Hello! It feels like a long time since Mulhouse in France. We left Mulhouse in the rain and that day left euro velo 5 (which we had been following since the beginning) and started following euro velo 6 (which goes all the way to the black sea!) We cycled over a bridge which goes from France into Germany, and then another bridge into Switzerland. You could see all 3 countries from the bridges! We cycled to Basel and exchanged money into swiss francs. Everything is very expensive in Switzerland, especially Basel. Luckily we had organised a warm showers stay with Sem and Anita which was really nice. They accepted our request even though they were very busy, so we made some dinner for us all and we chatted to them about their tours on a special tandem where one person sits on a seat at the front of the bike. They also gave us tips on wild camping which we had not yet done. So the next day we set off from Basel and cycled along the Rhine in Switzerland but right next to the border with Germany. So we crossed a bridge into Germany to go to a supermarket. That day we hit the 1000km since the beginning of the trip! That night we wild camped for the first time in a forest, which was quite exciting and novel for us at that point! It was still very cold at night so we had to wear all our clothes to sleep. The next day was nice and sunny and that evening we camped next to a lake where there were lots of coots fighting. Then the next day we cycled across the border back into Germany and that night we camped on top of a hill in a forest near a stream. We set off the next morning and that is when a period of bad weather started. It started raining lots and we had a hard day of cycling up and down hills at fairly high altitude and there was even snow around ! We came down from the hills into a town called tuttlingen where we ended up staying in a hotel as no warm showers or hostels and the rain still carried on!

The next day we set off and joined the beginnings of the danube, which we will be following all the way to the black sea. The landscape was really beautiful with the danube going through steep rocks and gorges.

My gear cable had started to break for the back cogs so we went to the bike shop in Tuttlingen and the guy said that the gear cable needed to be changed but they were closing for lunch for 3 hours so we decided to carry on and go to the bike shop in the next town. However this was a mistake as on the way cycling through the gorges the gear cable snapped completely so my bike was stuck in a high gear so it was difficult to go uphill!

Vianney manged to fix it temporarily by wrapping the cable around a twig to tighten it so it was in a slightly lower gear. We knew there was a bike shop in a town called Sigmaringen which was about 20km away so we tried to get there before it closed so we had to cycle fast and of course there were a few hills to go up which was still hard stuck in the same gear. Luckily we made it to 'Danny's bike shop' before it closed. Danny was really nice and fixed it straight away. After that we carried on and I was so appreciative of my working gears! We went for a celebratory beer and then camped by a small river. The next morning we went for coffee in a small cafe and played football with the little boy whose mum owned the cafe. That day by cycling track there were a few nice 'rest platz' with chairs, water and guest books! We did a small detour to a thermal lake we had read about and there were terrapins in it! I went swimming briefly which was nice. That night we camped right next to the danube and hoped it didn't flood in the night!

The next day the highlight was finding a town celebration with orchestras, people dressed up and free beer! We watched the parade and then ended up following on behind it by bike as they paraded along the route we needed to take! We camped by the danube and saw our first beaver! Before that we had seen lots of evidence of beavers but not actually seen one. So that was exciting!

At the parade we saw this guy walk past who we had seen in Tuttlingen, who seemed to be walking along the danube at the same speed as us! The next day we met two french boys on a tandem who are doing euro velo 6 to Romania and a german man so we all had lunch together. The french boys had seen the walking man too but at that point none of us had spoken to him so he was just a legend!

That night we camped in the forest and I was scared as there were deer stampeding past us (they sounded huge even though they were probably quite small) and barking loudly. But luckily we didn't get trampled and the next day the route took us to neuburg which was a nice little town with amazing old buildings.

We saw the legendary walker walk past and we waved at him. We said next time we would speak to him. So later we passed him on our bikes and said 'sprechen sie English?' And he said 'I am English!' His name is Dave and he is walking from the west coast of France to Belgrade in Serbia! He does 50- 60km per day on foot!!!

We continued to Vohburg and slept in a free campsite which had toilets and a shower- felt like luxury! It started to rain again. The next day we visited Vohburg and then cycled in the rain to Kelheim. We emailed Bernadette on warm showers last minute as we didn't want to continue cycling and camp in rain and she accepted! We went to her house and met Bernie, her family and a french warm showers family who were also staying there. They were all lovely. The French family had 2 children (aged 6 and 9) and they were pleased to be able to speak to us in French. The family were cycling from Besançon in France to Hamburg in Germany over 3 months. Bernie's mum is south African and dad is German and they had some south African cousins staying too. We had a lovely evening chatting to everyone and Bernie kindly let us sleep in her bed. The next day we continued and cycled with the French family for a while and had packed lunch with them in a park which was nice. We cycled to regensburg which was quite a big town. That night we camped by the river and watched all the cruise ships going past.

The next day the weather finally started to get a bit warmer and sunnier after what seemed like weeks of rain and cold! We met the French boys on the tandem again and cycled with them for a few hours. They go fast so I found it quite hard to keep up. We had a picnic with them and then they cycled off and we went a bit more slowly. That afternoon I went for a swim in the danube which was really nice. I was ao happy that it was warm enough to swim!

We camped in a forest and the next day set off for passau which is a city. We decided to stop in a campsite 10km before passau and stay for 2 nights. The owner was a funny, friendly man but he said when i said I was English: "Margaret Thatcher good" and I said "no bad!" We bought a bottle of wine and cooked our dinner in a little hut in the campsite. The next day we cycled into passau (without panniers! ) and visited the city. Amazingly we bumped into the French family again who had just arrived in passau. We chatted to them and then cycled back to our campsite. Walking a lot and cycling 20km seemed like quite a lot for a rest day but never mind!

The next day we packed up the tent and cycled back into passau and hung around there for a few hours and then continued across the river and crossed the border into Austria. We cycled along by the danube and the landscape was beautiful - it felt like going through the jungle! We saw a viking boat with all the people dressed as vikings and chanting! That night we camped by the river but we were worried about the place we chose so ended up looking for a new place in the dark!

The next day we got up early and got on the route. We had quite a hard day that day and our morale was a bit low. We camped in a field behind a hunting cabin and there were lots of slug and snail friends! The next day we did a short day and stopped early at a campsite and relaxed and drank beer which made us feel better! The guest house cat came to hang out with us and Vianney was not too pleased when it decided to stay for dinner with us and then shelter from the rain in the side of our tent, but I was happy to befriend the cat.

The next morning after 12km we hit the 2000km point!! We cycled on and the weather was hot! We cycled through beautiful villages and vineyards. We camped by the danube in a perfect spot with a picnic bench nearby. But when we were puttig up the tent one of the tent poles broke. We managed to fix it temporarily with tape. The next day we set off for Vienna!

As we got closer to Vienna there were more and more bikes and when we got into the city it was like being on a motorway of bikes, which was amazing. Also a few cyclists stopped to ask us if we needed help finding anything. We had emailed a few people on warm showers and heard back from Felix who had just got back from a trip but kindly organised for us to stay at his cousins flat and he lived next door. So we stayed with Nico and Tim and met Felix too. They were all really nice. They all speak french, german and english fluently!

The next day we explored Vienna on foot which is an amazing city. We especially loved going to this big market. We went to a camping shop and bought a few things and the man gave us a spare tent pole for free to fix our tent.

That evening we cooked together with Tim, Nico, Felix, his girlfriend and his sister and had a lovely evening with them. The next day we were meant to leave in the morning but we Returned to the camping shop to ask if they had a different pole as that was the wrong one. They did and we finally fixed it yay! We spent time with Nico chatting about everything and we were having such a nice time we didn't end up leaving until the afternoon! And then had to go back as we left our water bottles there! So we cycled for a few hours in the hot evening sunshine (and I went for a quick dip in the danube !) And then camped by the danube with a beautiful sunset.

That night was really windy and the next day was windy too, but luckily the wind was pushing us in the right direction. We cycled to Bratislava and had a look around the city and watched a protest about pesticides. Then that evening we stayed with a guy called Marek through warm showers and he also had a Bolivian guy staying called Andreas through couch surfing. We all went for a traditional Slovakian meal and then Marek gave us a night tour of Bratislava which was cool but then it started raining heavily so we continued the tour for a bit but then went back to his flat.

The next day we said bye to Marek and Andreas (and Andreas had a go on my bike with paniers on!) And then we went for breakfast in town and then set off along the Slovakian side of the river (even though our guide book said to cross onto Hungarian side) as we had heard there was a free campsite and Vianney's knee was hurting so we thought we'd do a short day. But the campsite didn't exist so we continued on that side and tried to get a ferry, but the ferry wasn't running and there was no information, so we went for beer and garlic bread and then carried on! We wild camped last night and then today we carried on and the route was boring and the cycle track was terrible. We met a nice swiss man called Irwin on the route who we are camping with this evening. It was really hot this afternoon and the cycle track got worse and worse - like deep gravel and holes! We both fell our bikes today but we're ok! Now we are in a campsite in Komarno and tomorrow we will finally cross over the river into Hungary and rejoin the route recommendation from our book.

If you'd like to follow our journey you can download strava and look for vianney petit-gombert.

Also we're raising money for medicines sans frontieres. If you'd like to sponsor us go to: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/VianneyHannah. Thanks!