Germany Part 1. Erding to Icking.

My plan for my trip this time is to start from Munich and cycle to either Geneva or Frankfurt depending on how I fell when I reached the turn off point at Lake Konstance. Starting in Munich meant I could have a day and night with my daughter at her work home as she has an Au Pair position with a family a short drive out of the city. Luckily for me she has a car so she was able to pick me up and take me to her home where I got to meet the family she works for. She is looking after Vincent and Anna but also doing her share of walking their Tibetan hound Ludwig. I met the parents Stefan and Simone over pizzas which they very kindly bought for us all. I didn’t stay there on the first night as I had a host about 10km away. Eleanor dropped me off later at David and Uschi’s house who are a Warmshowers family. David is Canadian and Uschi is German. They met while travelling and David moved to Germany where he now repairs music instruments and teaches guitar. We went out for a beer at their local and chatted about all things bike touring with a bit of Brexit thrown in. Unfortunately this topic seems to never be far away whenever I’m talking to a non British person. The next morning David showed me round his music studio with his 25 guitars, drums, synthesisers, Sitars and a mixing desk. I felt like cancelling the cycling and seeing if I could stay there for two weeks instead. Around lunchtime I arrived at Eleanor’s after a 90 minute cycle through the countryside. Stefan and Simone had said I could stay for the night so Ellie and me could have a day together at Munich’s free entry music festival called Tollwood 

We caught the train into the city and did a bit of sightseeing then headed down to the park. It wasn’t quite Glastonbury but we had a couple of beers, some food and a wander around the festival site. Sting and Tears for Fears are there later in the month but 90 Euro’s is a little out of budget for a cycle tourist.  

For my first full day of cycling I headed along the Isar River Bicycle Path which connects Deggendorf on Germany’s eastern border and the alps on the German, Swiss border. I didn’t have a finishing point set down so it was a case of cycle till I wanted to stop and find a camp spot. The path along the river went through the centre of Munich and out the southern part of the city. I did some looking on the map and picked a town to aim for by a lake. Anywhere there is a lake with a cycle path should throw up a few wild camp spots. I came off the river and went through a small town called Icking which showed a Church on the map. In desperate need of filling up my water and charging my electronics I thought the church may be open and if it was there would almost certainly be water and maybe a plug. Luckily for me there were both and also a toilet which I needed as well. I was sitting outside while my equipment was charging up when the church pastor came out and spoke to me. Turns out she is a cyclist as well. After I nice conversation I ended up pitching my tent in the garden, having a shower and joing the family for dinner. Blessed is he who needs to charge his phone for surely he is in need of a shower too.