June 21, 2018

Another day on the Magical Mystery tour of the Rhine Radweg.

We started off well crossing the bridge over the Rhine into Baden-Wurtemburg.  The dialects in diffferent parts of Germany can be very different and it took a little while for us to understand this new accent.

The day started of well cycling along the Rhine and spotting storks. We went through an area where there were 28 nesting pairs with all of them having one or two babies in the nest. We could hear the beaks clacking as we cycled past the nesting area.

Both Ralf and I hate the word umleitung – detour!  Everything went pear-shaped and we were detoured three times – Phillipsburg, and Eggenstein/Leopoldshafen was the worst area. The signs are usually pretty good to get you away from the route and then abandon you to find your own way back.

However, in Rosenheim we did receive divine intervention. We were looking at the map trying to work out where on earth we were when a young man came along side us on his bike. He asked if he could help and we told him that we were trying to find our way back to the Rhine. He took us to a “dam” and told us to cycle along the dam and then take a right and we would be back on the Rhine route. I try to remember to introduce myself and ask our “Road Angels” their names. His name was Gregory and he was the pastor at the local church. Maybe going into these cathedrals and taking photos of old churches is helping. 

One interesting area we came across was a very large nuclear plant. We checked on the internet and they are expanding the plant. Currently, they have closed production in one area for annual maintenance. However, EnBW profess to being green energy producers. They have expanded their production of wind power plants in the north sea.

We were hoping to not come into the centre of Karlsruhe. We wanted to outskirt Karlsruhe and find a campsite further south. We stopped at a Lidl for a late lunch, and considered getting on the motorway, as it was the very close to the Lidl but thought the police might object. We found a paved path through a wood and headed due south. The path bought us into the centre of Karlsruhe. We have no idea how, but it did. We found another Youth hostel (E68.) plus E3 for towels! – our very expensive places to lay our head and settled in for another night of sharing a dorm room. This hostel did not have any double rooms left, we had to have separate dorms.

After we had settled into our expensive Youth Hostel we walked into the main shopping area for some cheap eats. Karlsruhe is a University City. We were told about a couple of good places to eat – student places (loud with lots of beer), cheap eats, and a nicer restaurant. We choose a falafel place which was very good. We ate outside and chatted to the cook who was on his break. He was a Syrian refugee. He had come to Germany 18 months ago, in another 6 months he will get his permanent Identity Card and will be free to travel throughout Europe. The rest of his family are in Canada. We couldn’t quite understand why he wasn’t with them. He said that his Father had not written him down on the paper. He wanted to join them in Canada and had applied, but the consulate has refused him. He was a really nice guy and spoke good German. He was working as a short order cook in the falafel place, but was hoping for a better life.

When we got back to the hostel, I discovered two men in my “womens only” dorm. Ralf did not have anyone else in his dorm. We went to reception and the woman tried to explain what had happened. It worked out for the best, Ralf and I shared his dorm and the fella that was supposed to share Ralf’s dorm would be moved to my dorm (when he arrived).

Saturday we will be in Lahr for a welcome rest day. We lived in Lahr and Friesenheim for five years. The area holds a lot of good memories.

Windmills. Still no more windmills. Running Total is Ralf 13 Jacky 6