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07:58: Up at 07:01, headed for the washing facilities by 07:10. I’m washed now in yesterday’s clothes except for fresh socks. It’s such a chore washing in tiny, badly-designed shower booths. Everything gets wet, including shoes and the bags of clothes. I’m sitting in the sun now with my shoes and socks off trying to get my feet properly dry. I’m going to make breakfast, washup and break camp hopefully before 09:00.
09:00: Breakfast cooked, eaten and washup done (including sock wash). Now I’m breaking camp. The new sleeping bag is not a patch quality-wise on the old one, so I’m really glad I posted it home.1 This one has a plasticky interior, it’s shorter and narrower and the seam around the hood is already coming apart. Not good value. On the other hand, it’s still surprisingly warm. I might have been better off with a €20.00 one from Lidl or Aldi, both of which have ultra-light sleeping bag specials at the moment.
09:58: Finally ready to hit the road.
10:35: Earplugs in. Charging my phone on the battery pack. I’ve put battery in my backpack and the lead is coming out of the H2O slot so I can have the phone in my pocket.
11:43: Approaching Fürstenfeldbruck.
12:07: Stopping for elevenses at a cake shop. Apfelstrudel and hot chocolate, and two cheese sandwiches to take away.
I’m also charging my earbuds, because I have long stretches today parallel to or along busy roads.
12:31: €9.80, ouch.
12:39:46
12:40: This is a pretty town!
12:59: Emmerling town limit.
13:36: Leaving Emmerling.
13:40: Stopped at the side of the road to eat the sandwiches and the crisps.
14:08: Moving again.
14:15:15
16:10: Another kilometre or so and I duck into the contiguous conurbation of Munich city. The last two hours have involved some tricky navigation. It’s blisteringly hot.
16:19: Sun’s gone in behind a cloud. Thankful for small mercies. It’s due to rain tonight.
16:30: I’m in the outskirts of the city; stables and horses, allotments, apartment blocks, railway tracks.
16:53: Semi-detached suburbia.
17:07: Westkreuz S-Bahn station.
17:13: Playing fields, parkland, imposing detached houses.
17:19: City architecture, fitness gyms, Postbank, consumer-facing businesses.
17:27: Tram lines. A kebab shop. I’m stopping for a drink.
19:00: Approaching the youth hostel.
19:14: Checked in. €100 for three nights.
20:47: Showered, in clean clothes, now down in the laundry washing both pairs of trousers and a bunch of other stuff.
21:40: Clothes hung out all over the dorm, which I’m sharing with a Californian lad named Paul who really wishes I’d shut up and stop trying to be his pal. I’m in the Turkish restaurant next door to the hostel, about to have lentil soup. I’m sitting here in my underpants and t-shirt.
22:01: God, that was good. I’m heading back to the hotel now because I haven’t made my bed and don’t want to do that while my room mate is trying to sleep. Anyway the restaurant is closing.
When I got home, I dumped the sleeping bag I bought in Augsburg. I never want to spend another night in it for any reason.↩
