75 km, 380 m vertical, average 17.3 kph, maximum 49.5
The location wasn’t as ideal as I had thought. Beyond the stream runs a pair of railroad tracks, and it’s a main line. Still, hard to complain.
Another chilly gray day. Got up early, lubed the chain, which got pretty wet yesterday. On the road by 8.
If I’m to be counted among the walking wounded – and clearly I am – I need to figure out how to make the most of the situation. I assume my problem is a repetitive stress injury. The stress I can reduce by keeping the gearing low, using the right leg for power. How about the repetitive part?
Well, of course, gearing lower increases the repetitions (but still the right thing to do). Shorter days help. Maybe it would also help to break up the cycling into segments, perhaps by walking through the towns. I can even (what a thought!) coast down the hills.
And I think it helped. My statistics were almost the same as yesterday’s, but it was a lot less painful.
There were a lot of potatoes in Schleswig-Holstein. I think the roots being harvested around here are sugar beets. They’re a lot bigger than potatoes, rather conical. And I saw a sugar factory. Two and two…
The border to Hessen is just outside Friedland. Let’s see, what do I know about Hessen? Only thing I could remember is that Hessian mercenaries fought under George Washington in the American revolution. Today’s route goes through the Hessisches Bergland – though as it turned out, the roads were fairly flat and the mountains looked like those along the Rhein (complete with Schlößer).
My plan for the day was to ride as far as I could, then catch a train. I’m motivated to ride to Bebra if I can, because I’d have to change trains there anyway. We’ll see.
Most of the day was along Bundesstraße 75, a busy highway with a lot of trucks. No separate bike lane, but a nice wide shoulder. Kein Problem!
Bad Sooden and Allendorf lie on opposite sides of the road. A sign proclaimed a historic old town, but didn’t say which one. Based purely on the number of spires visible, I chose Allendorf. Good choice. A busy market, picturesque old town.
Notice the carillon on the Rathaus.
Allendorf was about as sunny as it got today. Turned pretty dark later on, but didn’t rain. Must be living right.
By its name, I knew that Bad Sooden was a spa. As I rode by on the way out, I noticed one of these tall structures, a roof over a high wall of switches, over which water trickles. Having seen such an evaporation column before at Bad Reichenhall, I instantly recognized this one.
Followed a Radweg sign away from the road, along the Werra river. Beautiful, the river, a flat valley, the hillsides rising abruptly right at the edge of the bike path. Too bad I couldn’t spend the whole day right here…
As I came from the path back to the road through a little village, I noticed a real (!) half-timbered building. None of this modern fake stuff, in which even the timbers are only painted onto the stucco.
Stopped at Sontra, a Bäckerei for a couple of nutty confections. Wandered through the town munching. Grocery store: ha we ge. I surmise this may stand for hat Wert gehabt?
Felt so good I even began to imagine riding all the way to Fulda, a distance I had estimated at 110 km or so. The little boy in me thinks we should just ride through pain.
But by Cornburg it was clear that Bebra would be far enough, and just at the outskirts of Bebra, the dull ache turned into real pain. Walked to the Bahnhof, got a ticket. Yesterday, I lifted the bike fully-loaded onto the train. Today, I’m smarter: I dropped off the panniers first. Much easier to schlep the bike and the baggage separately.
Shared a compartment with a border policeman whose stomach growled. Especially when we made a long unexplained stop in the middle of nowhere and I went back to the bike, got some munchies, came back and sat there eating. I had spilled some pretzel sticks on the floor of the baggage area; later on, my conscience got the better of me and I went back and cleaned them up.
Never did find out what the delay was; we ended up being half an hour late on a half-hour trip! I didn’t mind: early afternoon, no commitments, and we had stopped right by a hump. It’s been years since I saw a hump – my U of Nebraska days, as I recall! Great fun to watch the buffers between cars open up, the cars rolling quickly down the grade. Not much noise from retards, though – they’ve made them quieter in the last thirty years, maybe with composition brakes instead of cast iron.
It was about 2:30 when we arrived in Fulda. High-rise apartment buildings across the valley – not a good first impression. Bahnhof square: no TI. What good is that? Went along the Fußgängerzone looking for a TI (or anything else interesting). The town is busy, new, shiny, clean – foof! where’s the history, the charm, the interest? Why did I talk myself into spending the night here? [Well, one reason is that it’s another railroad nucleus.]
Eventually came to the city Schloß, where there was at least, at last, a street map kiosk. The map showed a TI too, right here, but I couldn’t find it. Wandered some more – near the Schloß is the Dom and any number of Palais from the 18th century. Ok, maybe the town isn’t a complete loss. And the kiosk had a restaurant listing that included an Indian place.
Almost ready to just go to the hotel across from the Schloß – probably ok, probably a little on the expensive side, probably not very interesting – when I realized the TI was in the Schloß courtyard. They sure hid it well – even when I finally found it, there was no sign outside. If you didn’t know where it was, tough!
But they gave me a little brochure on the city, and a listing of hotels. Found a quiet place to study and ponder.
The hotel Grüne Au looked like a good combination. Went to have a look – ’twas fine. Reasonably priced, clean and modern. They were outside the city center, but only just, easy walking distance. Exactly the kind of thing you love to find!
A microscopic room, but neat and clean. Toilet down the hall, shower in the room. Out my window, a view of the Dom, a block away (discovered later that they save money by lighting it only the front). A private courtyard where I left the bike, didn’t even bother to lock it. Only objection: no soap. Well, I can probably deal with that.
Did a quick change into street clothes – shower later – and went out to try for some daylight photos.
The old Rathaus
I liked the baby in the stroller, two giant yellow maple leaves clutched in his hand. The treasures we have all around us.
Wandered until the light failed. Got a banana to reduce my fruit deprivation symptoms. Enjoyed the South American Indian street musicians. Looked for the Indian restaurant: out of business. Even stopped in at an Indian clothing store, asked about restaurants. None here. Too bad.
So I started searching for some other kind of interesting restaurant. Nothing Asian to be had, as far as I could tell. Ended up at an Italian place: pasta and a big tomato salad with peppers and onions. Pretty good.
Nothing sehenswürdig (how do you say that in English?) near the river. I assume it used to be flood plain and is today park. Didn’t go to check it out. Back to the hotel, past the floodlit buildings. The night views are as good, maybe better, than the day views.
The Dom
At night, Fulda is a pretty nice place. I take back all the bad things I said about it. And I got to put away my old map and start working from the Süddeutschland one.