September 11, 2011
A hot day to Deddendorf: The Autumn Market is on today
Summer has returned to this part of Germany. Today's ride was supposedly very easy. It was on good tracks through the fertile plains that are at this point of the Donau. The main crops are corn and sugar beet with some potatoes and already harvested wheat. It all looks ripe and you can imagine the enormous mass of activity that will occur in the next few weeks as the harvest gets underway. With todays weather it had started and we came to a huge fild of sugar beet with the biggaest machine I had ever seen. It drove along ctting off the tops which were shot out into an accompanying huge trailer which then took off to turn it into silage. The next part of the machine dug the beets and stock piled tem inits body to be unloaded into what looked like massive piles of rocks. I presume later a front end loader comes along and takes them away. I tasted a bit of the beet. It is snow white, very dry and not surprisingly very sweet with a slight turnip tast.
As usual we were passing through small villages though I have to admit to a short cut we took to avoid the major city of Straubing. It should have all been very easy but the rising temperatures and the constant head wind meant I found it harder than I should have. I was pleased to arrive at Deggendorf and what a lovely surprise they were having their Autumn market a time of great festivity. We are just off to enjoy it. More later.
Germans seem to have a wonderful time on a sunny Sunday. Earlier we had seen them all along our route riding bikes, roller blading, walking, picnicking, canoeing and generally having lots of fun. The fact that there was a baby in the family doesn't stop them cycling, they just have a trailer to put the sometimes complaining baby in. When we went out into the market there was a feverish activity of buying and eating. Everything you could imagine was for sale, we made the massive purchase of a ball point pen and a puncture repair outfit (to appease the puncture gods). A yummy apfel and blackcurrent icecream at the eise café and a beer nearer to 'home'. I must say something we have really noticed is the size of all portions. The icecreams, particularly the sundaes that people were eating were enormous, the beers are always 500ml, there is a huge breakfast with cereal, eggs, bread rolls, ham, sausage, cheese, jam and coffee and the serving you get for dinner would really do two people - I have learnt to ask for 'klein' our else my bike would soon not support my weight. This has lead to the fact that most of the people we see are fairly large.
Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 2,101 km (1,305 miles)
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