Welcome to the start of my trip 'Down the Danube' here in Ulm not too far from the source of the Danube (German: Donau) in the Black Forest here in Southern Germany.
This journal is intended as a means, for everyone who has taken an interest in this little adventure, to keep up with my slow but steady progress towards the Black Sea in Rumania. Of course I might not get there, but it#s the journey that counts not the arriving.
Enjoy the journal, its pictures and updates and please add any positive comments you may wish. If have any negative thoughts please keep them to yourself.
Also, try not to look too closely at my English - I happen to be physically and mentally quite exhausted which is compacted by the fact that these foreign keyboards seem to have all their buttons in a different place - I just don't care.
Today I had a late start 9:30 am and I really took my time taking in impressions of my birthplace.
Things worth mentioning:
Day one - 23kms on the river
Don't judge a day by the weather - 30 degree and humid today.
A blood sucking animal had attached itself to my shin (Something I must have picked up in one of the locks). I had to operate with a needle and a lighter by camp light. My heart goes out to all the surgeons at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
I also have a blister on my right ring finger - Yes Peter, I'm holding the paddle like a raw egg - still I got a blister.
I became very proficient at the use of water locks today having to use three and being forced to carry my kayak (30Kg) and all my gear (50+) round three more (see the tagged photos on this).
On arrival at Günzburg (23 kms down the river from Ulm) I'm having to use my kayak trolley to cart my gear 2kms to the campsite. Nicest campsite ever, though - I'm the only tentant. ;)
Before I get there though I run into my parents who took a shot at finding me here. The world is a small place on a river!
At 10:00pm I'm having a well deserved ice-cream in a very picturesque town center on the famous 'Romantic Street' which cuts through the south of Germany from one fairy-tale village to the next.
