So we have arrived. Everything has gone to plan. If not better. With the exception of Richard’s great news. Oh yes his company has told him he has to withdraw and be in work next week! Can you believe it? So whilst Malc is eating every strudel that he can get his hands on, Rich is eating scoopfuls of humble pie. It means Malc will be running stages 3 and 4 alone with only 300 runners to keep him company.  Malc is being extremely understanding and Rich is just a little worried about getting too close to the edge on the narrow mountain trails tomorrow.

Quick facts about Oberstdorf so far:

1. Europecar has superb customer service – they gave us a lift to the station
2. You can’t get plastic bags in the supermarket – so don’t buy more than you can carry
3. Station platforms have no seats – so get close to the pavement
4. The average length of beds in the hotels is 4 feet
5. It is in a lovely village in a beautiful valley – so the only way out is up 1500m and over.
6. The Von Trapps still live here
7. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang flew over earlier
8. The Child catcher is rumored to have retired here
9. It is the first of eight stages of the 2013 Gore Tex Trans Alpine Run
10. We start tomorrow at 10:00 am.