I decided to stay another night with Clause in Bamberg. We met up with his uni friend and had a miniture tour of the place, drank coffee... you know, the usual. The night ended with more uni friends at Clause's, beers and films etc until 4am... good times!
So I made my way to the Austrian border the next morning, but as I left Clause's quite late I looked for a place to camp a few kilometres before the border. I had a few hundred miles of hard riding to the border so the day was purely filled with riding.
I ended up pulling off the motorway at a place called Deggendorf, it was 7pm and the sun was rolling behind the hill's. I found a campsite which looked like a nice place, it had a beer garden, lots of people, food being cooked etc. The chap told me it was 7 euro's for the night and without realising it I found myself politely saying "no thank you" and getting back on the bike and for some reason joining the motorway.
Only as I was riding on the autobahn did I realise why I had said no to the campsite... regardless of how appealing and easy it looked, it was not the experience I set out to find. Maybe staying in Clause's apartment had made me soft and it was still early days in my trip. If I started with the campsites now I would take them more often. Start as you mean to go on etc.
I pulled of a few kilometres away into a very remote farming area. I found a nice looking farm house and asked the farm hand if I could stay the night, as he spoke no english he fetched the farmer. The farmer spoke good English and said it was "no problem!". He showed me around, I met the hunter of the farm who showed me his gun which was very exciting! Twenty minutes later the farm hand comes out with beers. We sit there by my tent... me not knowing any German and him not knowing any English. But its funny how with a couple of beers, warm weather and the sun setting we understood each other perfectly. This was the experience I was searching for and the reason as to why I got back on my bike.
That night, I was scared. In England thunder and lightning has never, not once bothered me. Here it was absolutely intense and terrifying. I was counting the lightening at 6 miles away. It wasn't just mere flashes, you could see the bolts being whacked into the farmland all around me, as if Zeus himself was throwing lightening Javelins at me, but had a few too many beers so his shot's were on the piss. It absolutely bucketed it down, the thunder and lightning was continuous and lasted until 6 in the morning. Needless to say I did not sleep.
*Will post a picture of it soon*
By 7am, the rain had stopped, the thunder had passed and the sun came out. I staggered into the farm where I was quickly seated and made a massive late coffee. Followed by bread, Jam's, honey, fresh orange juice, sweets, apples, and 2 packed lunch's, also a selection of Bratwurst sausages. The kindness of strangers.
As I made my way to Austria, I pulled into a parking bay on the motorway for some lunch and to double check my map. There were a few people around but not many. As a biker with a ton of gear people do like to look. Which is no problem, they smile and say Allo! But there was one guy standing 15 metres away who I noticed was looking at me for a long time. He was Albino looking, had his arms continuously folded, shorts and a shirt. I fixed my eyes on him as I had a feeling he was after trouble... Suddenly out comes his tongue in the most perverse way. He was rotating it and licking his lips. Obviously being heterosexual this freaked me out. I’m not unaccustomed to homosexual advances and like to think I decline in a friendly way... but this guy was different. I shook my head at him... he continued... I looked away... he continued to stare... I shouted something over to him in a threatening way and he stuck his tongue out, he was not budging. If im honest I didn't know how to react. If he had come over and threatened me with violence I would know what to do... But in this case what the hell!? So I did what any straight man would do. Put my finger up and rode off.
Next stop Austria!
Again I find myself in someone's back garden. Drinking beers with the Austrian music maestro Gerrahd.
Currently in Slovakia, will take better photo's soon, and post when I have more time!
