Day 1: Nesselwang - Langen

The big England tour has started today. Set of at 10 o’clock with mum just getting home to wave me away. Weather was cloudy with the forecast predicting rain for Bregenz (my aim today) for all day. Luckily it didn’t rain strait away and I arrived in Wertach with a lot of opposing wind to have a last ice with mum and dad. After that it was off to the Kranzegger Steig with an average speed of 50km/h downhill. Couldn’t get any faster as the wind was against me. Then towards Immenstadt and through there (I think) towards Oberstaufen.In Operstaufen there was a building site at some point but I got around it no problem with my GPS.  As it was slowly getting towards lunchtime I had my eyes open for a Restaurant after Oberstaufen but unluckily there was none for the next 30km. It was nice scenery and uphill but my stomach was complaining nearly constantly. After what felt like ages I reached a restaurant and looked at the GPS to see how much “Höhenmeter” I had done for the day. To my shock the restaurant was at over 1000m, so higher than I had started. 

After having a bowl of Käspätzle the predicted rain cloud was appearing and it started shortly after. Being about an hour away from my first night I put my rain clothes on and set of downhill for a 400m trip. Arriving at the bottom completely soaked I carried on along a trail which had looked good on Google Earth, but with the rain had turned into a river. Getting along there I saw the last hill of the day and started up. After 50m the rain was pissing me of (literally) and I stood under a roof and had a chat with a local doing some woodwork there. Then the 1.5 km left over and came past a beautiful waterfall, which I didn’t photograph because I didn’t want to break my camera due to wetness. Rang at the wrong house first but eventually found my way to Mary, Heinz and their daughter Tamara’s house and was greeted with a warm shower and a plate of chips with Schnitzel. 

Track at GPSies and pictures at Picasa.

Time in saddle: 4 hours 15 min.

Distance: 73.4 km

Daily Average speed: 17.3 km/h

Total time in saddle: 4 hours 15 min.

Total distance: 73.4 km

Average speed: 17.3 km/h