Dag 26 - Wednesday the
12th July 2000
Bad Lauterberg - Stöcken
177 km. Total 3959 km
"In spite of ourselves we'll end
up sitting on a rainbow"
Once again I had a morning which was unbearably
cold. It had rained during the night and it still drizzled. I left about
6 a.m. I had promised John that I would sneak away. The distance to the
top of the mountain, where you have a view to "Brocken", was
not as hard as I had expected. I met an ascent of 10 % over 2-3 kilometres,
and then it was rather flat towards the end.
| GERMANY MAP WITH THE HARZ |
And then I was there.
Yuk.
Nothing to see, absolutely nothing. Thick fog, rain and cutting cold. On
the top it's a carnival. It's nothing but a tourist trap. I pottered about
and felt like buying a small cup of coffee for my health.
DM 2.30.
Robbery! On the whole most of the Harz is a tourist trap in my opinion.
It's not the best place for me.
 |
Damn. I am sorry about
my exclamation, but it describes in so many words the ride down the mountain.
9 km where the drop most of the time was about 10 %. Not very nice. Very
bad indeed. Shaking from the cold I rode into Bad Harzburg, where the sky
was clear and it was much warmer, but I needed a little time to recover.
It was difficult to find the way out of the town because it was only a
Highway. By means of my compass I finally managed to take bearing of a
northbound route. Suddenly my journey was stopped by a detour sign. And
after a couple of kilometres the detour continued on the high way, and
left me standing there gaping at that sight. Annoyed? Not at all. I was
furious.. All in all I think the detour was over 8-10 km. |
Thank God I am now in a baker's shop in Vienenburg.
But I must say they are a bit special here too. The lady insisted on getting
the money before she would supply me with my bread. She claimed, that a
lot of customers disappeared before they had paid for the bread. She got
her money and I got my bread.
I have plotted the coming route into my map.
I think it's flat, but that was what I thought
yesterday too. I think I forgot to mention in my fit of bad temper, that
the roads on the mountain was pested by "Roll split", which means
that they make a mess of the road by pouring out asphalt and then sprinkle
pebbles over the whole lot. To return to the difficult art of diplomacy
I may perhaps suggest that this morning was a little bit awkward. Now the
route will be: Schladen - Hornburg - Obersickte - Cremlingen.
Kalme 12.27. (80 km) About 30 kilometres south
of Braunschweig.
I just had the first flat of this trip on the rear wheel. Of course it
happened on a highway up a steep hill. I am now having a lunch break. (Meat
salad, bread and coke) I know a lot of people who would not eat a meal
like that. But I think it's suitable for someone like me. I had to buy
2 batteries for my camera. Extremely expensive. I also bought 2 films.
It's cold now (13 degr. C) and the wind is blowing much more. The landscape
has changed. It now looks much more farm land to me. I still have long
tough hills. A moment ago a baker's car passed by, ringing a small bell.
A lady is waiting at a bus stop. The only thing I can hear is the song
of the birds. There are dark clouds in the sky. I am sure I will have much
more rain.
This will be another hard working day.
|
It did not go too bad after all. Little by
little the hills grew smaller and just south of Braunschweig they disappeared.
The roads were very good and the wind was half crosswind, half tail wind.
The last 20 kilometres before Witingen were through a moor. Quite beautiful
and interesting.
I have now found a very good place in a wood.
I have had no rain today, but now (7.48 p.m.) it's beginning. It got very
wild today when the temperature went up to 14 degr. C, but now it has dropped
to 11. Some summer weather!
Tomorrow I am going to use the very last map
of Germany, and that's a very nice sensation. But I still have a lot of
Germany left. Now I will ride in places I have been to before. I dare not
think about how many kilometres I still have left. I might get depressed
It's no secret that I want to get home now as soon as possible. Nothing
special happened today, and I did not meet any funny people at all. Now
I will dive into my tent to check out the weather forecast. I think I know
what it will be.
Good night.
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FACT BOX
THE PREPARATIONS
Of course it will be combined with considerable difficulties, if
you ride 5000 km through Europe without even having trained. Sometimes
you hear about people, who complete long bicycle rides without any preparation
at all, but in my opinion it gets much more funny if you are well prepared.
Through the last 10 years I have ridden about 150.000 km and from
January this year until I started the trip, I had ridden 5946 km, which
is more or less, what I had planned.
The weight might be of interest to some people, but when I reveal
that my weight is one of the few secrets I keep to myself when talking
about bicycling, I might also have indicated that it's not perfect at all.
"Don't be a nuisance to yourself" an acquaintance of mine said
to me some years ago, when we discussed this subject.
I try not to.
Very few people will assume that I am in the risk group of patients
with acute anorexia, but nevertheless I do not look upon my weight as a
problem.
"You need your power, when you ride", another of my acquaintances
remarked.
In my case it's more or less a question of cosmetics and aesthetics.
It may well be true that I could have ridden op the Silvretta mountain
half an hour faster, if I had been slender as a teenager. And so what?
Here I feel like adding that when I am away on my long trips I can eat
whatever I feel like and still loose weight. And when your favourite dish
is "food" this is an absolutely wonderful situation. Later on
you must explain to your metabolism in private that the party is over.
But as a matter of fact it's not on the road most problems are solved.
No, it's in your head.
If you one late rainy afternoon, with a sore throat, have strayed into
a 16 % ascent on a highway where you have just been passed by an 18 tons
truck with a trailer at a distance of 9 centimetres, and you at the same
time realize that you have a flat on the front wheel and have a broken
spoke in the tiresome side of the rear wheel, the one wit the gear wheel,
then it's not at all your physical reserves you are going to summon up.
No it's in your head.
I may have exaggerated a little bit, when I mention these incidents, but
you can depend on me when I claim, that every day on the road provides
you with challenges, alarmingly like what I mentioned.
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