Day 48 – Hameln to Warringhof (Germany)
KM – 100.0 on the nose
Avg – 18.5
Saddle Time – 5:24
Well My cous came to visit me last night from The Netherlands and that was a real pick me up. He drove 267kms for a meal and coffee and chat and then drove home – heaps coolI forgot about the whole day and just talked crap for hours and soled the worlds problems – Thanks cous that was really great. I was up at 8am yesterday morning and straight from breakky I was on holiday chores and went to bed at about 4am…long day. My cous and I had a coffee after dinner and we both said that the coffee was really nice – after asking one of the workers he said the owners are Italian….that makes sense cos German coffee is as bad as Poland’s hehe. The morning came and I ate breakky slowly and slowly got all my gear ready again and Helga the broom witch from Hostel hell came in at 10:01 and told me I had to go. Long story short she wasn’t going to refund me my internet money I paid as the internet didn’t work and she didn’t have the key to get my bicycle out of the shed – great start to the day that was. I eventually won on both counts and headed off at about 11 and it was great to be on the bike again. You know, you forget about the annoying things when you’re back on the bike and yesterday is actually yesterday and it feels as though you’re riding to the next destination and the next mind set physically and mentally.
My hamstring is still sore and I said to myself…SELF….just soft pedal and see what happens – if it starts hurting more just stop and all is fine. I had a tail wind alllll day and it was pretty much downhill the whole day – I basically had to pedal at all and I was thanking whoever done that the whole day. If it wasn’t for my hamstring today could’ve been a 200k day I think. I am really looking forward to a reset in NL and seeing family and friends (and washing my clothes literally for the second time in 47 days) – I won’t describe my smell but it’s safe to say I am a bum.
One thing I have noticed about Germany other than all the wonderful people i’ve met, the awesome bike routes, great food etc etc is rules and regulations for everything and everything has its place here…from hostel rules, to traffic, getting an inhaler, peoples neatness around here, and some legal things that i’ve discussed with many people – it’s amazing how organised it is here. Another thing is that I was going to do some shopping today as I only have my ration emergency meal left and some other crapola stuff. It’s Sunday and not one supermarket, deli, bakery or anything was open in 100km. SO weird…..During the days in the cities of Germany I have ridden through – there are sooo many people and then like 5-6-7pm hits and everywhere is deserted and Sundays are even worse. I like the fact that shops close at lunch in the small towns (and most big ones) – not for me as a traveller but people go home for lunch and it’s family time – a good tradition/culture in that regards I think.
Moving on……I rode on really nice bike paths today for most of the day – didn’t take many photos – – it was a nice ride but nothing photo worthy for me. Some really nice old villages with great character ,farm lands, mountains, Forest – a mixed bag. After stopping three times today for coffee (none worth mentioning) and a wicked strudel (again) and eating my lunch (broke hostel rules and took a role with me for lunch oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh – Helga won’t like that) I found what looks like a nice green spot on my map which means a good wild camp – turns out it has a campsite so that was cool. Cool being the operative word – i’ll get to that…the front desk was closed (at 6:30 ha ha) and the boom gates were closed –Thor told me to just slip around the side and so I did – I got my tent up, all gear off bike, locked and shower ready in 15 minutes. Walk in to shower and you need a key. No probs i’ll just wait for someone to get out. I get in and undress and turn on the water….freezing cold – walk out and see that you need a card from reception to activate the hot water (another rule hehehe)…..so it was another cold shower but now I’m warm in my tent and hyped to watch the next episode of Breaking Bad – hell yeah. I’m so close to NL now and that’s exciting. It’s now raining and starting to get colder (3-6c in the mornings) and i’m all snuggled up and I know I will sleep well tonight.
Night all
Red
Today’s Route
Sorry about the bad photos – not good quality today (apart from the Champion Ferdinand Fez Man…
Vanderpants Euro Bicycle Tour 2012 