Day 6: Knees, Ferries, and a Man in…

Parsberg → Passau | via Regensburg

An early start with a mission: get to Regensburg and find Nick, son of Karin and physiotherapist extraordinaire, who’d agreed to take a proper look at Adem’s knee. We were optimistic. The knee was less so.

Thirty-six kilometres in, almost there, and then: the Donau. The ferry doesn’t run until 13:00, it was 10:00, and every navigation app on every device agreed there was absolutely no alternative. Nick, however, knew better: the train bridge. Turns out local knowledge beats four satellites and an algorithm. Crisis averted, dignity intact.
The check-up was thorough, professional, and ultimately a massive relief. Diagnosis: nothing structurally wrong, just a touch of overuse. On a bike trip from the Netherlands to Istanbul. How that could possibly have happened remains a complete mystery. 😀 Some massage, taping and a brace adjustment later, Adem was cleared to continue. Thanks Nick, you were brilliant, and we are choosing not to think too hard about what the alternative would have looked like. 🙏

From Parsberg it was downhill, and from here the route hugs the Danube, flat, scenic, and a glorious change from what Bavaria has been doing to our legs. We celebrated with coffee and apple cake in Regensburg and promptly stumbled into a mini Oktoberfest for Father’s Day. Lederhosen, beer, brass bands at 11am. Perfectly normal Sunday. We also stopped at a small church to light candles for the people we love, the ones we miss, and those going through difficult times. A quiet moment that the day very much needed. 🕯️

With that thought, your donations are at an al time high😁: €6.980 but we are not there yet, let us see what this will bring, if you haven’t it is still possible https://tinyurl.com/PJ-Adem-on-trip

Then, five days into the trip, a genuine breakthrough: we figured out how to add e-bike charging points to our navigation. The method is baroque in its complexity and cannot be explained in any reasonable number of words, but it works, and we felt like we’d cracked a code. First reward: a charging stop at a railway station. Adem was so thrilled that he immediately dropped an AirPod into a large gap in the floor. We found a panel. He opened it. He climbed in. He retrieved the AirPod. The man is nothing if not committed. 🎧

The station also provided excellent free entertainment in the form of several Lederhosen-clad gentlemen who had taken Father’s Day very seriously indeed. Much stumbling. Much bravado. Zero regrets on their part.

After that final charge it was a relaxed stretch into Passau, with a generous helping of Donau mosquitoes along the way, apparently thrilled to meet us. Passau itself is beautiful, three rivers converging in one city, and a Turkish dinner around the corner closed the day perfectly.
Tomorrow: early coffee in Passau, back along the Danube, and hopefully our first kilometres on Austrian soil. The weather has been informed that it is expected to behave. Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️Read more