Sunday 26/7

We woke up to a mist that was already beginning to be burnt off by the sun. It was so nice to be riding in the sunshine on twisty, hilly roads, although once again the surface was still damp under the trees. We did a lot of the roads Gladys, Steve, Jonny and Rod rode last year. We took D roads down to Strasbourg, a bit of free Autobahn into Germany and then B and smaller roads on to Friedrichshafen on Lake Konstanz, or the Bodensee as is it is known in Deutschland.

The journey got very gutty as the route chosen for the last half of the journey went through a lot of built-up areas and even when it wasn’t it had speed restrictions on the rest of it. Of course, we took these to be applicable only to cagers or German nationals so we didn’t pay too much attention to them. There seemed to be a lack of bike awareness amongst a lot of drivers, although much of their behavior could have been deliberate, petty awkwardness.

The highlight of the journey came when we were about 20 miles from Friedrichshafen and came around a bend to find a huge panoramic view of the Bodensee, with Switzerland and the mountains on the other side. It really was fabulous.

Like the hotels for the next couple of nights, the Schoellhorn was picked from the internet on the basis of suitable location as far as timing and our intended route were concerned. We thought it offered really good value for money - €102 for the two of us half-board which, unusually, they offered to do for just the one night. The hotel includes the Athena Greek Restaurant, so the no-choice four course dinner menu came from there – vegetable soup (again), a salad and then a huge main course of mixed gyros (kebabs) with lots of accompaniments. Dessert was Greek yoghurt with honey and nuts. Being totally bloated by our dinner, we could only manage a few beers (literally) at a waterfront bar. So Rod thought he’d had a really healthy evening, having walked around the town, only having a few beers and eating yoghurt and honey – oh, plus the fags he’d rolled and filled his cigarette case with, the night before lasted up to midnight, so that must have been healthy, too.

Friedrichshafen is a very up-market resort and was a nice place for a stopover. Five countries for Simon, now, as he’s added France and Germany. A strenuous day, though, following five hours drinking and seven hours sleep, with eight hours on the road.