No Hands

Action packed day. As tradition would have it, Charlotte and I took off for the airport, the Ryanair flight from Stanstead crossing above us just as we left home. We waved and flashed the car headlights but were later informed not vigorously enough to be seen.

Back home for J to have a breakfast bite of what was left followed by the belated birthday cake, a Black Forest that I had baked yesterday evening and then filled and decorated early this morning.

Great to be back together, however J's partner Laura could sadly not be with us this trip. She changed jobs and companies recently, her new boss must be a tyrant and won't make any exception to the company holiday policy - not even and probably especially when it's his own daughter. Poor Charlotte is missing her best friend.

Then all on push bikes and out for a bike ride led by the intrepid J with all his biking experience and mobile phone navigation and special biker App. He managed to only get them lost once on their 10km ride.

Back home, a snack and then off to Ottobeuren to stock up on supplies - beer and meat. It's always great fun to go to the Butchers "Fischbach" where we are treated like royalty, probably better than William, Kate, George and Charlotte who are today visiting Heidelberg. Perhaps it helped that we have a Kate, George and Charlotte in our entourage.

There is a good YouTube video of the Fischbach business, two brothers with their families owning two shops and party catering in Markt Rettenbach and Ottobeuren.

Mr Fischbach as always gave us a full description of every sausage and meat we pointed at, naturally cutting off slices to taste and then giving us full explanation of how to cook on the BBQ. When J took a special interest in a sausage with cheese filling wrapped in bacon, mentioned it was the ultimate "Pig in a blanket" (because it contained cheese too), Mr Fischbach was so delighted to hear the english expression that he wrapped one up and gave it to J as a present. I took the liberty of choosing a fillet steak for myself and at a specially reduced price. Mr Fischbach also recommended a finely marinated salmon piece for Kate who doesn't eat meat and even made a special tin foil tray for it and gave precise cooking details. Looking forward to tonight.

With car packed with meat, garlic pate, ham, sausages, fish added to the beer crates (visible in one of the extra photos) we set off for Annie's bike shop. I was in a bit of a panic as I had lost or misplaced my passport a week or two and showing this was the only deposit required. However butcher Fischbach to the rescue! As I entered the shop I said "Mr Fischbach sends his greetings" and that was sufficient to convince the bike shop that we were legitimate.

The boys got on the bikes, J acted as though he knew what it was all about and off the two of them set for the ride home, probably about 8km but with a steepish hill out of Ottobeuren and then some MTB type sections through the forest. Some impressions as extra photos.

Despite his initial scepticism about E.bikes, J thoroughly enjoyed it and during the course of the evening vowed he would get up at dawn and do a solo proper MTB professional ride before breakfast.

Back home safely, the boys joined the children in the pool while Kate, Angie and I prepared the BBQ. At some point Kate saw the meat on a low table waiting it's turn for the BBQ and said if the situation was at home, her dogs would have long snatched the offerings. I assured her ours don't do such things. When the ribs, sausages, skewers of all sorts, chicken had all been done and were served, I turned to the BBQ to do my special fillet steak wanting to ensure it was done exactly as I like, somewhere between medium rare and rare.

????? "Has anyone seen my steak? Was it mistakenly blackened and now unrecognisable?"

"Luna go away you have had enough spare rib bones. Now come on where is my steak, people? Luna.... NO, you've had your fill"

Then the lightbulb moment and I detected just the slightest grin from Luna but no that wasn't a creasing of the lips from Kate .... was it?

Oh well the remaining sausage was OKish once the blackened bits had been scrapped off.

There followed several hours of beer, snacks and great family banter around an open fire and at some point in the early hours, at least two people were poured in to their beds.