29 June 2016 (sunny and warm with headwind) 49 km

Okay, lovers of fine literature, today I want to touch on the art of self-sacrifice.  For that reason I begin today’s blog at 5.15pm. “Why is he doing that?” I hear you say, “Are we not going to get the rundown of the day’s events preceding that time?”. But of course, however you need to realise just how difficult it is for cycle tourers on occasion, in our attempt to bring you the very latest news from abroad. Firstly, you must understand a few things. We are now in Germany, a country we love. The Germans are precise in almost everything. Their roads are fantastic, their shopping malls incredible, football pitches of the highest standard can be found in the teeniest tiniest villages and everyone here drives, Mercedes, Audi, BMW or Volkswagon.

However….one area they do fall down on in comparison with the likes of Czech, for example, is their lack of decent wifi. Whereas in Czech you can sit in a town square and pick it up, here that is not possible, unless you pay exorbitant amounts of money for a restaurant or café and even then, there is no guarantee you will get good reception, after taking out a second mortgage on your home, to buy a meal. But…there is one place where it is generally good, if not excellent at times and you can charge your laptop or camera. That place, connoisseurs of fine food is...the big M…..Mc Donald’s it is. Now Mr Mc Donald in his wisdom has come up with a winner here. Not only can he draw people into his lair who really don’t want to be there, just to get connection, but then he manages to entice you to purchase an array of goods.  Knowing that you would be hanging on our every written word….because readers, we have been called the modern day Shakespeare, for our writing talents, by whom, is inconsequential…but it has been stated!  Anyway…and so it came to pass, that yesterday’s blog was not put on the airwaves, because, even though our camp was excellent, their wifi was not free….and we had no idea how good it would be anyway.  Hence, a chance sighting of a big M in the country skyline had us cycling 3.3kms out of our way, to bring you the stories, only one other book has come close to….except ours are factual!

Into the facility we were drawn, to down two Mc Flurry’s. We had connection and we had FREE power. The porcelain toilet bowls were a sight to behold, to two travellers used to standing or squatting in a field. We loaded and uploaded and downloaded, information we knew was of a critical nature for our reading public and because it was taking so long, we had to journey to the dark side ….with two caramel latte Macchiatos and a blueberry muffin.  And all of this……for you!

So, onto the rest of the day’s events……after showers throughout the night, our little tent came through without the benefit of it’s stormcover and we were able to get a good night’s sleep with no crying babies in the vicinity.  Had a bit of a sleep-in until 7.35am and after packing away our sleeping bags, we gathered together our washing as we had found out it was only 50 cents for a load and 50 cents per half hour of drying time.  The morning didn’t look particularly brilliant, but it was warm.  So to the camp shop for the breakfast necessaries and some washing powder and then washing put on while we ate breakfast.  Then we chucked it in the dryer, even though by now the sun was starting to break through the clouds.  As there was a small swimming pool on site, Ju was of course in for a swim while I packed up the tent.  The morning got warmer and warmer and now a swim seemed like a bloody good idea so while Ju packed up the rest of her stuff (washing all finished now), I went for a swim and Ju joined me for one last refreshing dip.

Back to the tent site where we started talking to our other neighbours, a Dutch couple named Frits and Dorothy.  They had been on a cycling holiday which had come to a grinding halt after Dorothy missed seeing a red light and hit a car.  She was fine apart from a bump on her head but her bike was a mess so she had bought herself a new one and they were waiting for her head to settle down again before they continued on.

They were a lovely couple and invited us to stay with them in Utrecht, so we may well do that as we believe it’s on the way.

So we finally hit the road at midday and made our way out of Dresden relatively easily.  No navigating hiccups but plenty of hills!  

We sat down for lunch in a shady spot in the first village out of Dresden and checked our directions before continuing on in what was now hot, sunny and windy weather – headwind of course.  But if it hadn’t been there it would have been stifling.  It was nice to be out of the city and back in the lovely countryside though.  We had been going to have another look around Dresden, but we were keen for that country air so flagged that idea.

Castle in Nossen

Nossen Rathaus (or town hall)

The riding this afternoon was hilly and energy sapping, but very little traffic which is always nice.  So when we got to the town of Nossen, we saw the Macca’s sign and decided we needed an ice-cream and to find a campsite so needed some wifi to do that.  The nearest campsite looked to be over twenty kilometres away and if it stayed as hilly as it had been so far, we really weren’t up to that which is why we lingered at Macca’s – we realised we would probably be freecamping and the later you set up, the better.  Less chance of being discovered.  So after Macca’s, it was off to the supermarket for night-time and breakfast supplies before hitting the road once again. 

Why have one arch when you can have seven?

Almost immediately we found the perfect spot – right between two railway lines, so we felt right at home.  It was on the outskirts of a village, by a river and behind a football ground.  We fully expect a dogwalker or two and maybe some fishermen to come along but feel confident we’re out of the way enough not to bother anyone too much.

Why have one railway line, when you can have two!

Had a delicious dinner of chilli con carne and shortly after that the first freight train came through with 22 carriages – it was extremely noisy so we hope there’s not too many of those throughout the night.  Wrote up the blog and loaded the photos by which time it was 10.30pm and time for bed.