To get us out of any undulating terrain was going to involve a longer day in the saddle, so it was slightly concerning to find the first kilometre bumping through a rough forest track!
Knowing as we do, that ‘The Tour Will Provide’ - (a saying that my friend John told me years ago after journeying through a long distance pilgrimage), we carried on and soon found flatter terrain and a wide, complex river valley. When the trail hit the river, we had to take a ferry again.
Shortly after, we declared that a coffee stop would be nice. A few minutes later, we reached the end of the Kemnader See and found a ‘coffee bike’ stall!
We sat at a comfy table enjoying the view and rest. A local told us we should try the Apple pie as it was freshly baked. I was happy to take his advice! There was a little stage by the coffee bike and a schedule for live acts each day. We were slightly too early, so continued on feeling very happy.
We roughly followed the river valley westwards towards Düsseldorf, crossing a few obstacles along the way…
By the afternoon the sun was out so we changed our battery pack as we rode. We’ve not plugged in to the mains now since leaving Münster, which is a nice feeling - travelling only by sunshine power!
A nice riverside section was the finish to the day, past Essen (where Clare did some work a few years ago). At times it was quite busy and we had to dodge other bikes and people!
Finally, our camp area loomed into view - or at least the nearby bridge did. What a whopper!
At the campsite, there was no one at reception so we waited a while feeing a little concerned as it also looked very full. There was a phone number to call, but in the end we rode an extra 500m down the road to another ‘caravan park’ to see what we could find..
Here we received a hero’s welcome! We must have looked pretty frazzled and the owner (who spoke no English), ushered us into his shady terrace. I managed to get the gist of what he was saying and he insisted that we have some cold beers and a comfy chair before sorting any paperwork or money. Hoorah! The beer was ice cold and, as it turned out, nearly 7% alcohol, which had a merry effect as we necked them down in big gulps!
We must be a bit of a novelty here or everyone is just really friendly. We were given a patch of grass outside a garage door and we quick in putting our chairs together in the shade. As we were packing our gear, another group of caravan owners walked past, looked at the bikes, looked at us, laughing and said they thought we needed a cold beer. A few moments later they returned with two more huge bottles for us. I’ve cold again!
After all the riding, beers and German chat/sign language, we just about had the wherewithal to get some dinner on and fall asleep! I’m writing this as we are having breakfast and already someone has come over to ask if we’d like them to brew us some coffee! So friendly here! If we do though, we’ll never get going… The tour will provide!…
Total Ride 73km
(And 900m of uphill!!!!!)
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