Regensburg to Hengersberg

The first day back in the saddle feels like this sport was invented by the Marquis de Sade. I did travel 104km but I could have been faster or gone further if my bottom hadn't been in agony all of the time. Poor thing was whacked by every bump on the track. And it hurt despite my "soft gel" saddle and my padded cycle shorts. Moule-bite in French. Sounds like it comes directly from Sade, because the translation is something like pussy-cock. I think they should have called it "pantalon anti-fessée peu efficace" (not very effective anti spanking pants)

I wasn't worrying about my bottom all the time, instead I was enjoying the beautiful river scenery, and the endless succession of picturesque villages with their baroque churches. Since this river connects Germany, Austria, Slowakia, Hungary and the Balkans, it must have been a wealthy trading route. That shows in the quality and elaborate decoration of the churches.

I rode two parts with a short break after 50km in Straubing. The first part is definitely more beautiful and interesting. The 2nd part is less attractive and at the moment the route is interupted several times by the construction of flood water defences. The diversions were twice poorly signposted and I found it hard to rejoin the route despite GPS. The meandering river confuses the brain as to whether to turn left or right. Generally the GPS is correct, but not always.

Before I left my inner panic was checking and rechecking my tiny rucksack That was all good in the end. But I did make one major mistake, namely forgetting to fill my water bottle, and then discovering when I went to fill it, that it was full of mould inside because last time I had orange juice in it.

Despite all those bottom bashings and the unusable water bottle I did travel a little further than planned to the little town of Hengersberg. There on the marketplace at the curiously named Gottard restaurant, I really enjoyed my tsatsiki burger and potatoes. Rarely have I eaten so voraciously . All washed down with two excellent Bavarian lagers.Read more