TAG 1 - ARRIVAL

This year, holiday planning was a bit difficult for everyone. We had planned another bicycle trip. 2 weeks with a total of 5 countries..... When nothing was available to book in February and everything was uncertain, we cancelled the plans. At the end of May, Petra booked an apartment in the Bavarian Forest. It was the second option, but not a last resort, because when we spent the second week of our vacation in the region near Schwandorf last year, we had grown fond of the area.

Now, before you arrive, you should leave home first. The plan was to leave in the late morning. A new contact and an interesting inquiry came up at our carpentry shop at short notice. We still had to calculate and offer part 1 of the project. That's still doable, so Mario was still in the office this morning. Well, that's good, because we still had a car in Fornsbach that we wanted to pick up in Althütte. The key was not at home - so it had to be in Fornsbach. When we arrived at the workshop, we realized that it wasn't there either. OK.... Then it must be in Althütte. Petra drove back home with the Knecht, which is the name of our van that we wanted to use for the vacation trip. The search for the key to the "little Frenchman," which is the name of the Peugeot that Petra drives, continued. After some time of reflection, when despair almost overwhelmed us, Petra found the key. Petra's mom was already on her way with garden waste and brought Mario the key to Fornsbach. Mario calculated the completion of the offer at 10:00 a.m. But it wasn't until 11:30 a.m. that he was able to close the workshop. On the way home, the little Frenchman suddenly made strange noises - turn off the radio and listen carefully. Shit, the exhaust is scraping on the ground. Just before Rotenmad, pull over and check. All the suspension rubbers were broken, the exhaust was hot, and there was not even 5cm of wire or anything else to tie it up in the vehicle. Mario requested support from Petra with wire or a strap to get the car to Althütte. After minor burns that did not require a visit to an emergency clinic, we went home. It was already after 12:00 p.m. Still in the green zone. Bicycles in, luggage in, bed sheets and pillows in. Do you know that too? On vacation in an apartment or hotel - you can't sleep on these pillows! I don't know who selects the pillows in the hotels or vacation rentals. Have they ever slept on these wooden beams themselves? Maybe it's also because of our age. It used to not be a problem, I believe. Shortly after 1:00 p.m. - everything is in and we leave Althütte. First, we're heading towards Nuremberg. Sometime after the Feuchtwangen interchange, comes the Herrieden exit. BOOOAAH, hardly have we read the exit sign, we listen into ourselves and realize that a hypoglycemic episode is about to occur! Thank goodness, right next to the highway there is an outlet store of a Swiss chocolate manufacturer. Quickly go in, grab a bag of the famous, notorious balls from the shelf... We agreed to remain silent about the total budget. Just this much - we reached the minimum turnover to receive a free cooler bag. Quickly put a few balls in our mouths, of course only for medical reasons, and continue the journey.

The GPS shows us the arrival time, which is within the reception opening hours. All good. In between, individual sections of the route are marked in red and the arrival time is increased by up to 48 minutes. In the end, we're lucky and almost reach the originally displayed arrival time at our destination. Let's keep it short: The apartment is great, clean, and has a beautiful terrace with a lawn in front. The view is really great and only 85 steps above us there is a restaurant with excellent cuisine and, thanks to the higher location, an even better view. We have arrived.... now let's have a little sundowner and plan a bike tour in the area for tomorrow.