14 May

Today I woke just before the alarm, but I had taken something for my hayfever, so that explains that. I was quickly up and prepared, then down for breakfast at 8. There was an Austrian mother and daughter there, and they said hello, but conversation flagged as they didn’t speak English. There were little bits when mine hostess came in, and it was interesting seeing her speak German to them and English to me.
I settled up before I left the table, then finished packing up, went down to the car and packed the car. I took some apple juice in the cabin with me and then set off. I programmed the SatNav to take me to Munich by routes other than motorways, so came along the same route (with a few different turns) as I had two days before, but in the opposite direction.
I stopped in surprise in a small town where I was zapped by a radar gun with the youngest operator I have ever seen – perhaps about 8. I couldn’t resist getting a picture of him and his classmates (though I didn’t get the eight or so kids who were having fun exploring the police car). I wonder if it is a program like was at Wycheproof, where a policeman visits a school, explains what he does and the children can come and see him work occasionally. It builds up trust between the children and the police, so they know they can always go to a policeman when there is trouble.
As I travelled up the Danube (towards its source), I stopped at different places to take photos. What amazed me was the number of cyclists. Most of them were cycling down the Danube (downhill all the way). However, don’t think these were the dedicated, grit the teeth and bear all type. No, these stopped at morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a few times in between at little (and big) cafés along the way. There is a whole industry catering to these – but only from late spring to early autumn.
By about 1, I started looking for a place to stay. The first was booked out but then I stopped in a small town (Engelhartzell) which had advertisements for a number of places. I selected one because the direction sign appealed to me and arrived there, three hundred metres out of the town, a few moments later. The husband was mowing the lawn (no English, but Zimmer, bed and breakfast, and tonight) got him to indicate to me were to go and then his wife came out, speaking enough English that we could communicate. Yes, there was room, yes, breakfast was included, the cost was €25 for the night and here was the room. I agreed and put my backpack in the room (though I notice in an advert at a Shell station, they call them rucksacks here).
I then drove down to town, had a walk around, had an ice cream , watched the bike ferry take bikes across, watched the river ferries pass or put in and just generally had a slow look around. Then I went back to where I was staying, unpacked the rest, processed the photos, wrote this blog up (although I’ll add to it later, most likely) and watched the river traffic out the bedroom window.
I also got shown where the kitchen is, and the drinks fridge, but I’m a little too tired for that. Apparently there are a couple from Swaziland also staying here.
I burned some DVDs to back up more of my photos and burned a current small picture one. I gave this to mine hostess, who immediately took me into their kitchen and showed me their DVD player, and after two minutes, I had the DVD playing. Then she got her husband in and he liked the pictures of Australia, ad recognised Uluru.
I went back to my room, did a little more record-keeping and then went to sleep.