We left Karlsruhe with our new companion in full sunshine again. Having left France and its border for good, we were going to spend the next few days only in Germany. It was another lovely morning along the river and we finished a good morning’s cycling, 50km done and dusted, with a picnic in the shade next to a small lake. We got our daily dose of wildlife again, seeing frogs, stalks and a water snake (our lunch stops are getting very successful, maybe it’s the food we buy…).
A few kilometres away from where we stopped was Speyer, a town with an impressive cathedral (and a nice café) which we visited. A friendly south German cyclist approached us to ask us if we knew where we were going. As soon as we mentioned our destination, Altrip, where we would take the ferry over the river to Mannheim, he erupted into a long spiel, the very beginning about how to get there, and the rest completely irrelevant babble. There was no stopping him. Well, it was very hard. Although I make it sound negative, it tells us something about the southern Germans. As I have found out, they are very cheerful, outgoing and helpful, and these are the people I will be spending the next few days with.
We have past halfway! We are now four together tonight: my uncle arrived in Mannheim this afternoon to take over from my dad who has to return to London tomorrow. Moritz will cycle with us tomorrow but from then on, it’ll be my uncle and I until the end.
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