Day 47 Plittersdorf to Lingenfeld

Day 47. Plittersdorf to Lingenfeld 94.11 kms cycled. 5.34 hours cycling. 36.94 km/h max speed. 16.85 km/h average speed. Weather – Overcast with sunny breaks high 20s.

Germany, I have quickly discovered, is so different to the other countries I have pedalled through.

  Everything is extremely expensive for a start. Food, accommodation and just about everything else costs more which is not good for the budget.

  Also, along this section of the Rhine there are very few campsites, hence the big number of kilometres I cycled today – somewhat reluctantly towards the end, I must say.

  And when you do find one, they want an arm and a leg – 15 euros where I am now in Lingenfeld – plus you have to pay extra to have a shower.

  I have also discovered that this part of the Rhine is very industrial, hence there are huge factories along the river and basically very few places of interest to stop – another reason I cycled so many kilometres today.

  My morning started out well enough with a visit to Rastatt to have a look at the town’s huge castle. Unfortunately I was there at 10am and they didn’t open until 11am, so all I could do was take a picture from outside and continue cycling.

  Next up I decided to visit Karlsruhe. Good idea, the only problem was the map I was using did not have enough detail, so basically once I got into the outskirts of the city I had no idea which was to go.

  I thought I was right at one stage when I started to follow the zentrum (centre) signs, but they petered out and quickly becoming lost I thought it was a smart move to retrace my steps and give Karlsruhe a miss.

  Big cities are really hard work on a bicycle when you have no idea where you are going. From now on I will only visit the ones where I am able to leave my bike safely somewhere.

  Another thing I have found in Germany is that it is near-on impossible to find internet connections. In Portugal, Spain and France it was difficult at times but I could always track it down somewhere. Not here though.

  I even went into a McDonalds which is meant to have free intenet connection in all their stores worldwide – but not in Germany. They wanted 8 euros to sign up to some wifi website with my credit card details and there was no way I was going to do that, so I even missed out there. I’ll keep looking, but it is a pain and very time consuming.

  Anyway, tomorrow it is off towards Heidelberg and Mannheim. I will see how many times I can get lost again. The Rhine track certainly needs a sign upgrade. In sections the signs are everywhere, but once you get to a town there are none and you are left to your own devices which can be very frustrating.

  I am quickly getting pretty good at asking specht ze english!!

captions: Pic 1:The palace at Rastatt Pic 2: One of the many obstacles along the path. This Swiss couple helped me pushed my bike and all its gear up over this very high ramp. Pic 3: yours truly. Pic 4: A particularly good section of the Rhine pathway. Other sections are nowhere near as` good.