5 July (sun, cloud, mild - late afternoon downpour) 60 km

Last night was spent in a lovely campsite in the fairytale town of Hann Munden. Like the town itself, I had my own fairytale, in the form of a dream. There were really only two characters in my fairytale….Halle Berry and me. There weren’t an awful lot of props either, just a crystal clear swimming pool, you know, with that beautiful aqua coloured water.  She was wearing the tiniest of bikinis and looking fantastic and so I figured that whilst Julia was having her own fairytale adventure with Brad Pitt, I’d enjoy the moment.  I was casually resting at one end of the pool, both elbows on the side. She emerged from under the water, trickles running down her gorgeous physique. She moved slowly toward me.  I approached with a coy smile and wrapped one arm around her waist as I moved in for a kiss…..when she said sternly….’If you think you getting something when there’s dishes to wash, trash to go out, lawns to be mowed then”……

I woke in a cold sweat and glanced to my right. There as always was Julia, smiling sweetly as she slept. I raised myself onto one elbow to check that Brad wasn’t on her other side and for a fleeting moment thought about maybe getting a pool installed.

When reality set in and I opened my eyes in our little dome, it was just before 7am. Once again we had escaped without rain during the night and the day although producing some cloud cover, looked great for cycling.  The distance we were covering today wasn’t that far. 

A last look at Hannover Munsen

A 27km ride to Kassel and another twenty odd to the campground at Ahnatal. We had a couple of things to see and wanted a fairly easy day after the big one the other day.  Finished a nice breakfast and packed up, whilst a few other bike packers did the same. Interesting to note the amount of cycle tourers on the lake and river rides, the numbers disappear when you hit the hills. The ride in to Kassel was alongside an easy flowing river with villages dotting the banks on the far side. Part way along we encountered a detour for the cycle path, as they were completely renovating it. “Here we go” we thought….”What are they going to do with us, probably chuck us on a single lane mud track”.  We should have known. We were in Germany. Not only did we not get a mud track, but they’d closed a beautiful country tree lined lane to cars, just for bikes to use whilst the renovating was going on, sending the cars another way…..brilliant.

About 5 kms from town, we jumped off the road into a little village to pick up some morning tea, which we hoped to enjoy at one of the many spots along the river that we’d seen.  Now that we had the morning tea, the spots ran out and soon we were in the outskirts of town. There we found a park where we aired the tent and fly (condensation only) and had our food, but had to forgo our morning coffee as we’d run out of camping gas.  Then on into Kassel.  Boy…. What a shock this was…..fairytale village last night……nightmare on Elm Street today!  

The Orangerie - Kassel

We’d come here for a number reasons….the Orangerie, a beautiful building housing the marble baths and a planetarium. Herkules, a huge monument built on the hills overlooking the city with a massive cascading waterfall, coming down the hillside in layers. , Schloss Wilhelmshohe, and another fairytale castle, Lowenburg built by a Duke in the 1700’s, never intended for living in, just a whim and now a major attraction.  After our camping gas ran out this morning, as we thought was on the cards, Ju had googled Primus stockists in Kassel (there was only one apparently), so we headed there first. Looked everywhere….no sign, asked locals….no idea….so we wrote that off and went looking for Maccas again to get wifi. It really does sound like we have a thing for Mc Donalds, but if you saw the prices here compared with Czech and Hungary, you don’t even think about it.  The township is not a nice place. Lots of beggars in your face and I’m afraid a lot of very unsavoury characters.  As we were in need of money, I withdrew some at an automatic teller with a few of these unsavoury characters/beggars sitting right by the ATM.  Went into my usual preventative measures so I wouldn’t be asked for money by speaking the very little Maori I know to Ju.  “Tu tana mai na iwi” I uttered to my beloved as I approached the ATM.  “Ka pai” she replied, “Tena koto” she added to confuse them even more so nobody asked us for any money as they had no idea what language to use with us.  “Pokare kare ana” I slung back.  “Tana Umanga, Tukapa, Whangamata” she added with a bit of emphasis.  Well that certainly did the trick and we left these beggars (who have cellphones nowadays I might add!) and then spied a sports shop. Took a chance, not thinking for a minute that they would have gas, usually they only stock clothes and shoes, but this place had a few floors, one of which housed a camping/climbing section….so luck was with us and they actually stocked Primus gas so this will probably see us through to England.

Strange and sad to think that in just over a month, we’ll be winging our way home. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be great to see family and friends, but another adventure will be over. Into Starbucks for a coffee….won’t do that again…what a rip off.  But managed to get a bit of a charge on the computer while we were there.  Decided we’d seen enough and headed out to see what we came for.  Just down the road, in a park was the Orangerie. Gorgeous building, but oh….what snobs…!  At the beginning of the tour, we’d have been oohing and aahing about this place…we looked at each other and both said…”Could do with a bit of paint”… 

Herkules up the back and Schloss Willhelmshoe in front

Herkules was next….and it is with a k, in case you think I’ve spelt it wrong. Up on top of a big hill, you can see it from town, but you need a close-up view.  So…up we climbed and further we climbed, until we rested and ate lunch under a Chinese pagoda housing a Buddha.  Took some of the small park tracks and came upon Lowenburg castle.  Unfortunately, both Lowenburg and Herkules are having major work and are covered in scaffold and cranes, however we think we got away with some creative angle shots.  Another disappointment for us was that the cascading water is turned on and off…and today was the off day (Tuesday).  They only turn it on during the weekends and on Wednesdays.  If Kassel had been a more attractive city, we may have hung round for the extra day to see the cascading water as it is supposed to be quite something, especially at night, but we were both keen to get out of the place. 

Lowenburg Castle

Schloss Willhelmshohe and the city of Kassel - yes, it was a steep climb!

Met a German guy showing his Irish and English friends around, who gave us some great info on the castle, before we began our journey North…..uphill, I might add, toward our camp.  Fortunately for us, the gradient was brilliant, the road surface, spectacular and we made quick time to our camp in Ahnatal…Campingverein Buhl e.V. Here we paid the owner….a lovely man, who only charged us 10 Euros and then because it was raining said that we could sleep in the bar area, after we’d bought a couple of beers. Whilst Ju had a shower, I sat down to write the blog and he and his wife came across to show me where everything was that we’d need. She…like her husband, was lovely and these are the memories of this trip that will stay with us….the people we have met.  Because you touch their lives briefly, you only see the best of the good ones and that’s a great way to remember them….always ready with a kind word, a bit of help or advice and a smile…

Both had great showers and they keep the amenities spotless. Warm and clean, I emerged from my shower to blue skies. I mentioned this fact to Julia….who told me we were still staying inside as we wouldn’t take a chance having to pack up a wet tent…..perfectly true. Cooked some tea and then settled in for the night, knowing that tonight, whatever the conditions….we ain’t getting cold or wet…!

4 July 2016 (cloudy, sunny patches, cold am, warm pm) 58 km

Neither of us slept too well in our little camp by the sportsground – and it had nothing to do with the trains.  First of all some little animal was making funny noises near our tent which captured Pete’s attention and he was up, ears pricked like a meercat, peering out the netting to see if he could see it (he couldn’t).  I got the traditional “Ju!”, accompanied by bang, bang on the arm to make sure I too was awake and listening to this animal.  I told him I was going back to sleep and not to wake me unless the tent was on fire.

The temperature was really cold during the night and I slept with my sleeping bag zipped up all the way for the first time in a month, with my light sweatshirt on too and I was still a bit chilly.  Pete was too, so we were both awake by 5.15am and on the road half an hour later.

It was a lovely morning but very cold so we both had polarfleeces and long pants on.  I warned Pete that today’s directions were not very direct and he was fine with that.  We made a good start as the cycle track was right next to where we camped.  We found the first village we were after but then couldn’t find the road to the next one.  I should have cracked open the computer then to check but chose a road that seemed to be going in the right direction.  It took us up a bloody great hill (which was kind of good ‘cos it warmed us up) and over the motorway – which was all correct.  But then the lovely smooth surface disappeared and we got gravel.  Chose to look at the computer at this point and found we had turned off too early.  We could see a way out of our predicament by following the gravel road for a km or so and that is what we did – but on the way we had to cross a ford.  Luckily it wasn’t too deep and we were able to ride through the water slowly.

The church at Rengelrode

This brought us into the beautiful little town of Rengelrode – so tidy with lovely old houses and immaculate gardens.  Looking for a road out, we found a sign to Uder, the town with the campground we would like to have found last night – typical!  So we pedalled up this road which was beautifully smooth and flat and it lead us to the beautiful town of Uder at 7am, just as the supermarket was opening. 

The beautiful town of Uder

So whipped in there and got our breakfast supplies and about 2 km up the road found the perfect place to have our breakfast – yes another picnic table, covered (so that meant it wasn’t wet from the heavy dew) beside a small soccer pitch and kid’s playground.

Came across this sign just before Witchenhausen which
we assume was where the old border was between East
and West Germany.

We continued on this fantastic cycle path, following a river, straight to Arenshausen which was on our original route – talk about lucky.  We arrived in Arenshausen (which again was a really lovely village), Sadly we had to veer away from this idyllic path shortly after this and up a drawn out hill where again we questioned our directions and whipped out the computer to check.  All on track but we now knew which way to turn at the bottom of said hill for Witchenhausen.  Had a minor hiccup at Witchenhausen with a bike track that turned into flattened grass in a field, before finally finding the Werratal bike route to Hann Mausen.  This was well-sign-posted, great surface and mostly flat and because of this we saw more bikepackers this morning than we’ve seen in the past three days.

Along the way we found yet another football pitch and dried the sodden flysheet on the goalpost while we had morning tea.  We also dried the actual tent and the groundsheet and Pete got out his washing that he has been trying to dry for the last two days as well as airing out his sleeping bag and liner.  So we had quite the little Chinese laundry going on and you know kids how happy that makes your Dad.  Yes , he was smiling and whistling as he packed away all the now dry stuff and we set off on a slightly more undulating course the rest of the way to Hann Munden, but it was still easy and enjoyable.  The polarfleeces and long pants had by now also come off and it was t-shirt and shorts weather.

As we rode into Hann Munden, we noticed there was a sign for Tourist Info, so we decided to see if we could get some sort of map of this area instead of cycling blind into Kassel.  So glad we made that decision as this town is AMAZING!!!  

The view from our tent

It’s like walking down Diagon Alley (Harry Potter world for all you non-geeks) and you get picture postcard views from every direction.  It’s like fairyland and with every new street Pete and I would go “Wow!”  I can’t believe how many of these gorgeous old houses there are.  Most of them seem to be split into apartments now, although you kind of expect them to be some king of heritage home with nobody living in them.

We had planned to just ride straight to Kassel today but this town literally stopped us in our tracks – as well as the fact that Kassel didn’t have a campground.  Whereas lovely little Hann Munden did, and it was half a km away and the supermarket was only 100 metres away.  So we went to the supermarket, checked into the camp, got showered, did some washing and hung that up before eating a late lunch at 3pm.  Then we went for a wander round this historic town which was mainly built in the 12^th century.  

Had a wonderful time snapping photos before returning to camp to write and upload the blog over a beer.  Neither of us was particularly hungry after our late lunch, so beer and cashews followed by coffee and a pastry each was it.

We plugged the computer in at the kitchen while we worked and then hit the hay about 10.30pm, hoping for a better night’s sleep than last night.

3 July 2016 (cloud, sunny patches, showers, cool. Strong headwind) 111 km

Where on earth did someone come up with the idea of Bambi and Thumper – a deer and a rabbit playing together?  Perhaps they merely observed nature. 

This morning while we were having our muesli in one of those beautifully constructed German picnic tables with a roof, we were lucky enough to observe an incredible moment.  We had left our freecamp spot at 6.30am as we were eager to get on the road before someone told us to, and also before the wind got up.  We had an idyllic first ten kms along very minor country roads with barely a car the whole time.  Out in the middle of nowhere is one of these fantastic picnic tables, so, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we sat down to breakfast.

We were sitting there quietly, sipping our cups of tea when a hare runs across the edge of the wheat field just ten metres from where we were sitting.  Then bugger me if a young deer doesn’t come running from the same place, seemingly in pursuit of the hare!  He however saw us and stopped instantly with a kind of startled but curious look on his face and instantly turned around and back behind the bushes.  If we hadn’t both been looking at that spot, we would have missed the whole thing so we feel incredibly lucky.

The Kyffhauser Monument near Tilleda

After breakfast we carried on the small country roads until Tilleda where we joined the main road. Being a Sunday, we have noticed whilst on tour that whether religious or not, it is definitely a day where everyone begins the day at a much later time. That for us on main roads is ideal, as they are then, just like small roads, with no traffic. One thing that we did get again, continuing the trend from yesterday, was the headwind.  As I write this it is 7.13pm, we are still riding after a 6.40am start and so far we have covered 110kms, into that bloody wind all day. Not sure yet where we will camp – haven’t seen any sign of a campground since we left Leipzig 200 kms ago. 

At one of the larger towns today, Nordhausen, we pulled into Maccas.  Because we freecamped last night and will again tonight, our laptop and camera badly needed charging, so in for a two hour coffee.  I’ve never drunk a cup so slowly before…I tell a lie, no one cares how long you’re in there for, or what you have.  Mission complete, back into the wind at 2pm for our afternoon windfest.  However, after our sugar fix at Macca’s, consisting of a latte macchiato and a cookie each and no food of substance, we were both feeling decidedly light-headed so had to pull into a shady bus stop only half an hour up the road to eat a healthy lunch.  Since then we have been trying to avoid a huge black mass of cloud cover and for the moment we have succeeded, but over here you don’t count your chickens…..  Still observing the scenery, which is a lot like England. 

The towns are a lot like England too!

Which brings us to the service station bench and shelter where we have just cooked and eaten our evening meal of risotto, tuna and beans.  There is apparently a campground in Uder which isn’t too far on from where we are now, but we’re not sure just how far, or exactly where Uder is, as we didn’t envisage getting this far today, so failed to take down directions at McDonald’s.  We have not had a map since Leipzig and have been relying on Google and the compass.

Also noticed that while we were eating, at the bench we’d picked because it was sheltered from the headwind…..that it has now turned to a tailwind.  Great, except we could have done with it eight hours ago, rather than now, when we’re looking for a spot to pitch.

The past week we have had cherry trees along most rides we have ridden, absolutely dripping with cherries – which we and the deer have been taking full advantage of.  At least we assume it’s the deer whose droppings we see in various states of decay along the bike path, full of cherry stones – I guess they haven’t learned to spit them out!

Today as we entered the lovely old village of Bueren we noticed something we haven’t seen for maybe a week….and that is a shrine on the edge of town.  I guess in the old East Germany, just as they weren’t allowed to learn English, they also weren’t able to worship outside of the state sanctioned religion, whatever that was.  Another thing that has been noticeable in this area, is how nice the villages are. Very orderly and well kept, as though everyone is competing for best village.  

We feel we must be very close to the old east/west German border because of this change and also the changes in the roads.  The surfaces today have been fantastic and even though most of the roads we have been on have been minor, they have had immaculate cycle tracks at the side.

We are now at our freecamp. No sooner had we finished eating and climbed on our bikes, than Julia said she’d seen a sign for the sportplatz (aka…..campground).  Always worth checking out, a good football pitch. A lot of the very good ones and there are loads, have security fences around them. Down a huge hill we rode, hoping there would be something for us, so we didn’t have to ride back up after such a long day….and there was.  Sure enough a football pitch, with security, which three guys, probably early twenties, had jumped and were playing on. No chance there….but further on, away from prying eyes, a spot behind a shed, out of view, where we are currently, after watching the sunset and discussing our ride for tomorrow. Heading for Kassel, a place with just that, a beautiful castle. We are now halfway across Germany on our way to the Netherlands and England. Hope we’ve climbed the majority of hills and will have a more cruisy finish to a country we both love.

P.S…..Thought it was worth mentioning….we are camped, believe it or not, no more than sixty feet from the railway tracks. Already, in the hour and a half that we’ve been here, six trains have gone past…..it may be goodnight from her….but it won’t be goodnight from him…

Also, for the past few weeks, I‘ve been having serious issues with my bike which is making a helluva noise. Said to Julia after a couple of days…”Have you heard that whining from my bike?”     “Oh” she replied….” I thought that was just you”……You gotta love her…..or else kill her in her sleep..!

2 July 2016 (cloudy with showers, warm) 99 km

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!  

This photo demonstrates a lot - the terrain, the crops, all the industry around these parts.....and the headwind!  Guess which way we were travelling?

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?!? 

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. 

Castle in Querfert

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.

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.

1 July 2016 (sun, cloud, warm) 75 km

There’s always one they say….and our one was the grumpy German camp owner who got pissed off at us for swimming in his pool. Now, we all know how Julia is to water….she’s like a pig in muck….can’t keep her out of the damn stuff, so after being told by the camp lady last night that we could use the pool complex…..and believe me when I say it was a very nice complex….we were both excited to freshen up with a dip, before taking off this morning.  In we went, all to ourselves and it was fantastic, having a great time, until, ol grumpy drawers, tells Julia we shouldn’t be in there.  Ju didn’t have a chance to explain that the lady had given us permission, before he storms off. That would have been unacceptable, but then he locks us and our bikes inside, so we can’t get out.  Now I’m sorry, but concentration camps went out long ago, so after a brief discussion with said owner, he very sensibly let us out the front entrance. That was however the only downside to a nice camp, where we met some nice Dutchmen on a week’s cycling tour, all over sixty five and enjoying life.

A last look at Colditz as we leave town

Out on the back roads and bike trails this morning following the river and what a great bit of cycling it was on the ride to Grimma, a really nice town. Shopped for lunch supplies before we hit a direct back road course for Leipzig. Found it very difficult to find a nice spot to enjoy lunch, so cycled until 2pm, before we finally had to settle on a sub station of some kind, because it was the only place that offered any shade from the sun, which apparently had temperatures reaching 29 degrees today in parts. I know my parts were telling me that they were at least 29 degrees!  On the road again heading for our ultimate destination.  

Wow, what a museum!  The Volkerschlachtdenkmal, which from the small amount of German we have picked up means Monument to the Battle of Nations - well that was mentioned on one of the signs anyway!

We really didn’t know what to expect from Leipzig as we knew nothing about it and had done no research, it was just on our way across Germany. It did, however surprise us with some of it’s buildings, which were completely different than what we’ve seen so far.  

The biggest Macca's sign ever!

Had a look around and headed into town to….you guessed it…the big M…to charge the laptop, upload the photos, publish the two days’ worth of blogs and pay our brilliant staff their wages.  All this takes time and if you get good wifi here, you’re lucky. 

Also needed to find out where the camp for the night was, which we did and with Julia’s great directions, we got there about 8.30pm. Now this camp really does feel like a prison. Gates everywhere, keys to access all areas. You don’t know whether they’re keeping the rabble out…..or keeping the rabble in?  It’s a massive camp and very full. I don’t think there will be much chance of sleep tonight….a lot of youngsters and testosterone fuelled guys, a tent of three next to us…Roll on the nice quiet, smaller camps in out of the way places…..bloody hell I’m old, once this would have been my kind of camp…

A beautiful spot for a swim

As it has a lake with it, you can imagine what was first on the list..?  Have to say, not only was it refreshing, but very clean, by far the best lake or river swim we’ve had. Back to the tent to write the blog and have a coffee.  Tomorrow we will head for Kassel which is apparently where the Brothers Grimm grew up taking a lot of the inspiration for their stories from their hometown.  

30 June 2016 (sun, cloud, warm with heavy rain late arvo) 60km

This morning I woke at 5.20am, but in all honesty it had been a disturbed nights sleep. Funnily enough not because we had railway lines on two sides, believe it or not, but we were visited in the night from 12am – 2.30am by a couple. Didn’t get too close, but the noise level was just enough to stop me falling into a fitful sleep. Julia roused at the same time and by 6am we had packed up a soaking wet tent thanks to condensation and dew. My sleeping bag was wet as I had left the front door rolled up overnight and because of the design of the tent, it had dripped. We’ve been checking out different brands on this trip and the German makes look excellent. Waterproof and practical in the design aspect. On the move down small lanes and bike tracks, just as the sun was trying to break through and add some warmth to the equation.

One of the many delights of cycling - you don't scare the wildlife away.  Not that this guy looks scared of much!

The riding was a slow steady plod, the only way to travel on a long tour, usually averaging about 15km per hour.  Came to a little village with a seating arrangement, so decided that as there was only us, the birds and local factory workers clocking on, we’d stop for breakfast. Sitting in the early morning light looking at a number of houses that are derelict. Beautiful homes in their day, just left to decay and now probably too expensive to do anything with.  Off again on nice roads, not too much traffic although the hills were making an appearance.  In the little village of Otzdorf after stopping to check our progress, a nice man who could speak no English, in his own way suggested that we go and see the castle at Kriebstein. Gestured how to get there and away we went. It was about 4km out of our way, but a great piece of advice. The castle was founded in the 15^th century although the usual rebuilding has taken place, but it was fantastic and we enjoyed a lovely stay, looking around.

Kribstein Castle

Heading now for Hartha, where we badly needed to get hold of a map for the area we are currently in. On our way, after a huge climb, we found a kids playground in which to lunch. It was ideal to hang up sodden gear, when bugger me….kids come out of nowhere and expect to play on the bloody stuff….I don’t believe it…!  Hence, although lunch was tasty, our gear dried on the ground with the help of a light breeze.  On to Hartha where after a little fluffing around we found the Tourist Info office and a lovely lady who told us how to head for our destination today.  Now…in the 70s, one of my favourite television shows was about this particular castle. Never thought I’d get a chance to visit it, until we were planning this tour and found how close we would be. The place and castle is….Colditz…I can hear the theme music as I type this entry.  Fifteen kilometres later and we cruised into the town of Colditz. I was already planning my escape, just in case we were suddenly captured by enemy forces and taken to the fortress. Would it be a tunnel, or a glider perhaps, or maybe I’d just walk out the front gate in German uniform, or hide in the used laundry.  Robert Wagner’s coy smile came to mind as I thought about his escape efforts along with the other allied forces.

The castle is massive and extremely old, 13^th century. It has been used as a place of learning and a hospital on different occasions, but we were there to visit the museum and the info surrounding those WWII years.  We had planned on staying at the youth hostel at the castle, but I’m not sure what the travelling youth are used to paying for a bed, but apparently the older you are, the more you pay.  

The impressive looking Youth Hostel inside the castle

Not this tight git….so after a great time taking as much info on board as we could retain, we were off to the campsite, via a supermarket, where we had to shelter from a huge downpour. Fortunately it did pass and eventually we made our way to the site.  Went to set up in a great spot, when a couple of kids decided to build a bonfire right next to us. That really pissed us off, but we weren’t waiting to get covered in smoke.  So set the tent up in it’s new spot and then as has become our pattern, I blogged while Julia showered and then she uploaded the photos while I showered.

As we were preparing dinner, six Dutchmen came cycling in – all of them we found out later over the age of 65.  They were cycling for a week and had done 140km today!!!  They were all on racing bikes it has to be said and they had a friend driving a campervan with all their gear in it, but nonetheless, a fantastic effort and very inspirational.  They all set up their own tents and went over to the restaurant for dinner – while we cracked another can of noodles and pasta sauce and added a can of green beans on our little gas stove.

After reviewing the day’s photos over a cup of coffee, we zipped up the tent and settled in for the night.

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.