Although I have no water I'm very happy in my little field surrounded by forest and trees on all sides. A leisurely pack away whilst drying out the tent in the sun, then off to find some H2o.
It being a Sunday, everywhere is closed but eventually I come across a petrol station. When I ask for wasser the girl seems unsure as to whether she can do it or not. I think she means can she fill my bottles with coke or coffee or something???. Eventually we get there and a my bottles are full. Outside the petrol station I am instantly lost and wait for a couple on bikes to approach to ask the way to Bad Ulrach.
Luckily they are going there and say to follow them. Its about 15km of twisty turny cycle paths without signs so there is no way could I have taken this route myself. On the way we talk about the trip and I get a little history lesson about the surrounding area and how the Allemagnes??? fought the celts over a certain hill. And how Napoleon came this way and burnt every town to the ground so he would have a clear passage back. On arriving in Bad Ulrach Bridget and Bernard invite me to have a beer with them, and with locals as my host and a beautiful Sunday afternoon ahead of us how could I refuse. I ask them to choose me a local beer and I am presented with a Hefe-weiser. Wheat Beer. This happens to be my favourite beer at the moment anyway so I am most impressed. Cloudy orange-brown in colour and served in a tall glass. Superb. They both order similar beers and have a bottle of coke to go with it. They pour the coke into the beer. I am horrified. Apparently i'ts a kind of shandy, sometimes coke, sometimes lemonade. I've never heard of it before and it seemed the perfect way to ruin both drinks. I try a bit when my glass is almost empty but its not for me. Lemonade, ocacasionally yes but not coke. We sit outside watching the world go by as a flea market happens in the the square. It's a quaint old town and the perfect setting for sittting back and having a beer.Thanks so much you two for my little tour and my beer.
They show me out of the town onto the road to Blau Beuren and I'm away. Unfortunately a beer in the afternoon and no lunch is not the best preperation for what's in store. It turns out to be my second biggest climb of the tour and I'm ruined by the time I make it to the top. Now in the high lands all the way to Baubeuren it should be easy going. I'm shattered. I stop for lunch under a tree and then have a nap. I'm totally spun out when I wake up not knowing what's going on, trying to recover from my midday beer/nap combo. I get it together and drag myself off to Blaubeuren. The scenery changes slightly as I approach and I am in the valley as I come into town. After descending via a 12km bike path past caves and nature parks I arrive. Blaubeuren is renowned for the blauhopf, a good place for pot holing apparently. Blaubeuren seems older than Bad Ulrach and has many timber framed old buildings, looking like they were here many years before Thomas came this way. I decide an ice cream by the fountain is the perfect antidote to my somewhat fuggy head and I toddle around the town taking in the lovely old place. Time waits for no man and I'm still very worried about making the miles to Istanbul in time for my plane. So I trot off on to Ulm. Stevens only stopped here long enough to take a mug of lager so who am I to disagree with that.
Whilst changing my sunglasses to my normal specs whilst sitting on a bench, an oldish man arrives on his bike and sits down next to me chatting away to me about the fahrrad (bicycle), he is admiring all the gadgets and the luggage and clearly realises I'm not from round these parts. I explain Liverpool, Germany, Istanbul. This usualy tells enough of the story when the language is a problem. We ride together to Ulm and he points to a good place to camp as we go our separate ways. I thank him and head off to Ulm all the same as I have a lager date that needs keeping. On the way I keep an eye out along the small tributary of the Danube for a camping spot to come back to if nothing better appears, but nothing is doing. I peel off the main road and try and go along the dirt track along the river. Here I meet a couple with a dog. I say “Hallo” as most Germans do and have a little chat and then off I go towards Ulm. It's about 8pm and I don't really fancy going into the city and having a few beers and then having to find somewhere to camp afterwards. This turns out to be a most excellent decision. I make a big loop and head back towards the good place to camp suggested by the old man. On the way I bump into the couple with dog again and they suggest the same place. I should have gone there straight away. Ho Hum. The recommended spot is where two rivers meet and there is a small waterfall that makes quite a noise. This makes me feel safe as my rustling around and rocket stove won't alert anybody. I've just got my stuff out of my panniers but no tent up yet when I hear voices. I can't understand where they are coming from. Then 30 seconds later two dingy loads of family come floating down the river. They get out at the waterfall and carry the boats to the next part of the river. “Hallos” are exchanged and off they go. Ten minutes later and I've just got the stove fired up when two boys who are about 12 years old arrive on bikes. It's almost dark but they are up for playing in the river. I have dinner whilst they play their games of dancing across the rocks. Another new beer is had and Ulm's lager will have to wait 'til early tomorrow.
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