Bike-Ride To Australia 6th-November 2011 Pforzheim to Geislingen 84 miles. Well, I’ve been on the road for a week now and enjoying every bit of it. Well, maybe not all! There are a few things that have taken me by surprise! The first one is the limited hours of daylight. The day starts in the dark and finishes in the dark! There’s also the lack of campsites. I was expecting there to be a few more than none! But hey, staying in hotels is a lot better! No having to put a tent up in the dark and then having to trudge across a field to have a shower! All I do now is make sure my bike is safe, trudge upstairs, have a shower, then spend the evening sitting in the bar! No hotels are definitely the way forward, although I’m not too sure about the expense!
What a breakfast this morning. I’d just finished pigging out on the continental buffet when the waiter came out with more food. A massive plate with six sausages, three slices of bacon and three fried eggs on it! Perhaps they thought I looked malnourished!
I had a nightmare cycling into Stuttgart this morning and found myself on another motorway! Somehow I don’t think the German police would be as forgiving as the French! Luckily I wasn’t on it for too long and soon found a way off. I had just as big a nightmare trying to find my way back out of Stuttgart!
At Last
After eventually finding my way out of Stuttgart, I found myself cycling along the River Neckar on a cycle path. Unfortunately, after less than a mile, that route was fenced off, forcing me to find another way! As I cycled back on myself, I saw a cyclist coming in the other direction. As we came alongside, I stopped to tell them that the route was blocked and if they knew of a different way. She wasn’t too sure which way to go either. So she went one way, and I went the other! It turned out my new route was also blocked! Once again, I turned around and went back to where I had left Annik (as I later found out), and much to my surprise, she was heading back in search of me! She had found a way through a subway underneath the river. Despite having to bump my bike down the steps on one side and drag it back up on the other, I could at least continue cycling in the right direction!
I then rode with Annik to the next town, where we stopped at a café for coffee. She told me that she was a journalist (maybe I should get some writing tips from her!) and a few years back, her sister had cycled around the world! After sitting and talking for nearly an hour, I had to continue on my way, or was it she wanted to get away from me!?!
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