Day 7: The Donau, Dinkel Bread, and…
May 15 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 9 °C
Day 7: The Donau, Dinkel Bread, and Two Men Who Cannot Stop
Passau → Grein | 157 km along the Donau
The day started productively, a good desk, solid wifi, genuine work getting done. Before we knew it, it was 09:00 and the bikes had been waiting long enough.
First stop: a quick tour of Passau, or “Passed Out” as our UK colleague Mark insists on calling it. The city was absolutely heaving with tourists following guides holding little flags, which made navigating the market an adventure of its own. Worth it, though, because at that market PJ found something close to a miracle: coffee bread made from spelt, Dinkel in German. For anyone with a wheat gluten intolerance, this is the kind of discovery that deserves its own moment of silence. PJ bought three. No regrets. Energy secured. ☕🍞
Then we hit the bike path along the Donau, and honestly, what a day.
After 42 km we found our first public e-bike charging point, which rewarded us with two hours of laptop time at a convenient spot with good wifi and decent tea. At this point in the trip we have learned to measure happiness in plugs per kilometre.
The Donau path was beautiful and, contrary to all expectations, almost entirely empty. No peloton of retirees, no traffic, just river and trees and the occasional castle on a hill. Exactly what you want. Peaceful, scenic, the perfect day for taking it easy and doing a sensible 120 km.
Reader, we did not do 120 km.
Here is the thing about travelling with someone equally stubborn and competitive as yourself: every thirty minutes, one of you asks how much battery the other has left. Or how many kilometres they can still make. Nowadays neither of us gives a straight answer, because we both know what it means. It means the other one is trying to figure out if they can push further. It means neither of us is going to suggest stopping first. It means 120 km becomes 157 km, and you roll into a hotel in Grein in the rain, in the dark, at 21:30, having once again outwitted absolutely nobody except yourselves. 🚴♂️🚴♂️
We regret nothing. We are also very tired.
On a genuinely wonderful note: donations have passed the €7,000 mark. That is extraordinary, and every single one of you who contributed or shared the link is part of this trip in the best possible way. If you haven’t donated yet, or know someone who might want to, the link is in our profile. Every euro funds research that genuinely matters, because as we write this people are fighting this disease right now.
Tomorrow we ride to Vienna, in the rain, already looking forward to it. Sleep well. 🌧️Read more