To say that I envy Julia, when it comes to the ability to
fall asleep virtually instantly and then remain asleep, when noise levels would
even interrupt the dead….is an understatement.
Last night we were in our busiest camp of the tour, obviously Summer
must have kicked in. After settling in for the night and doing some uploading
of photos, it was after 11pm. I felt sure that trouble would come in the shape
of the three strutting guys in the tent next door, about 10 metres away, but
give them credit, by 11.30pm they were quiet.
Julia was out to it straight away, whilst I lay there listening to the
talking, shouting and laughter going on from all around the camp. The 10pm no
noise policy was definitely lacking at this camp. But as we were the tent closest to the entry
gates, every time someone came in or out, the gate slammed shut, plus there was
the other stuff to go with it. The
amount of foot traffic was incredible and I can only assume that they were
headed for town, but their return went on until 3am, far far past my sleepy
time. And Julia slept like a log….she
didn’t hear a thing when I asked her about it this morning…..now that…I envy.
Whist I rode to the supermarket for brekky, Julia was on-line
trying to find our way out of Leipzig. When we’d eaten, we packed up and into
the lake for a swim, to keep us as cool as poss. On the ride today, little did
we know, my cool was to be lost numerous times.
Ride began well, but after 3kms a road we had earmarked to take had a
detour in place and that started the problems for the entire morning. Problem was we travelled too far South and
couldn’t find the route we needed again. Consequently by 12.30pm we had
travelled a huge distance to cover virtually very little. We did pick it up again and the riding was
great, on a nice farm track, but tar sealed. All was not perfect however as we
had a raging headwind to contend with!
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| This photo demonstrates a lot - the terrain, the crops, all the industry around these parts.....and the headwind! Guess which way we were travelling? |
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| Lots of corn, wheatfields and windmills in these parts |
We were getting quite desperate for a break as it had been a hard slog
and a long time since breakfast. No
sooner had I uttered the words “All we need now is a nice sheltered place to
eat lunch” than we spied a roof on the horizon and hardly dared hope…..could it
be? Oh yes it was! Hallelujah and praise the Lord! The perfect little table and bench seats set
into an A frame roof, side-on to that blasted wind so we could get some relief
from it while we ate lunch. Somebody out
there must be saying a few prayers for us so thank you Ray? Christine? Kev?!?
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| Whoever it was.....thank you! |
Decided to write the morning off and enjoy the afternoon,
with hopefully some mileage under our belts. Then the track which had been so
kind to us, just disappeared and we were out in the wops, without a reference
as to where we were or which road or trail to take. Poor Ju had to listen to my rantings for ages
and none of it was her fault, but it did affect her and the afternoon was
pretty quiet from them on. It was only
when we reached a village just past Querfert, where we asked three lovely old
ladies, who spoke no English between them, but had a good sense of humour, that
we got back on track and made some serious headway, although it was a
slog. By evening, around 7pm, we rolled
into Allstedt, where we picked up two days’ worth of supplies, as supermarkets
are shut on Sundays.
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| Castle in Querfert |
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| Allstedt's castle |
Now loaded to the brim we took off on a lovely cycle path
as the clouds threatened again. Forgot to mention we’d had a couple of
downpours throughout the day and it was cloudy all day, with sun only breaking
through late in the evening. At
Niederrobergen, we came off the path and pitched tent behind some allotments,
which the Germans are keen on and tend with loving care. As I write, some
people are already on to us, so we just hope we can stay, as we have no other
options and it’s raining.
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| Thought we were going to have pyramids as well as castles, but it was just three giant slagheaps dotting the landscape. We can't even imagine how they formed these massive heaps - they must have had some sort of conyeyor belt to drop stuff at the top. |
Lucky for us it was the final of the European Football Cup
tonight which Germany were in (of course) against Italy, so I don’t think
anybody could be bothered about the two homeless people out the back of their
allotments. As we ate dinner and settled
down to sleep we heard the villagers cheering whenever someone scored and think
the game must have gone to penalties as the cheering didn’t stop until 11.30pm.
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