Cycling North After Winter

[pshome]

Are you aware of the german youth hostels? You get a warm bed and a good breakfast  for typically less than 30€. The times this was for youth or families only are no longer, everybody can get a bed.

You book online these days, no more show up and hope for a free bed.

 

https://www.jugendherberge.de/en/

 

You have to take membership which is 22,50€ a year.

https://www.jugendherberge.de/en/membership/

 

i think as a foreigner, you have to be member of the youth hostels of your home country.

https://www.yha.org.uk/membership

 

as you move on

 

France:

https://www.hifrance.org/5-bonnes-raisons-dadherer-la-fuaj

 

Spain:

https://reaj.com/informacion/

 

Portugal:

https://pousadasjuventude.pt/pt

 

Happy Xmas cycling!

 

pshome

[John F]

N Dentressangle, on 24 Dec 2018 - 07:57 AM, said:

So, what news?

 

Here's hoping you've been waylaid by a gaggle of libidinous German barmaids, laden with Steins, who can't possibly let you go until Boxing Day... 

 

 

Nah, Maßkrüge are more of a south German thing, he's in Cologne so it's more likely to be a metre of Kölsch:

 

[oldcars]

So, what news?

 

Here's hoping you've been waylaid by a gaggle of libidinous German barmaids, laden with Steins, who can't possibly let you go until Boxing Day... 

 

Nice jugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of beer. I do like a Spaten, very nice pint.

[Skizzer]

Nah, Maßkrüge are more of a south German thing, he's in Cologne so it's more likely to be a metre of Kölsch:

 

Kölsch Is great. Ten years or so ago I was working on a project in Cologne for a while and we used to have 4 or 5 of those little 200ml glasses with our pork-and-potatoes dinner most nights, as you would - a pint or so. The waiters keep them coming, and keep track using 5-bar gates on the paper tablecloth.

 

Unfortunately the firm we were working for was an American company run by a family of evangelical Christians. They were so horrified that we were having six beers a night at their client’s expense that they refused to reimburse us for anything - beer, food, hotel, flights, nothing. Bugger me that was an expensive beer. Tasty though.

[hairnet]

alex you crazy muthafuka take a coupla days off and enjoy hope it dont snow too much

[Bucketeer]

Live actual real life sunshine!

Man that feels good.

The tent is already up and I'm having a stroll up into the hills. Lovely.

 

[hairnet]

like a taller more crazy alan rickman

[Bucketeer]

[DeeJay]

Weather seems to be getting better. 

How are the legs feeling?

[richardmorris]

like a taller more crazy alan rickman

A slightly more alive Alan rickman certainly.

[Bucketeer]

Weather seems to be getting better.

How are the legs feeling?

The legs are okay. I seem to be able to cruise along in two or three gears lower than when I started. They always ache a bit, but that's normal I guess.

 

Today was a gentle potter along the river.

 

 

 

I saw many interesting buildings and the like but they always seem to be on the opposite side of the river to me.

 

 

 

I saw a few sights on my side of the river though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, I got the tent up early and went up in the hills for a wander.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow is only about 35km to my hotel room indulgence, so hopefully the weather stays dry and I can enjoy the ride.

[richardmorris]

Well enjoy the day and Happy Christmas!

[Skizzer]

Fröhliche Weihnachten! Lovely bit of scenery around there.

 

Trier is pretty and has quite a cool Roman amphitheatre, if you’re heading west along the Mosel.

[N Dentressangle]

Fröhliche Weihnachten! 

 

Absolutely.

 

I keep being put in mind of:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany._A_Winter%27s_Tale

 

but mostly of:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_of_Gifts

 

, a fantastic read by an amazing chap, which anyone who's enjoying this thread would probably love.

[chodweaver]

Enjoy the warmth of the Hotel Indulgence.

 

Merry Christmas Mr Teer!

 

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk

[Junkman]

Unfortunately the firm we were working for was an American company run by a family of evangelical Christians.

 

"You can't trust people who say they play football and then carry it with their hands."

(The Junkgrandmother)

 

"Saxophones in a military band."

(The Junkgrandfather)

[forddeliveryboy]

Ach, don't get too carried away with Sir Christemas, there's New Year's Eve just a few days away. Keep warm and dry and watch out for those Frauleins with big jugs of beer. Good news the bike's going well, roll on the warm sunshine.

[Junkman]

Köln and its yank tanks though. Even the chief of police drives a '66 Marlin.

[Bucketeer]

Merry Christmas everyone.

Looks like Santa brought me a tent to dismantle. Again.

 

[loserone]

He's so predictable.

 

Merry Christmas Alex.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Houses in the Rhine Palatinate area are pretty cheap. I wonder how dull it is?

[DeeJay]

[N Dentressangle]

Houses in the Rhine Palatinate area are pretty cheap. I wonder how dull it is?

 

A mate lived just north of Frankfurt for a couple of years.

 

It was very dull. Pleasant enough, being Germany - clean, decent grub and beer, good roads / public transport, everything works etc - but no-one's dream place to live. Plus you have plenty of typical kleinstadt Germans to contend with, as well as the usual immense bureaucracy needed to achieve anything.

 

I like Germany - lived there for a couple of years and visit often - but it has its dull, spießig bits the same as the UK.

[Junkman]

Like anywhere else you have this dwindling, almost invisible, tiny proportion of normal people.

They are more difficult to detect in Germany than in other places.

[NorthernMonkey]

Merry Xmas, Alex

[Cavcraft]

Happy Chrimbo, Alex.  Here's to more sunny days ahead and safe riding.

[Split_Pin]

Merry Christmas Alex, stay warm and chodspeed.

[spartacus]

Merry Christmas Alex.

You must be getting quick with that tent now?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Like anywhere else you have this dwindling, almost invisible, tiny proportion of normal people.

They are more difficult to detect in Germany than in other places.

Even the county whose name cannot be mentioned? I don’t think The Reich has an equivalent.

[Bucketeer]

Xmas day round up time.

 

This morning started like most others. A river, a bicycle, and cold.

 

 

Spots were limited.

 

 

I did see some containers and container trucks though, which for some reason I always find fascinating.

 

 

 

This section of the Rhein has all the mod cons.

 

 

As the day progressed I began to attract the birds.

 

 

 

About ten or fifteen kms short of Koblenz I got the opportunity to chuck a left over to the other side of the river.

 

 

To take this next photo I had to hop over the railings and stand next to the train tracks. As I was clambering back over towards the footpath a train came sneakily whizzing past. Ten seconds earlier and I would have been squished brown bread. One to file under 'live and learn'.

 

 

And to cap it all off, about two thirds of the way over the bridge someone appeared at the other side coming towards me on a moped. There was no chance he could squeeze past my bike and trailer but despite my hand waving and head shaking he just continued across until he was ten feet away and we were both stuck. The idiot just sat there looking at me. I was tempted to wait it out until he buckled and walked his moped back to the start of the bridge, but it was chilly up there so in the end I had to disconnect the trailer and safety line, stand it on end, and remove the wheels before he could get past (without a word of thanks obvs).

It's hard to make him out in the picture, or the trailer stood up with wheels removed, but it was either take a picture or throw something at him and the nearest thing to hand was a bottle of brandy I'd just bought at a petrol station.

 

 

I had a cig, calmed down a bit, and continued onwards.

 

There must be a very wide age range for graffitiers in Germany. On the other side to this was 'AC/DC'.

 

 

I hadn't reckoned on my hotel for tonight being about six kms away from Koblenz, and all of those kms uphill (I say I hadn't reckoned on it, but actually I did know and had just ignored that information). I was pushing up near vertical mud tracks and was a broken man by the time I got to the plateau at the top of the hills.

 

 

I did however find an apple tree with fruit still on it for my first proper foraging of the trip.

 

 

And eventually, with jelly legs, I got to the village I am staying in.

 

 

I arrived about 3pm but the earliest check-in time mentioned online was 4pm. The doors were locked so I dragged myself around the village to see if I could pap anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got back to the hotel just after four and everything was still locked. Then I spied a handwritten note in the window saying that they were closed 25th and 26th. I was ready to cry but before tears I did a circuit of the outside and thankfully found a back door with another handwritten note attached to it, with my name and floor 2 room 8 on it. The door was open and the room keys were inside the room. I still haven't seen or heard anyone, I think I'm the only person here.

That all matters not, as I now have a warm room.

 

 

Just before my legs completely died, I managed a sock wash.

 

 

I found the TV remote and turned it on out of idle curiosity. One of the first things I saw was this.

 

 

Which, as it sounds, was a documentary about the Manta. Which was great.

 

 

That was a couple of hours ago now, and I think my legs might be ready to work again, so I'm going to have summat to eat and then have a right good bash at the brandy. Cue me being fast asleep in thirty mins.