Day 15
Sleeping location: “Camping Wagelrott” about 25km south of Strasbourg
Distance (km today/total): 190 / 1569
Estimated climb (m today/toal): 400 / 9000
Number of working phones: 0
Day in three words: Wet phone woes
A pretty boring day until the events of the last couple of hours. Left Mannheim a bit later than expected and cycled 20km to Speyer (quite nice) to meet Craig, and a horde of wasps, for a farewell coffee. Thereafter followed about 140km of utter tedium. No interesting towns, no interesting scenery, quite near the Rhine but not really near enough for it to be interesting. This being the case, we just cycled and cycled as there was nothing else to do and our legs felt fresh after the rest.
About halfway through the day we passed into France, but it continued to be really boring, just in a slightly more Gallic way. Pretty soon the curse of the new country struck. The previous two times I have come into a new country on this trip it has rained within an hour or so, and it did the same here. The rain got heavier and heavier but we carried on cycling through it (it was “that fine rain that soaks you through” rather than heavy drops). This is where the waterproof capabilities of my a) jacket and b) phone were severely tested. The phone was in the jacket pocket and some (a lot of) rain got in there. The phone was upside down so some of this rain also got in there.
On arrival into Strasbourg (nice place, don’t go to Papa’s Burgers as it has the world’s slowest service) the phone started going crazy so I switched it off to try and dry it out. Will it make it? I’ll leave you on a cliffhanger for that one...
We left Strasbourg pretty late (thanks Papa) and headed down a very spooky canal path in the dark, aiming for a campsite as the wild camping opportunities weren’t great. Saw two hedgehogs, which was nice. Arrived at the campsite at 23.01 to find a gate which had been locked at 23.00. We were about to head off when a kindly security guard shouted us and let us in. A small upside in an otherwise pretty rubbish day.
Today was notable in terms of two stats. First, I suspect 190km will be the longest daily distance on the trip, given that daylight is going to be getting shorter as I head south (that said, I would love to crack 200km at some point). Second, despite being flat as a pancake for the last week, today also saw the total climb exceed the height of Everest. I’m Hilary and Toni has been my Sherpa Tenzing (ie the one who does all the work).
Distance (km today/total): 190 / 1569
Estimated climb (m today/toal): 400 / 9000
Number of working phones: 0
Day in three words: Wet phone woes
A pretty boring day until the events of the last couple of hours. Left Mannheim a bit later than expected and cycled 20km to Speyer (quite nice) to meet Craig, and a horde of wasps, for a farewell coffee. Thereafter followed about 140km of utter tedium. No interesting towns, no interesting scenery, quite near the Rhine but not really near enough for it to be interesting. This being the case, we just cycled and cycled as there was nothing else to do and our legs felt fresh after the rest.
About halfway through the day we passed into France, but it continued to be really boring, just in a slightly more Gallic way. Pretty soon the curse of the new country struck. The previous two times I have come into a new country on this trip it has rained within an hour or so, and it did the same here. The rain got heavier and heavier but we carried on cycling through it (it was “that fine rain that soaks you through” rather than heavy drops). This is where the waterproof capabilities of my a) jacket and b) phone were severely tested. The phone was in the jacket pocket and some (a lot of) rain got in there. The phone was upside down so some of this rain also got in there.
On arrival into Strasbourg (nice place, don’t go to Papa’s Burgers as it has the world’s slowest service) the phone started going crazy so I switched it off to try and dry it out. Will it make it? I’ll leave you on a cliffhanger for that one...
We left Strasbourg pretty late (thanks Papa) and headed down a very spooky canal path in the dark, aiming for a campsite as the wild camping opportunities weren’t great. Saw two hedgehogs, which was nice. Arrived at the campsite at 23.01 to find a gate which had been locked at 23.00. We were about to head off when a kindly security guard shouted us and let us in. A small upside in an otherwise pretty rubbish day.
Today was notable in terms of two stats. First, I suspect 190km will be the longest daily distance on the trip, given that daylight is going to be getting shorter as I head south (that said, I would love to crack 200km at some point). Second, despite being flat as a pancake for the last week, today also saw the total climb exceed the height of Everest. I’m Hilary and Toni has been my Sherpa Tenzing (ie the one who does all the work).
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