In looking back on the experience of the past few weeks Graham and I were talking about things we would have liked to describe in the blog but didn’t.

One of them is the phenomenon of the Danube sinkholes. These are places where the water sinks through the riverbed, leaving no water in the river at all at certain times of the year. That to me is a pretty mindblowing thought but regretfully, because of heavy rain fall prior to our arrival, we did not witness a drying up, only a reduction in the water level. The ‘disappeared’ water runs for 12 km underground, only to resurface as a completely different river. This river flows into lake Constanz, from which flows the river Rhine. The upshot is, for each drop of Danube water there is a sliding doors moment: either it stays above ground and ends up in the Black Sea, or it sinks, becomes part of the Rhine and flows into the North Sea on the other side of Europe.

The second is a more general observation about Southern Germany. You get a sense that there is a lot of investment in the local infrastructure. Local communities have great sports facilities, streets and parks are well taken care and everything is clean. That must give individuals a sense of being looked after (It did me). Wealth feels more shared and presumably that leads to a sense of shared well-being. Such contrast with Britain. (Yesterday I was reminded that Bavaria is politically right wing. Don’t know where to place that piece of information).

The other thing we have not written about much is the people we have met. We have not gone out of our way to do so, since we were happy to pootle along and do our own thing. Still, we want to thank people who have provided us with valuable information, lovely conversations, useful tips and, in some cases, very pleasant evenings (you know who you are).

Finally, a comment on the art in Bratislava. As Graham wrote, this is disappointing. The two more striking art experiences were the modern installations that we captured on camera in a recent blog. Both involved mirrors, with the predictable result of seeing multiple reflections of (parts of) oneself. That’s always fun. The one with the books also managed to give us a sense of being in an endless space, sideways, upwards and -more worryingly- down. Hence I was holding on to the side in one of the photos. I was genuinely dizzied by the impact of the imagined abyss.

So, the cycling has come to an end for now. I miss it already. Being with our friends in Vienna is greatly softening the blow, however. And soon we will be reminded that life in London is pretty good (if you don’t read the news).