day 18, tuesday 17^th august 99

A great breakfast again and we talk about making up miles. We agree to ride in small groups again and to try and make the 300 miles to Titisee. This is 50 miles short of where we should have been yesterday evening. Karen phones to say that the long-range weather forecast is basically indecisive. Jim, Jeremy, Crispin and I leave for the hospital to say our farewells to Jeff. I've finished my book ('Around the world in 80 days' – Michael Palin's version) and offer it to Jeff, but he politely declines. Mind you, a travel book may not be the best therapy for a man in a hospital bed!

Jeff's in a more alert state of mind and has already been up to take 3 steps this morning. We're all impressed by his improvement. We don't stay long, none of us are good at this sort of thing and we take the excuse of "we don't want to tire you" and leave. It's a bit sad to be leaving him there. It seems strange to be going on without this witty and charming man who has been so much a part of the group.

We sit outside the hospital in the sun for a while as marvin telephones Jeff's travel insurance company. A formidable looking woman comes out to get Jeff's E111 and is actually very nice about it all – she's also very surprised when we have the E111 to hand! Meanwhile, marvin is trying to tell the nice woman on the phone from the travel insurance people that Jeff is in hospital in a town called Kalwang. The strain and worry of organising Jeff's post-accident activities finally shows and he breaks down laughing, completely unable to say the word 'wang'. He finally gets a grip and says apologises, saying, "I just can't say that word. Its W-A-N-G" but can't keep it up and sniggers loudly as he spells it out.

Now we are seven and by the time the day is over, we will be six.

Most of the roads are, frankly, rather crap. They're full of slow moving traffic and big lorries. We get very, very bored. We leave Crispin behind at one point (probably through a dodgy overtake or two) but as we pause at a junction near Innsbruck he appears again. The same thing happens later when we enter Germany.

Lunch was only notable for Jim throwing his hot chocolate over the table, my feet, his feet, the floor and my lid. Oh – and my steak on toast, which was huge!

Before we entered Germany, we got off the original route (trying to shortcut by taking major roads) and end up on a toll road that goes up a lovely Alpine pass (not very high) which is a national park. This is where we view the world's third largest waterfall. Duly impressed, we decide to chase down a couple of Germans, one on a BMW and the other on a Gran Canyon, but they're too fast for us. Bummer.

Entering Germany is cool. We go through a long tunnel under a mountain and 1/3rd of the way along there's a little sign with the letter 'D' in the middle of some stars. We're in Germany. As we exit, there's a bridge over the road, along which some infantry troops are marching. Probably waiting to detain marvin or Jim (International Man of Mystery and Super-Spy) for something or other. Shortly afterwards, we cruise through the village of Wank, which amuses our tiny little minds for a while. I want to write 'except in the corridor' on the sign as we leave the village (Wank with a line through, or 'no Wank' as we see it) but the others won't let me.

Part of our journey includes an Autobahn or two. This is a first for both Jeremy and I. Tres cool, to use a marvinesque phrase! We bang up to around 110 almost immediately, although the weave from Jeremy's fully laden Tiger at that speed is quite alarming. Jeremy suddenly sees a turning we need and at the last possible moment swerves across and exits. I'm playing catch-up at the time and am at 100+. There's no way I can take the exit so, the road being more or less empty, I do a full on emergency stop. By God these R1 brakes and BT55SS tyres are good! The front tyre skips along the tarmac and it feels as though the rear tyre lifts off the ground for a moment (this is with my entire luggage, mind!) as I slow and stop about 2 bike lengths beyond the exit. Jim does the right thing, goes straight on and turns round at the next junction. Crispin, who was some way back being intelligent, easily takes the turn. I paddle backwards and nip up the exit ramp. Apart from this episode, the Autobahn's aren't overly interesting.

We finally realise that we've been in Germany for some time, had a blast on the Autobahns, it's getting dark and we can't make Titisee. We stop in the town of Lindau on the shores of Lake Constance. We finally get in touch with marvin, who is half way between us and Titisee. He has already spoken to Andy, who's in Titisee and has already camped for the night. We're going to do the guesthouse thing. No competition there then, and marvin belts back to Lindau, which seems to be a rather popular place. It takes a full hour to find somewhere that isn't completely full.

During this search, in the gloom of late dusk, Crispin decides to head on to Titisee as he wants to get home by Thursday. Essentially, this is because his girlfriend, despite talking to marvin, has offered him (Crispin, that is, not marvin) a shag on Thursday evening. Off he goes.

Now we are six.

When marvin arrives, he proudly tells us that he got a speeding ticket in Austria. Top man! As the fine was only around £5, we're all annoyed that we were careful not to get one (although a forward facing Gatso got Jeremy and I at one point). He also reveals that he went 50 miles the wrong way this morning and nearly ended up in Italy!

We eat, drink and then get off for a relatively early night, after laughing hard again at the town called Wank.

Mileage: 343