Wednesday, 6th July 2005 - Kaysersberg to Ellwangen.

We set of fairly early (in the rain...surprise surprise...) to drive into Germany. We filled Hector up to the brim with diesel and set off. There is nothing at all at the border apart from a few flags - no checkpoints or controls at all. The route that we drove is going to be one of the stages of the Tour de France, so if we had been a few days later we'd have been stuffed. Driving on the Autobahns for the first time was an experience - some cars really do bat along at 150mph+, there are loads of lorries in the "slow" lane and consequently the road surface is really poor - not at all how we imagined them to be. We made good progress and ended up in Ellwangen mid afternoon, when it really, really chucked it down. As the pub wasn't open yet we had to sit out the rain in Hector reading our books. As soon as the pub opened we were in there sampling the local beer to take our minds off the weather. It eventually left off and we pitched camp...with a circus just behind us.

"I don't like the rain...."

Thursday, 7th July 2005- Ellwangen.

Once again it was raining when we woke up. We had a stroll into the town, did some shopping and then came back. Not much to Ellwangen and a bit of a waste of time spending an entire day here. Also found out about the bomb attacks in London as Mark's brother Adam was on his way up their Mums via King's Cross. He was ok but was stuck in town for the night...we're just glad that everyone we know appears to be ok - it's a little odd not being near the TV or newspapers everyday as we don't get the exposure to news and current affairs that we are used to.

Friday, 8th July 2005 - Ellwangen to Regensburg.

We weren't sorry to leave Ellwangen and were looking forwards to Regensburg - it's a medieval trading town in the heart of Bavaria with an exceptionally well preserved town centre on the banks of the Danube. It also happened to be hosting the 24th Bavarian Jazz Festival, so hopes were high for a good atmosphere and lots of good music to listen to. It was sunny when we arrived and this added to our good spirits, as did a great dinner, a good bottle of wine and a few G&Ts.

Saturday, 9th July 2005 - Regensburg

Hurrah - woke up to glorious sunshine for what seemed like the first time in ages. As the weather was so good we decided to do some washing today before heading off into the town to listen to some music. We hung everything out to dry all over Hector and must have looked like a mobile Chinese laundry:

After lunch we walked along the banks of the Danube into the town - it really was very impressive with a fine "Dom" and many windy narrow streets leading onto wide open plazas - it had an almost Italian feel. It was also very busy, so we found a spot in the sunshine, ordered a beer and relaxed listening to some not-too-bad music. At around 16:30 we partook of the great tradition of "kaffe und Kuchen" - a cup of coffee and a slice of cake sitting outside "Prinzess" chocolate shop - Mark highly recommends the "Barbara Blomberg" cake if anyone ever happens to go! The rest of the day was spent wandering around drinking and having a Wild Boar dinner. A great day.

Sunday, 10th July 2005 - Regensburg

To make up for the good weather yesterday it tipped it down all day today - we even had a hail storm! Consequently we couldn't do very much apart from read our books and try to stay dry. At one point the thunder was so loud you could feel it in your belly.

"Camp Atlantis":