the leaving of Darlo

[Deano]

I'll be following this thread keenly.

Deano, are you posting to a Blog somewhere as well? 

I have a blurred memory of talking to you on PBP but I have no idea which control or even which day it was.

No. Internet access is too infrequent. I'm keeping a diary, mind.

It was Brest. I was drinking free beer, you'd just had an expensive shower, and when I commented on how it was twice as much if you wanted shower gel and a towel as well as a shower, you said you'd have paid twenty quid for it and wouldn't have minded.

I'm at the Frankfurt Hostel for the night (next to World of Sex, as it happens) and I'm about to go for a few bevvies.

[tiermat]

Deano's first postcard has arrived, TLD will be thrilled!

[interzen]

Deano's first postcard has arrived, TLD will be thrilled!

Just hope he didn't get it from World of Sex in Frankfurt

[Ray 6701]

If you travel through Palmerston, Darwin, NT, Australia let me know & I will sort out some accomodation for you at my Sisters house 

I saw you several times on PBP & we had a chat at St Nicolas du Pelem (the muddy tent)  drinking coffee out of bowls 

[Torslanda]

Is Dean having a couple of private days?

We haven't heard from him for a while, do we have cause for concern?

Or is it just a lack of tinterweb access?

[CrinklyLion]

i think it was just by chance that his first week or so he was staying in a few places with interwebbery and so popped by here a couple of times.  last i heard (by postcard, with bridge on  ) he was leaving frankfurt, in the company of a german botanist, next named destination vienna, i think. 

i suspect that there's very likely going to be periods of several weeks at a time when he's having too much fun/insufficient availability of damp string to be able to stick his head round the door here.  and anyway i told him before he left that he wasn't allowed to have a predictable routine of reporting back because a) then it would be worrying if he didn't when you expected him to and b) surprises and spontaneity and unpredictability are sometimes good 

[SandyV]

Hi Dean
You're welcome to stay with us in Brisbane if you come this way.  Also, Audax Queensland is offering a Gran Turismo SR series in Far North Queensland (Townsville Cairns Cooktown Port Douglas over 9 days) at the end of July/ beginning of August.  See audax.org.au
Hope to see you in 2012!
Sandy

[Canardly]

I can think of no other environment where people on the other side of the globe invite you to pop in for a cup of tea.

[CrinklyLion]

apparently his camera broke, or wouldn't charge, or something.

but it's ok, he's bought a new one so that he can keep on photographing bridges   

oh, and he was in ingolstadt, and is heading towards the isar.  and someone he met on the way has sorted him somewhere to stay in belgrade.  this will probably mean more to people who actually paid attention in geography.... i just look places up on googlemaps and go 'oh!  that's where he is then!'.

sounds revoltingly cheerful.  git!

[woollypigs]

I can think of no other environment where people on the other side of the globe invite you to pop in for a cup of tea.

I know, Sandy makes a darn good cuppa

[SandyV]

I can think of no other environment where people on the other side of the globe invite you to pop in for a cup of tea.

I know, Sandy makes a darn good cuppa

Thanks Woolly!  Come back any time.

[SandyV]

PS Dean - if you're not familiar with warmshowers.org you should check it out.  A great website for touring cyclists to find a free bed. 

[CrinklyLion]

today we got a bridge-less but nonetheless very nice postcard for the cubs and i sent from rothenburg.  i'm hopeful for bridge photographs at some future point since there does appear to be an extremely fine example there....

[Deano]

Thanks, Sandy. I had planned to visit Queensland, so I'll probably pop in! And warm showers is cool, but the intermittent internet access makes it tricky to coordinate.

I'm in Tulln, near Vienna, after a couple of weeks' lovely riding. Too hot at times! I took a day off last Sunday cos I got too much of the sun and too little water. Amusingly, I have a lopsided tan - my right cheekbone and temple are noticeably more tanned than the left.

I rode for a few days down the Tauber and Altmühl with Felix, a German biologist and twitcher, we camped wild in Bavaria and thought we were going to get chased a couple of times, but one night the farmer simply waved and smiled and gave us a pumpkin, the next night the slightly dotty lady on the horse gave us a guided tour of the next few days' riding.

No real issues - as CL says, I've bought a camera which takes AA batteries, as my USB charger for the other camera has packed in. Pity Flickr's down, otherwise you'd get some photos. Maybe at the hostel.

[Deano]

Oh yes, the Donau in Austria is astonishing, especially the Wachau. Fairytale fantasy perfection. I wandered up (and up) to Dürnstein castle yesterday, where Richard I was imprisoned on his way back from Palestine. Amazing views of the ways of the river.

Back to wild camping a bit after Vienna, I think: I was in a campsite, doing some laundry and making nice with the locals last night, but the stars were dimmed by the lights. Uncle Peter's suggestion of tracing the constellations has been a real treat: as Felix said, with looking at the stars and photographing bridges I've been given some really cool tasks to do.

[jogler]

It's really good io hear from you Dean.The castle-prison of Richard I is great stuff.It seems that the journey is going well for you & I hope it continues in this vein.

[Deano]

If you travel through Palmerston, Darwin, NT, Australia let me know & I will sort out some accomodation for you at my Sisters house 

I saw you several times on PBP & we had a chat at St Nicolas du Pelem (the muddy tent)  drinking coffee out of bowls 

Yes, I remember, though I didn't make the link until afterwards. Thanks, Fungus!

But I've a lot of ground to cover yet, and I have to work out how to get from Iran to India, as my planned route through the mountains ain't going to happen before winter.

[LindaG]

Great to hear from you,even if you make us a bit envious!

[shyumu]

...my planned route through the mountains ain't going to happen before winter.

Moria... You fear to go into those mines. The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame.

[Deano]

Evening! I'm in Budapest (the Pest bit), dossing at a hostel and probably not long off going to bed. I couldn't find a suitable campsite (either official or free) near Tatabanya, so I ended up bivvying in a handy brownfield site last night, and slept quite poorly. Much less pleasant and warm than the night I spent in Wiener Prater on Saturday, after a very swift transit of Vienna, which I hated. Hated the place. I spent two hours trying to find the hostel I'd checked online, then any hostel, and when I realised that I hadn't seen anything I wanted to revisit, I left.

Serbia next - here's to more hills and wild camping. Hungarians have been very cool about it so far, especially the farmers who saw me on Sunday evening. Admittedly, they wee more concerned with catching their runaway horse, and once we'd worked out a bilingual mime for "horse", things went swimmingly.

[clarion]

Good to hear from you.

[jogler]

Good to hear from you.

+1

[Marj]

Good to hear from you.

+ 2 

[jane]

Great to hear from you, Deano, although you are making me terribly jealous. 

[jogler]

I'm even more jealous having received a postcard with piccis;nevryfink.
thanks Dean
Marj wants to know where/when to send the cake