I forgot to mention the best quote of yesterday morning. During the morning rain and hills Viki declared “Andrew. I’ve considered the options. And I’ve decided to strike.” Fortunately the strike was denied and we continued on.
Lucky for me, today was a breeze. Check out the elevation profile from Strava. It was gently downhill and we had a tailwind all day. Normally we average around 16km/h. Today was over 20km/h.
At 20km we stopped at Lidl for milk – our new daily indulgence. Around 50km we stopped at a bakery – the fifth that we had checked. For some reason the small town German bakeries we’ve seen aren’t any good. Limited pastry selection, coffee from a machine, and high prices. Hopefully we’ll be able to find apple strudel and Black Forest cake on our next segment through Germany. We passed through Rust, home to EuropaPark – a theme park that seemed relatively lifeless, probably due to covid.
Around 90km we went through the border town of Kehl – more bustling and with better bakeries, but we were on a mission to get to the Strasbourg cathedral, where we planned to lunch. There was no indication of crossing the border. No flags, no checkpoints, no guards. Just a bridge across the Rhine and a language change on the store signs.
The Strasbourg cathedral is incredible – huge and intricately carved all over. I was blown away. We found a bench to sit at beside the cathedral and had our lunch – a dark grain bread with nice cured meat and two German cheeses.
We continued on 30km through France, entirely on a canal. We stopped, satisfied with the day’s accomplishment. We’ve now set up camp by the canal, eaten our dinner of instant mashed potatoes with pesto, salami, and a tomato, and had a mad panic race to action, sprinting to the tent while cooking dinner as a dark and ominous cloud swept over us and threw the sky into a violent, rainy thunderstorm.
It’s now 8:30pm and we’re expecting an excellent night’s sleep. There’s a cold snap expected to hit for the next 3 nights, with highs of 12C and lows of 6C. Our sleeping bags are rated for 11C (comfort) and 7C (limit), so we’re not looking forward to the colder temperatures.
