Oli Broom is cycling to the 2010-11 Ashes, and he’s made it to Germany. Please go to the bottom of the page and donate to one of his chosen charities.

Below is an extract from his latest blog. You can read the full posts on www.cyclingtotheashes.com.

I spent a fantastic weekend in Passau, which sits at the confluence of three rivers – the Ilz, the Inn and the Danube. Tali and Jojo, two friends from Berlin, drove down to meet me, and another friend, James Gilmour, has also flown out from London to cycle with me for two weeks - nice then, for him, that the weather has just turned miserable, and the news from Vienna is that snow is on the ground.

At 6am on Monday morning James and I jumped on the train back to where I had left off on Friday afternoon. At the end of the day we may as well have swum the Danube, we were that wet. Another long day into Passau today was less wet, but tomorrow apparently the rain is back. I never thought I would welcome the arrival of snow on this trip, but I can’t wait for it. It’ll be easier to keep out than rain.

In about an hour I am meeting the President of the German Cricket Board, Brian Fell, for dinner in Passau. It will be great to meet him, especially after introducing some of the locals to the sport with a game on some turf we found at the University campus. To give you a taste, highlights included ringing endorsements from locals for the Mongoose, head protection in the form of a German miltary helmet and the most powerful cricket shot ever hit by a non-international cricketer – the ball ended up lodged between my upper and lower jaw. Miraculously I escaped uninjured.

You can follow Oli Broom‘s journey to Brisbane on thewisdencricketer.com, or at www.cyclingtotheashes.com, or on twitter at http://twitter.com/cyclingtoashes. Oli is aiming to raise £50,000 each for the Lord’s Taverners and the British Neurological Research Fund (BNRT). Click to donate.