My Blogger for biking from Nesselwang (Germany) to Diss (England)

.

Mittwoch, 15. August 2012

Day 10: Düsseldorf - Kleve

Argg, I can not sleep long enough. Before seven it was today. Went downstairs and had a lot of breakfast. After packing and loading my bike I was of searching for a bank. Sky was grey and the sun was hidden behind clouds so it was just about the right temperature. Found the bank (no problem with my GPS) with a hugh building site in front of it. Ergo, bank is closed. Luckily they had put up a temporary banking shelter where I could get some money. Then navigating through Düsseldorf which was a challenge again. Crossed one of the many bridges and biked towards Duisburg. Most people here seem really unfriendly. I was biking along a bike path and another biker came the opposite way. He motioned, a bit to late for me, to get aside but as I was on the right (correct) side I stayed and he had to evade. He called me a few names I shouldn't mention.
South of Duisburg the air started smelling a bit funny and I found out later that that specific area is the chemical industrie of Duisburg. Then through Duisburg where I at one point had a whole bridge completly for me, because of a fare blocking the road for cars on one end. 
After that through nice landscape area. All flat and you could see some smog here and there on the horizon but otherwise a lot more natural than the towns. For one there were fields again. At one point I biked on an interesting track. It was kind of mudy but not so mudy as that you would get stuck. My weels picked up all the mud thought and I did slipp at one point, getting out of my clickies fast enough. At the end of the track my weels weren't oval like usual anymore but square, due to mud. So much you couldn't see the profil of the wheel anymore. Bombarded the next biker in front of me with mud until my weels where clean again.
Then towards Xanten, at some point passing the 1000km mark. Reached Xanten with no water and bought myself a litre of Sprite from the local supermarket. Drank it in record time and then went to have some lunch on their big market place. Had a chat with Dad at some point as I had good internet and he was online. 
After lunch it was biking again and the sun had come out. The country was heated up to 30 degrees celcius and Xanten has got two lakes which looked wonderfull to swim in. But no swimmstuff plus nothing to dry with ment I was cariing on. At one point I got lost because, once again, a building site had sprung up on my track. They were repairing a section of the Deich (some Dutch company, guess they are the experts) and to get back on I had to take a tour around a city. Ended up standing at the end of a long old garden centre. Biked past old greenhouses, rusty tractors just to turn around again as the road on the map didn't existe. Reaching the Deich I cycled with a guy for a short time talking about how nice Allgäu is compared to this industrial are. He also told me why the air smelled funny in south Duisbug.  Biking between 20-30km talking is not easy, but luckily we had a backwind contantly all day. Said goodby and then the long roads started. Seeing 7km ahead is not likable, especially if your bum hurts. After seven kilometres it was round a corner, and you see the next 5km in front. These were also in no good condition but bouncing around keeps you awake. 
Reached Kleve after two of those long stretches and whoever said it is flat here is lying. The Rhein was just under 20m above sea level. The yout hostel is just about by 100m. Up the hill and then finally a shower with some dinner later (lots of fried patatos).

Track at GPSies and pictures at Picasa.


Time in saddle: 6 hours 15 min.
Distance:  126,7 km
Daily average speed: 19,9 km/h


Total time in saddle: 61 hours
Total distnce: 1061 km
Average speed: 

Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen