Cycling the Danube: From the Black Forest to the Black Sea Johannes Conradie

The story is a light-hearted account of the sexagenarian author's bicycle ride from the source of the Danube at Donaueschingen in the Black Forest to Constanta on the shore of the Black Sea. Everything the youthful cyclist sees is fascinating, much of it is funny. In a charmingly wry narrative he describes his adventures along the 2700km route that took him on a ride of three months through Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania. There are pen sketches of battles ancient and recent, conquerors and conquered, the strife in the Danube valley from the Romans' stubborn defence of their Danube frontier to the savage WW II battle for Budapest.The reader briefly encounters such diverse historical figures as Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duke of Marlborough, Richard the Lionheart, Suleiman the Magnificent and Vlad the Impaler. It is a story that will appeal to all travellers along the Danube whether by road, river or armchair.