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| Date | Starting Place | Ending Place | Author | Last Update |
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| 05-19-17 |
Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
Monschau, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
ray | 08-16-17 19:16:52 |
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I wanted to get out early as I knew it would be a hilly day and the forecast called for rain at 2pm. I ate as much as I could at breakfast, bought some rolls, and packed up. It took a bit of effort to get my bike and gear into the elevator. I was out the door by 9am. As soon as I left, it started raining (so much for the weather prediction!). I was wearing full rain gear before I was out of Aachen's downtown. It took me awhile to navigate through the city. The rain didn't help with seeing or being seen. The Vennbahn, one of Europe's longest rail to trail conversions, starts in Aachen. But, I wanted to ride through the Hurtgen (usually called the Eifel) Forest, the site of fierce fighting in World War II. It took me close to an hour to finally get past the outskirts of Aachen. Once out of Aachen, I was in the countryside  going a bit uphill on narrow roads with little traffic.  Eventually, I found a bike path through the woods.  The dirt was slick and I had to be careful, especially near the streams.  I would spend the entire day alternating between paved roads and bike paths. While the rain limited the vistas, it did provide some nice effects.  Damp pavement and wet brakes added to my anxiety when there is no safe spot on the road. But, the drivers were courteous and I wasn't worried. In the village of Zweifall, I saw the only piece of WW II history on the side of a house.  In that same village, I saw this stream running right through people's backyards.  Just past Zweifall, I found this bike path  along the Hasselbach river.  I rode through farmland on a dirt path  trying to imagine what war in such a place would be like.   I was now by myself in the forest riding uphill in the rain.  On the tops, it was too misty to see very far. On a sunny day, it would have been worth it. But on a rainy day with limited visibility, it was a real bother. I stopped at a covered bus stop to eat some food and get out of the rain. I took this selfie to send to my wife, which sums up my mood.  At one high point, I got some sense of the forest, though another round of rain soon came in and clouded this view, as well.  One goal I had for today was to ride over the Rur Dam and along its long, wide reservoir. To do so, I planned a long, hilly detour. When I got to the turn off, I could barely see 100 feet and I decided that today wasn't the day to ride an extra 20 hard miles to see clouds. So, I kept going straight toward my night's destination, about 15 wet miles ahead. I was now simply riding to get where I was going and out of the rain. I rode on a bike path/sidewalk on a major road just to get through the day's distance.  At one point, my phone was down to 5% battery and I needed it to get to my hotel. So, I stopped at a motorcycle shop and was allowed to use an external plug to charge it up. I stood around shivering for about 20 minutes, snacking and waiting. I rode through Simmerath and saw this old-style building by the side of the road.  As I approached Monschau, I turned off on an uphill sideroad  as my night's lodging was in Mützenich. I arrived at the Gästhaus, checked-in, cleaned up and then discovered my host in Luxembourg City (host in 2 days) had to cancel my stay there. He arranged for me to stay elsewhere but it is far to the east of Luxembourg City, though on the way to my next host. I spent a fair amount of time trying to contact my "new" host (who I'd contacted when I was still home planning this route). All I could do is wait to hear back. Since I was planning on spending a rest day in Luxembourg City, I needed to rearrange my schedule if I was not going there. Assuming I can arrange all the bits, I'm currently thinking of skipping the rest day and, instead, spending an extra day in Baden-Baden. Dinner was at the restaurant and was an uninteresting Vegetable strudel. This is the first time in more than 10 years of bicycle touring that I have ridden and entire day's route in the rain! |
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