Dueren

It wasn't such a bad day ,weather wise, when we set out. We'll follow the Rhine down to Wesseling and then, I see there's a bike way to Aachen.





Now that's a ship load of tractors



Oops ! The rivers over the path but at least we can go on the road past this bit


Why can't some people just have a cat , or a dog


Now this would have meant going back about 5kms and we don't like going back. I test the depth





Phew ! She was NOT keen on that.



This old fellow stopped to help when he saw us studying our map


The next 30 kms west consisted of diving from shelter to shelter.
With a head wind we had had enough by Dueren so we booked in to the only hotel in town. It's lovely but with our washing hanging on everything the room looks like a bomb site.


We had really sad news from home regarding David so we will try to get early flights home .From Aachen the train runs directly to Paris.

Cologne

On the road by 7.30 , we only had a short burst to Dusseldorf and from here we were riding along the Rhine.





It was in flood and what a scary sight it was. Ships going upstream were struggling to make any headway, while the likes of this barge, actually 2 barges connected nose to tail, PLUS he had another 2 smaller barges tied to the sides of the front barge, all loaded with scrap metal ,was racing downstream at a phenomenal speed. Boy if he collected a bridge he would carry it away. 😳








There's paths down both sides of the Rhine so I'm just deciding which way to take to Cologne. Dusseldorf is a fairly new city, having been pretty well flattened during the war. Interesting architecture!
We crossed over and followed the left bank. Stopped for coffee at Dormagen at a cafe with wifi . The hotels wifi was terrible and I couldn't get the blog away. There. was a market on so I bought some German smoked sausage to nibble on








Still a bit of water around from last night. Christine's making friends with Bamby and Blondby


A Couple of showers welcomed us to Cologne so the first thing we did was find a hotel and have a HOT shower
Then we went sightseeing . "My giddy aunt that's an impressive cathedral "









When a couple get married over here, a popular practice is to lock a padlock onto a bridge to seal their love


There's thousands of them on this railway bridge.
The European cup's on over here. The streets are humming ! Every bar's got a TV blaring out, flags everywhere- - -

The Rhine valley

It was lovely to wake up to a sunny day. The forecast said rain this evening so we got moving early.
That sun felt sooo good. We felt sorry for these asparagus pickers working in the mud


The bike way ran beside the main road as we headed into Duisberg and after about 15kms we crossed the Ruhr. From then on the bikeway to the city centre ran beside it














What a vibrant feel to this place. It's so BUSY. The city centre has wide pedestrian boulevards ,art everywhere! The old waterfront I especially liked as they've kept all the old cranes . Like monsters from my past !





The council offices are called the Rathaus. I think we should call our council offices that also 😜





We've found tourist information offices hard to find in Germany so far and not a lot of help to us anyway . This one was different. Easy to find and so helpful. To plan our way ahead we need good information


Hay bale art ! I think this farmer might have just tied the knot
Now I like this. Free range chicken farm. It's on a trailer and can be moved to fresh paddocks . The sign for egg sales is on one side , solar panels on the other to run the egg conveyer .


We were heading for Düsseldorf but it started spitting so the boss pulled the pin.(kiwi for, my wife said stop)
This is what my iPhone gps shows me. The blue arrow is us, I touch where I'm going, and it tells me how far by bike. If I touch the bike it will show the way and talk to me as I go ,explaining the way

Thunder and lightening

I can't leave Munster without mentioning the old Rathaus (council chambers ).
Built in 1320, it was the site of the signing of the peace of Westphalia ,1648. This was the first ever negotiated peace agreement in Europe. War had been ongoing for 30 years so this was hugely significant .
And THEN .The allies dropped a bomb on it in 1948 ! KAPUT
The town rebuilt it exactly as it was. Luckily the artifacts inside had been stored for safekeeping .
Now, let's get on the road while it's fine .





Germany must have heard about the Waikato win over Wales 🤔


At Haltern Am See we had to stop for an hour for a thunderstorm to pass. Good chance for coffee .This was over the road out of town.


Erdbeeren stop (strawberries) it's also asparagus season and I had a lovely pizza last night covered with them





This time we were luckily in another village when it Bucketed down
The last 24kms into Dorsten were along an old railway line


The riding was great until I followed my gps map and the road ran out


Oops. Back up for 3 then try again.
After a Turkish lunch in Dorsten we thought we'd try for a hotel 6 kms along the road. It was a messy day and we were probably lucky to get 60kms behind us.
Anyway , it's a nice pub and the forecast looks ok for tomorrow

Munster

Brand new! BnB hotel chain, very nice for $100 NZ
The forecast is for thunderstorms today. Charming ! We spent the day sheltering in bus stops and sprinting for the next town


We found ourselves on a road with no bike path , wet, and a lot of trucks. Thankfully it ended at Langerich and was smooth going after that.


I missed the hat he was reaching for





We've been continually catching up with the pilgrims route but seldom stick to it because it's usually through bush and on walking tracks. Even the bike route we have to check regularly, in case it drags us off to see some brick toilet or something. The blue scallop shell on the table shows it's a pilgrims rest stop


After Ladbergen we tried following the shipping canal into Munster.
Too wet! We found a bike route heading our way instead. Coffee at Geven


Munster !! Got here without getting too wet. What a beautiful old city.


A bike bell shop





The flowers and candles are for the people of Orlando. This is after all ,known as the peace city


Shorter than the average car is wide. How's this for easy parking..


Leaving the city now to find our air BnB . I was pretending yesterday to hook on a caravan . This girl sleeps in hers


I got the instructions to tonight's air BnB online ,Trouble is my battery went flat and so I had to rely on the neighbors to find
the address


"Welcome welcome , my name's Amy , you're in room one