Another "I-have-to-go-kaffe" to go on the road!

Day 13. 1400km. 22:33 6th of Aug.

I just crossed the border an hour ago! So I am now in the Netherlands.

Today has been terrible,the weather changing constantly, from pouring rain to sunny sunshine. Woke up early to see the stream of the curiosity landing on Mars, sometime around 07:30, good stuff. A couple of hours later when I was having lunch it said "Die Mars mission" on all the tv screens when looking around. First I thought, maybe Germans don't like space races, but soon figured out that "die" means "the" in German. Mind you, I still managed to order what I wanted from the menu, however, that was after that the waitress had called out the chef into the dining area, as he was the only one who spoke English on the premises.

Had some of the coffee I bought yesterday with breakfast, and then again on the road, and again and again. Before I had breakfast, even before I got out of my tent, I just listened to the raindrops hitting it. I should not have wasted my time as I would hear them hitting my helmet for the rest of the day.

I spent the whole day on road 213, it took me, just like many other roads in Germany through countless small villages, so small that th sign informing you that you've entered it could be held up by the same pole telling you that you've already left. Still, it is a nice place to be touring through.

A car honked it's horn at me, when it passed, I saw that it had Swedish number plates.

I did do well over my daily minimum today, over 125km, but tomorrow I think I'll end up on exactly 100km. I'm heading to Arnhem, should be interesting.

Bike still holding up great. No problems there whatsoever, one less thing to worry about.

 

Day 12. 1272km, 22:36 the 5th of Aug.

I'm getting used to life on the road now. Living out of a rack sack and a touring pannier is a lot easier than one might think. I passed Bremen today, just south of it, didn't actually enter the city. Managed my 100 km quite early today, so I treated myself with a couple of beers and a slice of the local cuisine. Did some grocery shopping and finally got some coffee.

The terrain was rougher today, walked through a sand path, it took more than an hour. It was impossible to steer when trying to cycle through it. I oiled the chain with the "green oil" we got last year at the BWC, a quick 1200km service on my new back wheel and carried on again.

My body got a bit tired sometime around 2pm, so I stopped for a bit, had a snack and looked around. Something very different here is that a lot of people have the German flag hanging somewhere in their garden, it doesn't have to be up on a pole, just hanging outside a window or something. So when I pass by with my Swedish flag behind me people cheer and laugh. I haven't seen a single cyclist with a flag on his or her bike since I left Sweden.

One thing that hit me en Copenhagen was that almost everyone on bikes, well at least a third of the people riding out at night had "reel lights" mounted on their bikes. I have a set too, but in Stockholm they are harder to spot.

Tomorrow I'll keep heading west. Should cross my third border before sundown.

Did some laundry last night, this is how I tried to dry my socks afterwards. Worked to some extent, had to tie them on the outside of my bags in the morning so that would dry up in the wind...

Half-Way-beer

Treated myself with a beer after my 100km today. And Yes, it tasted good. More about today later.

Cheers!

Day 11. 1166km. 4th of Aug. 22:00

Left at 8am from my campsite. I managed an average speed of 17.7km/h the 35km to Hamburg. There I visited the Brompton store. Very nicely decorated with bikes hanging everywhere. 10 minutes after I left it started to pour down on me. The streets turned into rivers so a couple of other bikers and me took cover underneath some trees. It didn't take long until they where saturated with water. By then I had put on my rain jacket and pants.it continued to rain for an hour or so but I kept on going. Did one hour off road west of Hamburg, this was to intentional. As it's been raining I'm running low on batteries, my solar panels not producing as much energy as usual.

I should be passing Bremen during lunch hours tomorrow, and I've got 430km to Amsterdam more or less. Today I did 130km, which is good. As previously mentioned there're lots of bike paths, and where there aren't, the roads for cars are very well made.

I'm a bit disappointed with the fact that very few people speak English. Some don't even try. So it ends up with me having to try and order food at a restaurant with my crappy half made up German, often leaving me eating something I did not order.

Who knew eating out in Germany could be that exciting?!

Well, at least everyone are nice and friendly, I just entertained some kids with my ESBIT cooking stove when I was heating up water for my dinner.

Medelshavspasta med kyckling! Mmmm va gott!

 

Day 10. 1035km. 3rd of Aug.

30km north of Hamburg now. Today has been both sunny and rainy. Got an early start and managed my 100km early on, just after that I found a campsite. Just after lunch I passed the 1000km mark for this trip, and that on only 9 days of cycling. Tomorrow (today) I'm heading down to Hamburg to visit their Brompton store. From what I've seen online it really looks great. The bike and I are still holding up great. I haven't reinflated the tires yet, there hasn't been a need to. No punctures through my Kevlar and not a single screw loose. I do check them from time to time. I've taken it off road more and more, Germany does however have great roads. Cycle paths running alongside every major road so no complaints there. The people are friendly and enthusiastic about my trip.

Now time for bed.

 

Day 9, 972 km. Neustadt Germany

Crossed the boarder yesterday and made sure I did my 100km. As it was getting quite late nothing was open, I managed to find a campsite and spent my first night in Germany there. It is now 13:00 and I'm enjoying a Maisel's Weisse beer in a small town waiting for my lunch. I'll try to do another 50 or 60 km before turning in for the night.

Lunch just arrived.