is below:
"Anyway, here is our suggestion for the Krakow chapter:
"After coming to Poland I booked in to the Hotel Polonia. As I was sitting in the restaurant, lonely and depressed, the three most beautiful and adorable girls I have ever seen asked me if I wanted to join them. As we were speaking I discovered that they were not only beautiful (and adorable!), but also incredibly intelligent, charming, warm, fascinating, kind (and all those wonderful words)... I never wanted the night to end, but sadly it did. I have spent endless hours thinking what could've happened (a menage a quatre mayhaps) - dancing Norwegian polka all night long, listening to real Norwegian pop music and getting high on Fleinsopp (look it up)."
Unfortunately they departed early the next morning, so one late evening was all the time I had to get to know them in person. They left me a note at the desk, which was delivered to me the next morning: Email conversations just aren't quite the same! Though our friendship has been doing nicely anyhow.
The first day I spent just wandering around Krakow. The next I met a girl from Massachusetts, who turned out to be very badly burnt out from traveling. I went with her the next day to Auschwitz (sp?). Not a place to take an active imagination. The day after that she went with me to the salt mines. A great place to take an active imagination!! :)
When I left Poland I took a train back to Nurenburg (Germany) to return my bike. It took a day and a half, and I arrived on Easter Sunday. So naturally the bike shop was closed. So I left the bike locked up and dropped the key and a note in the mailbox. I just left the $100 deposit, which would help pay for the mirror and the spoke I'd broken, the remainder I told them to keep as a tip. I called him the next day to make sure this was satisfactory, and he was quite pleased with my 'tip'.
From Nurenburg I got back on the train and went to Ostende, Belgium. I got there just in time to catch a boat across, but I didn't want to stay up all night so I decided to spend the night and go across the next morning. Which almost turned out to be a mistake: I had a hard time finding a hotel, because the city was full of people for Easter.
The next morning I boarded the boat for England. We went to Ramsgate, where I got on a train and was in London by the early afternoon.
The primary excuse for going to Europe was to attend a conference on biospherics. As a part of this conference I presented a paper on Mars Base 0. I also did a little wandering around London.
After the conference I went to visit Wendy Keefer and her family (in York). It was nice to see them…the kids are almost grown now--I don't see them often enough to keep up with how fast they have grown!
I spent a day on London upon returning from York, and then flew home on April 18.
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