Donouworth to Neustadt

This morning I woke up to what I have named 'duelling bell towers'. It started at 5 to 8 and finished at 5 past. They didn't play much of a tune instead going for for a wall of noise. I can only assume the Pope had to get up at 8 this morning and when he sets his alarm it goes global. It definitely woke the ducks who started quacking outside my tent. They sounded nothing like Daffy Duck but quite a bit like Donald. They didn't have a lisp. Disney wins this round.

I stuffed about until 10 then got going. I passed some hunters lining a pond blasting some ducks away. They were old men in tweed coats with hunting dogs and polished double barrel shotguns. I think there were people scaring the birds towards them and then you'd here dozens of shots.

I got to a place called Neuburg which looked really. There was a palace on the river bank, which was also lined on both sides with parks. I would have stayed there but it was too early so I carried on. Just outside I came across another palace right next to the path in the middle of nowhere. I believe it is called the Hunting Palace. It was closed to visitors today unfortunately.

I continued on through a forest and finally, after peering into countless woodlands this trip, FINALLY saw a deer! I'd like to say it was a magnificent stag with glorious golden antlers. So I will. That's what it was.

I've been relying on my guidebook to find camping places and had planned to camp at a beer garden in a town called Menning tonight, but without internet I couldn't actually find the town. It was only when I was past it did I find a map that said where it was. I'm really disappointed by that.

It did mean that I passed through beer growing countryside. There was a town called Dunzing that I rode into and I could smell beer. Not the horrible smell of stale beer, but the fresh flowery smell, which I now know is the hops. It might be my favourite smell. They grow hops around here and I passed a big shed with a conveyor belt coming out down to a trailer, pulling the hops in. I don't know if it was a brewery, but there were a few of these places on different streets. So the entire town had this amazing smell of fresh delicious beer.

I've gotten to a campingplatz that is a bit meh, except it has the most amazing toilet block. It looks like a conference centre. I stood at the door and wasn't sure whether to take my shoes off before entering. They have smooth jazz playing throughout. I'm going to go there just to hang out tonight.

They have internet here too! Finally.

Oh yeah, the route was blocked by some people putting in new powerlines and the detour took me right underneath the crane and into a powerstation, and nobody seemed to care. I rode slowly to give the workers a chance to shout at me but they just looked and said nothing. So I rode through a powerstation!