Augsburg - 17 May 2019
Late start to the day but it’s sunny and warm! Kay drove for 75 minutes to a free carpark at Augsburg by football fields and a huge climbing centre. Rode into the centre but it was very busy so we didn’t stay long and went for a quick ride in the forest instead.
17.05.19 - Watched the rest of The Durrells last night. Tintin had an early night whilst I read for a while. And yes, he’s feeling like a new man today! (well it’s all relative!)
Neither of us really had the urge to get going today. Finally left Donauwörth, and I drove for about 75 minutes to Augsburg. Today’s driving was mainly on a dual carriageway and 8 km on the ring road around the town. Confess to not even having looked on the map at the size of the town beforehand.
We’re parked up in a free sports carpark near a huge wall climbing place, near a forest.
We often don’t have fresh bread for lunch, and rely on crackers with cheese, garlic sausage, potato salad etc.
After lunch, bikes out and rode into the main town. I think it’s the worst ride yet, not because anything bad happened - just because of the size and never ending amounts of traffic. Augsburg is a university city in Swabia, Bavaria with a population of 300,000 inhabitants and 885,000 in its metropolitan area. It is the third largest in Bavaria after Munich and Nuremberg - who knew!
There are sort of cycle routes, but traffic lights all over the place - and a lot of cobbles! We got to the Rathaus main square and picked up a map. The city hall and Perlach Tower are in the square, and the city’s landmark. We rode out to the cathedral - yet again, absolutely huge. This one had a Romanesque crypt, which we’d not encountered before. Rode to the Fuggerei, the oldest social settlement (1521) in the world - but weren’t really sure what we would be paying to see, so didn’t. To be honest, I was very much over the place - and wanted to leave! Stopped off to gets some cakes as consolation.
Back at Dave, drinks and cakes - again - eyes bigger than tummy - they look the part - and ok - but...
Went for a short cycle in the forest. Riding on disused roads, and a huge network - easy to get lost. Only rode for about 10.5 miles today. I fleetingly saw what I guess was a deer 🦌running across the path. We could hear something moving afterwards, but couldn’t see it.
It turned out to be warm and mainly sunny which was good! Not sure why I’m cooking a beef casserole! Wasn’t warm when I took the beef out to defrost!
The climbing walls just across from us are so high, and there are so many for different abilities - Jamie and Bel - you’d be in your element.
When we go shopping in Lidl, we pay a ‘pfand’, a deposit of 25c for each big bottle of coke or water. When you return the the empty bottles to a machine at the entrance, you get a receipt, which is then credited off your shopping bill. People probably wondered what we were doing, had tried our Vittel bottles, they just get spat out again! I’m sure it’s the way to go to help with recycling.
Remembering with great fondness, Rex - Tintin’s dad who sadly died five years ago. He was a very special man, and my husband seems more like him as he gets older - which is no bad thing!
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