Cycling Passau to Budapest - June 2023

We decided to head off a day earlier than planned, catching a shuttle to Birmingham International Airport and staying the night at an airport hotel.  This morning we flew with Lufthanza to Munich then took a train to Passau.  What a performance! We gave up trying to understand instructions (in German ) and eventually put all our faith in a patient information officer who suggested which tickets to buy, then pointed us towards the right platform. All went swimmingly until we discovered that our watches were an hour behind the local time and we'd just missed a train!  All good though. We caught the next train. Went past hectares of small to medium solar farms. Every bit of spare land was utilised. We arrived in Passau at 8.15pm!  Took a taxi to our hotel and slept as soon as our heads hit the pillows. What a quaint town! Can't wait to explore it tomorrow.

We are enjoying our brief stay with Hazel in the UK. The weather has been glorious and we had a lovely reunion with my brother and sister-in-law, and our cousins yesterday. It's been well over 60 years since I've seen most of them.   And later in the week caught up with cousin Harry and wife, Sandie. Hazel's 80th birthday was on 31st May. A surprise gift arrived from our daughter, Kim and family. Hazel was tickled pink! We shouted Hazel to a birthday cake -                                                        and lunch at a quaint, country pub called Napton's Folly. The pub is alongside the canal and houseboat travellers are among its many customers during the summer season.  There's a rail strike in the UK from 31 May through till 3 June, so we'll have to make other arrangements to get back to Birmingham International Airport in or...

We've had this trip planned for the last 3 years! At last, we're almost on our way.  First we'll visit my sister Hazel and brother Lyndon in the UK.  Then we'll fly to Munich and take a train to Passau, where we begin our journey.  Starting to get nervous and excited as we go through lists of things we'll need to bring with us.