A Long Way For A Curry

11/06/25  - Day Thirty I must stay connected to some of the reasons why I am doing this. I want to live in experience for a while. I want to feel what it’s like to be lonely. I want to feel the heat of the desert. I want to shiver in my sleeping bag in the high passes of Tajikistan. I want to live. I want to meet people and see things. Europe is just the warm up. Life on the road calls my name, and who would I be to shy away from it? Still haven’t recovered fully from my sickness. I feel more tired than normal and nauseous sometimes. My appetite still isn’t all there and I fear I am wasting away. I will have to feed big in Vienna when I rest there to try and regain some calories! I got away from camp at 8am this morning, cycling through the most gorgeous section of the Donau so far. 10 miles of quiet, mystically forested hills, rising from either bank. I stopped to eat breakfast, picking up a croissant at a bakery, then continued on to Linz.  After taking some time so explore ...

10/05/25  - Day Twenty-Nine 30 miles today. Coffee and blog writing in Passau square starts the day off nice and leisurely. Sitting by the river at the confluence of the Innes and Danube and read for a while. The lurking grey/green flow of the mineral saturated Innes mix with the clearer blue flow of the Danube: quite the spectacle! Easy 10 mile stints as I still feel knackered, weak, and sometimes nauseous. Long breaks and gorgeous stretches of the river see me through. In the evening, I struggle through a tuna sarn and found camp with ease. What a relief! I comfort read from Alastair Humphrey’s book - Moods of Future Joys. An apt title! He writes very openly about his emotions and struggles: self doubt, fear and anxieties. Lots of crying! Relatable to the ups and downs of life on the road. Obviously my journey pales in comparison to his epic, but always good to stay inspired with some good travel literature…   Over the Innes Innes/Danube confluence Another day, another count...

09/06/25  - Day Twenty-Eight Feeling somewhat better today so we press on to Passau, circa 30 miles away. Andreas joins me for the first 10 and tentatively cruise along happily chatting with what common language we can find. I struggle to keep up as I power through bouts of nausea. Tough miles ensue to Passau. I chill to the max on arrival, reading my book and taking on board as many calories as I can stomach - kebab and pizza combo due to no shops being open on the bank holiday! Catching up with my good friend, Adam King before a well needed sleep.   Getting the miles in with Andreas the legend! Another hydroelectric dam crossing Views from my room     Checking out the old town with the last of my energy reserves!          

08/06/25  - Day Twenty Seven Safe to say I did not sleep well last night like expected. Barely slept at all in fact. Woke up with some severe stomach cramps which lasted all night with many toilet trips ending at 7am! Let’s just say it was coming out of both ends and leave it at that. Couldn’t help but think how lucky I was to be under shelter and with toilet access, for it rained most of that night. Imagining myself wet and shivering while on my hands and knees being sick in some random hidden place, eased the pain of my stomach cramps somewhat.  Today was unsurprisingly uneventful. Being the part alcoholic that I am, it was just like another bad hangover and nothing I couldn’t handle with a hefty rot soc. It hits different in a tent outside someone’s house. Oh how I long for the warm embrace of a pal in moments like these. Andreas and Ulli kindly allowed me to stay another evening on their terrace to recover. I got up at 12 and Ulli made me a cuppa, so sweet! Later I managed...

07/06/25 - Day Twenty Six 70 miles to Deggenau today, just beyond Deggendorf. Felt properly weary for the last 10 miles, must be some cumulative fatigue building up. I stopped under a bridge mid morning to escape the rain and try and get my tent a bit drier, enter the human clothes line: me. I unlocked a new snack combination too, Nutella banana and peanuts, a mouthful of each. Delicious but hard to chew! The sun then decided to show up later on so I did in fact get my tent dry which was a nice bonus for the day. Then in classic fashion there was torrential rain to finish off the day and I turned up to my hosts, Andreas and Ulli’s, cold and wet through. They were kind folk though, and offered me a hot shower straight away! I set up my tent under their roofed terrace area, and ate my dinner. Afterwards, they came out to join me baring gifts of rhubarb crumble! We chatted as we ate, but I felt bad for not being my most talkative self, I was bloody knackered. They had had 38 people to vi...