Chamonix and Argentière

 Nice buildings abound in Chamonix. It is fairly crowded though and a bit too touristy!

 Postal delivery in Chamonix!

 

An extremely fast moving river runs through Chamonix. No way to get down to dip your feet in though, as it is too dangerous.

 Fresh springs are all over. They are very cold and taste great. This one is right outside our campground entrance in Argentière. We moved here after two days in Chamonix to see a less hectic part of the area. Lots and lots of mountain climbers camp here. Strange folks for sure!

Early morning view from our camp in Argentière.

Time for a beverage or two!
 

This is all I can squeeze through the internet at the moment. We hope to be up on a glacier early tomorrow morning, so hopefully some pictures from that hike!
 

Peace my friends.

Mont Blanc. As You Do.

 

Nice view of Mont Blanc from our campsite!
 

We took the train to Lyon in 95 degree heat and stayed there 2 days to get outfitted for hiking and camping in the Alps. We donated our bicycles to the hotel staff. 

We then hopped on the early train to Chamonix in the French Alps. We plan on staying a few weeks here in the cooler altitude. Then on to Paris for our last few days in France. 

More pics to follow! 

Peace my friends.

Anniversary in France

 So… I wanted to spend our wedding anniversary in France instead of Germany. 

Zee Germans don’t like it when you want to drop a car across the border, so we: 

Took the train from Passau to Munich, where we spent the night. Then we picked up an SUV, packed the bikes and all into it and Kirsty drove across the country to Freiburg, Germany. We spent a very nice night about 30km outside of Freiburg at the Gasthof Krone, then returned the car the next morning and took the train to Neuenburg, Germany. 

We hopped off the train and cycled 35km across the border to Mulhouse, France, crossing back over the Rhein river in the process. Easy peasy.

For our anniversary dinner that night, we had fabulous Korean BBQ. As you do, when in France.

We do love our Korean food, and didn’t want to pass up a chance like this. Beef for my lovely bride and shrimp for me!
We are going to stay in France and I will blog what we are up to soon! 

Peace my friends!

Danube Cycle Trail Photos

 As promised, here are some of the sights along the trail:

 

A send off from the swans at the start of the Danube.

Corn for days and days and days!!!!!!

Kirsty heading into a covered bridge leaving Donaueschingen.

Favorite camp at Hausen Im Tal.

His camping vehicle.  

 

Next pics are from Sigmaringen:

 

 

Loosely translated, I believe this sign means "eat at McDonald’s, then you fart." I could be wrong though.

For Ryan when she comes to visit Germany!

Rathaus (town hall), in Ulm.

Gummy Bears are a big thing here!

Names of people who have lived in the house Neuburg an der Donau.

This baby starts really fast off the line and hugs the corners!

Signs from some of the camps:

We came up this hill, and a few others like it. Supposedly this path had a few, minor hills. I would like to throw the guy who wrote our guide down this hill.

We had to take a short boat ride around the narrowest and deepest part of the German Danube at Weltenburg. We got on the little boat, with our bikes, at the Abbey.

See the fat man in the rocks above?

Hops as far as the eye can see here outside of Bad Gogging.

 Castle at Neuberg. Scale of place was impressive!

When in Germany, eat pizza!

When you sneeze a lot, you go here.

Huge double lock in Passau.
 

That should do for now! This adventure has been a hoot for sure. At times we felt like we were camping in a crèche, other times it was a dream. The hills were a challenge but once we got to the top, we got to go down! It was interesting to see all the different bike configurations and packing strategies of fellow cyclists. 

Sorry for any typos as I am trying to get this uploaded and done! Sure miss my old blog program! 

Who knows where we will go next?

Peace my friends!

Hello Again

 After a few days cycling in the rain, we made it to Leipheim. We cycled 65km, our personal best so far. We were going to stay about 35km further back, but the place we were going to stay in was a field on a farm, and it smelled, well, like a farm. So onward we went. We are 215km into the trip. 

Cycling in the heavy rain is no fun, and I’m not going to lie, we stopped a few times under the trees to let the heavier showers pass. Now we are in the sun and should be for a while.
The internet sucks around here so only one pic this times. Will post pics later down the path.

Peace my friends!

Passau At Last

 The internet in the campgrounds is still crap, but we hope to be in a hotel or guesthouse soon! We are currently pondering where to go next🤡

I could barely get two pics on this page. The campground is at a canoe club and, as you can see, it is very popular. We are right next to the river Ilz, which along with the river Inn, flow into the Danube from each side of the Danube, a few hundred meters from us. 

Peace my friends!

Herzliche Gruesse aus Deutschland!

No need to adjust your internet my friends, that is the German language on the sign. We are no longer in France, having snuck over the border into Germany. We crossed the Rhine River at Strasbourg and camped our first night in Kehl. 

The Meuse was a bust, and we are looking back on the last two weeks as a bad dream. More grist for our poetry and all that. 

We are going to cycle the Danube river as far as we can, from the source at Donaueschingen in the Black Forest, to at least Passau, just before the Austrian border.
The hacking has left us both, and we are looking forward to cycling and enjoying the brats, beers, and cakes. 

Here are a few pictures of France:

A French toilet, no seat, toilet paper or lid.

A requirement when traveling in France.

 A man in his undies.

 The Rhine River at night by our campground. 

The internet is a bit spotty here in the hinterlands, so the blog will continue when I can find good internet. 

Frieden my friends!