Category: Blog Posts Page 9 of 32

Two mornings ago we took a wee detour so that Bertie could have a well needed clean at the car wash followed by his chain being oiled – the guy in attendance helped me press the right buttons so that we just got a wee power hose and not the full soap and wax, etc

Cycling through Gottigen was interesting, at rush hour – it’s almost feels like a different style of cycling to what I’m used. Most folks are on what I’d call sit up and beg style bikes – and they are almost all faster than me, especially at junctions and not because I am more laden than them – they just know the system – I’m busy checking and double checking – the usual look right / look left etc and before I know it I’ve been left behind as they know they’ve got right of way.

Once out of the city onto a good cycle paths and first stop was at Friedland to have a look at this monument – from the distance I thought it was an unusual rock feature. Glad I made the wee detour to see it and it’s worth looking at the link below to see the translation of the engravings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimkehrerdenkmal

Love how the wee villages I passed through have got different ways to welcome visitors.

And signs to tell you to look out for the kiddies.

And I passed lots of “huttes” for walkers and cyclists to shelter in.

This day and next couple of day’s route was made up of linking places together that my friend Elke had suggested – Elke some of the hills were tough / very tough – but they were definitely worth the effort to get there.

Bad Sooden-Allendorf was one of the first places suggested and again I loved all the old buildings and again I got a bit trigger happy.

Eshwege was the next stop for the night – had hoped to go to a smaller less expensive campsite but it was toss up between 2k or another 12k – legs protested and the one at 2k won – dearest campsite so far and was it any better NO – for only 2 Euros more at the last campsite I’d last stayed at I got a meal and a couple of cokes! However the location was good.

Chilly night again – hoping it gets warmer soon, especially at night – please, please, please – better watch what I say or I’ll be moaning that it’s too hot.

Next stop on Elke’s tick list was Wartburg Castle. Lovely day – interesting route to get there – been using a mix of Google maps and Komoot and looking out for the nice bicycle friendly green signs and sometimes I just make it up which was why I found myself pushing Bertie uphill through, predominately, beech woods (I think) for a section.

Finally made it to the castle – note to self – next time leave Bertie in the town and either walk up or get the shuttle bus up – it was hard work pushing Bertie up – on plus side though it was good on the way back down. Despite the effort to get there – and only 2 hours later than planned – is anyone any good at judging distance and time when cycle touring – I’m certainly not – it was well worth the visit and thank you again Elke.

Views from the castle and especially from the tower were amazing but there was a chilly wind. Back down at the carpark we had a wee bit of a problem – I could not undo the padlock on Bertie!! This was the new one I bought after realising that I’d left my old one at a previous campsite. I’d never been entirely happy with it – it was strong and sturdy but a bit too strong which made it difficult to use but more importantly I never felt that numbers properly engaged on the combination lock and was too easy to accidentally change the code. I tried and tried with no joy. Poor internet connection at this time but I managed to get a number for a bike shop in the town – he didn’t speak much English – I spoke less German – he said I needed to bring bike to him – as this involved bring the fence as well this did not help – a kindly passer by who spoke English then phoned for me but the answer was still “no” he couldn’t help. Back up the hill to the castle – the only staff I could find was in the castle gift shop, as the castle was now closed for the night – she spoke to security, who transpired was from the east coast of England, and he would have helped but could not leave his post – which was fair do’s when he is in charge of one of the most important castles in Germany. Now feeling like a complete muppet – again – I’m on the phone to the local police – first guy I spoke to put me onto a lady officer who spoke good English and I explained my predicament and they were on their way to help but I didn’t know how long and in the grand list of things I didn’t imagine I was a priority. While waiting another cyclist stopped to talk and in Engish and pointing to bike and lock I explained the situation – he is now downloading u-tube videos on how to break into a combination lock – he was determined to help but no joy. Police arrived – I showed them earlier photos of me and bike and passport to prove I wasn’t trying to nick someone else’s bike – they then headed off to get the needed cutters to free Bertie and 1/2 an hour later and very chilly I did the 9k to the campsite, arriving (again) much later than planned and for the 2nd time this trip, the guy ropes are out so that I can tie Bertie to the tent.

After another chilly night in the tent it was off to tick off another of Elke’s suggestions – the old town at Erfurt – again arriving later than planned – and stopping to buy another lock – not enough sleep, tired legs and a head wind all the way – but OMG it was worth it – by the time I got to hostel and sorted stuff out I didn’t go for a wander until 6pm but I love it – so plan is to take my time tomorrow and do some more wandering but so far this is my favourite place that I have visited Unfortunately no room at the hostel tomorrow night but there is a campsite nearby and the weather is to get warmer -yipee!!

And I treated myself to a yummy scrumpy meal at the hostel.

Two mornings ago I should have left the hostel sooner. I didn’t have tent or sleeping bag to pack but it was a right pea souper and not very appealing. Finally got going though – needed the lights on and glad of my high vis jacket but for large parts of the day saw hardly any traffic. Despite mist for most of the morning and the forecast of rain it stayed dry until about 5pm. Some tough hills especially early on and at times I did question my sanity and wonder why I wasn’t having a more “normal” holiday and be lying on a beach somewhere – a nice sweepy downhill soon put those daft ideas out of mind though. Not really a day for photos but liked these signs – didn’t see any tanks though.

And saw these Alpacas in someone’s back garden.

Camped at a wee campsite in a village called Knickhagen. Cheapest campsite so far and no extra for showers. Showers clean but old – cracked tiles, silicone holding things together, rusty pipes and a shower rose that is so badly positioned you could only shower part of you at a time – but looks can be deceptive and had a cracking roasty toasty shower.

Rain heavy now and didn’t fancy being cramped in my tent with a meal of bread and cheese so treated myself to a really good value meal at the campsite restaurant. If I had gone back to the tent earlier though I would have realised that muppet brain had forgotten to put a peg in and the outer and inner had made contact and my sleeping bag had got a wee bit damp – luckily it was a milder night and sleeping bag not too damp and got a good sleep.

Packed a very damp tent in the morning and noticed I’ve got a hole in the groundsheet – that will need fixed when everything is dried out later. Last night I’d made contact with Rainer, a “Warm Showers” host and I had a place to stay in Gottingen – plan was to cycle to Rainer’s house and drop my stuff off and then have a wander around Gottingen.

Before I got there though I passed through Hann Munden and had to stop and go for a wander – loved all the buildings – and lack of photos yesterday was soon made up for.

Bugger of an uphill not long after I left Hann Munden but easy cycling after that. Rainer had messaged to say that there was a “wee” hill near his house – that made me smile and I assumed that Rainer had spent some time in Scotland.

Rainer was lovely and welcomed me to his home. We chatted and had lunch – turns out that Rainer had lived in Ireland for a number of years, had stayed in Glasgow for a few weeks and his partner is from England. After lunch I cycled the mile or so into Gottingen – it’s a student city and there are bicycles everywhere – I left Bertie outside the tourist office – don’t think I would have chanced leaving him at the train station – don’t think I would have found him again – this is just some of the bikes.

A nice wee wander around the old walls and some of the botanic gardens and the sun came out so I felt obliged to have an ice cream.

Wee panic when I went back to find Bertie – not quite where I thought I’d left him but not too far away.

Back at Rainer’s I met his wife and 2 of his children and was treated to a lovely meal and Rainer gave me good advice on what route to take when i set off in the morning.

Yesterday’s plan was to arrive at Winterberg – it was at the end of this particular stretch I’m doing and the distance seemed doable, despite all the uphill being at the end. The previous night I’d had a rubbish sleep though – I was really cold in the tent and didn’t get a decent sleep – another good reason to get to Winterberg – there were at least 2 hostels and a nice cosy bed would be nice. But neither my head or legs were game for it and I wasn’t convinced I would get there and I didn’t – and apart from the cosy bed at the end that wasn’t a bad thing in the end.

Beautiful, if chilly, day from the start. This section wasn’t so well signposted so a bit more route checking required but nothing major. Route was much more varied – lots of nice countryside, wee villages, bigger towns and some industrial areas. The route was a bit more undulating as well but the only hard bits were a couple of wee bridges with sudden sharp inclines that took me by surprise and I had to push the bike up.

Today was a stop start kind of day – either to nibble on food and / or take photos.

I wasn’t sure if this church in Frondenberg felt that cyclists needed more help or not but there was certainly a cycling theme to their signage.

One of the nicest sections was a wee bit of trail in the trees with the river to one side and a busy road hidden away on the other.

Abandoned Bertie in the old part of Arnsbergs and went for a wee wander and got a bit trigger happy with the camera but it was so nice it was difficult not to.

There was a nice stretch round about a place called Oeventrop, where I watched some gliders taking off – they weren’t being towed by a plane but were using the bungee method to be launched – Peter if you are reading this you might have a better technical explanation of this. And there was some lovely art work along the route – some cycling related, some planetary and a fence with lots of lovely painted chairs hanging from it.

When I decided to jack it in for the day there was a 9 mile detour to the nearest campsite – I thought about pitching up next to the 2 campervans parked for the night – campervan owners didn’t mind but technically I was breaking the rules so I thought I’d better move on. I cycled passed a lovely big lake to get to the campsite at Hennesee but despite being on the doorstep of the lake you couldn’t actually see it from the campsite – the bit for the tents was a bit of an afterthought I think – bit of space they had left over but the showers were good.

So it had rained a wee bit overnight and there was frozen raindrops on the tent. I wasn’t just so cold last night though thanks to wrapping my feet in my duvet jacket and then getting into my sleeping bag. Left not long after 8am ONLY 30k to get to Winterberg and hopefully into a nice warm hostel – only 30k but took a heck of a long time. 3° and grey but dry when I left the campsite and route going well – I didn’t back track to the route I was originally on to save time – but then new route took me on a nice quiet road, which was good because for a short section the traffic had got a bit busy, but then road turn into a forestry commission type track but easy uphill riding to the highest point, despite obvious signs of tree felling but down the other side was a different kettle of fish – more pot holed and bumpy and stuff that I’m not very comfortable on but we weren’t doing to bad – and then you start to tell where the forestry vehicles had been in and out- lumpy, bumpy and very muddy – and the rain started – a very slow descent to meet tarmac again and a very wet and mucky Bertie and me finally arrive at the hostel.

So this is the route I’ve been following for the last couple of days – but in reverse – possibly I might reach Winterberg tomorrow but time will tell. I started south of the official start point and joined in about Kettwig – nice easy cycling – very few navigation problems – couple of detours to campsites and one to take pictures of my wee sister’s works German head quarters in Witten. Lots of bird life, 3 baby coos today, one noisy dark coloured squirrel and lots of stables and horse riding.

https://www.ruhrtalradweg.de/de/der-ruhrtalradweg

Some of the pics were taken on way to join main route. Seen lots of cyclists but not seen any other tourers yet. If you’ve not seen my route click on “Where am I now” and you’ll see where I’ve got to so far.

I’m loving these signs on the route.