Still relatively fit behind Leverkusen

I had to think of Marcel Wüst today. “Do you really believe that after a difficult mountain stage of the Tour de France, we could be back on the next day as if nothing had happened?”, asked me the former German road bicycle racer at the end of the 1990s. “Actually, we urgently need a rest day. But we do not get that. So we have to help ourselves, according to the motto: Permitted is what is not on the doping list.” Today I felt like after a mountain stage. Yesterday’s ride with 186 kilometers was still working hard in me. My legs were heavy, I tortured myself with my folding bike further down the Rhine.

Little headwind

Port entrance in Duisburg

During the first ten kilometers – according to my experience, they are the most difficult of the day, because the body has to come to life – my wife accompanied me. This distracted me and I was not listening to my body talk. Behind Leverkusen, however, I cycled alone, on the left side of the Rhine. It was cool, but dry. I felt very quickly that I would never and ever on this ninth day of my donation bike ride “School up! River down!” get into the same “flow”, which had carried me the day before from Bingen to Cologne. The low point came somewhere between the towns of Neuss and Duisburg. The wind was rather a breeze compared to what I had experienced last week in the south-west of Germany, but it came just from the front and slowed me down. I had little reserves to keep it.

Coffee and grain

Power station behind Duisburg

So I was almost happy to reach the industrial plants of Krefeld and later Duisburg, which blocked the wind. In Alt-Homberg, a suburb of Duisburg, I decided to strengthen myself in a bakery with a cup of coffee. Caffeine is no longer on the doping list. While the machine was brewing the coffee, the saleswoman told me about a bicycle tour she had made with her Dutch bike from Frankfurt to Duisburg many years ago. “In the Taunus I ruined my knee,” she said. “It took almost half a year before I was free of pain again. I would have better taken the route along the Rhine.” I didn’t tell her that after nine days of cycling along the Rhine my legs felt like a soft currant bun. Instead, I bought two grain bars.

Not finished room

Sheep herd shortly ahead of Ossenberg

Was it the coffee or were it the bars or the combination of both? Howsoever, the last section of this bike day was a little easier. However, this time I had some difficulties finding a bed for the night. “The next trade fair in Düsseldorf is just around the corner, we are fully booked with business people” explained a hotel employee in Rheinberg, some 20 kilometers behind Duisburg. On the next call I got a refusal too, on the same grounds. However, only first. A few minutes later the hotelier from Rheinberg-Ossenberg called me back. He had a room which was just being renovated but not yet finished, he said: “A bed is there, a sofa and the bathroom is functional. Do you want this room at a special price?” What a question! Of course, after 117 hard kilometers from Cologne to Ossenberg. Afterwards, I allowed myself what is also not on the doping list: a „Robber Spit“ with 300 grams of meat, a huge portion of fried potatoes and a beer.

Between Bingen and Koblenz

Is there a better flow than one that you experience at a river? After this day I can hardly imagine it. Everything fitted together. The weather remained dry until the late afternoon, the cycle paths from Bingen via Koblenz into the direction of Cologne were in good condition, and my little folding bike almost wheeled by itself. On top of that I had an ideal travel companion with Kai from Cologne, who I first met shortly after Bingen.

Short distance

The Lorelei

We drove about the same speed and had a lot of conversation topics. Like that hours were flying and almost as if by itself we made kilometers. I can warmly put to your heart especially the Rhine Gorge between Bingen and Koblenz if you ever want to do a cycling trip. There is a reason that this section with all its castles and the Lorelei belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage.

Length of a stage of the Tour de France

Thunderstorm behind Bonn

In Remagen Kai’s and my way separated. From there on I cycled all by myself. And still I felt quite fresh. At 5 p.m., after 135 kilometers, I reached Bonn. Now the ambition grabbed me. The prospect of meeting my family and sleeping in my own bed freed the last powers. In this last section, however, I had to deal with a lot of water coming from above. Almost in the dark I passed the cathedral of Cologne, 20 minutes later I stood in front of my own door. Out of breath, but happy. The day’s summary: almost twelve hours on the road, 186 kilometers. Some of the stages of the Tour de France aren’t longer than that.

Everything for the children of Thulosirubari

Cologne at nightfall

And I definitely feel that now. After the calorie stores are replenished, I only want to go to bed. On the eighth day of “School up! River down!” I also cracked the 1000-kilometer-mark. As a reminder, every kilometer I drive brings money to the “School up!” fund, with which we finance the reconstruction of the school destroyed by the earthquake in 2015 in the small Nepalese mountain village of Thulosirubari. More than 500 children from the mountain region are already looking forward to finally being able to get out of their provisional corrugated-sheet classrooms. If the flow leaves me, I simply think of these children. And keep rolling.

P.S. If you want to support my donation trip and don’t know exactly how it works, just click here.

I will start at Cologne Cathedral …

Every kilometer counts. On Wednesday, I will set off for my „Power pilgrimage for Nepal“. The starting point of my sponsored hike on the Way of St James is Cologne Cathedral at 8 a.m. MEZ. My aim is to reach Aachen Cathedral, which is about 100 kilometers away, within 36 hours, including an overnight stay halfway. Meanwhile, the donations for each kilometer that I’ll hike have mounted up to seven euros – due to the information I’ve got directly from you. Maybe the sum will be even higher. Of course more sponsors are always welcome, even after I will have got footsore. I am pleased with every cent for our aid project „School up!“ which is aimed to rebuild the school of Thulosirubari in Nepal as soon as possible. The “Ralf and Gerlinde School” in the mountains, 40 kilometers as the crow flies from Kathmandu, had been damaged so badly by the 25 April earthquake that it had to be demolished.

Storm and rain showers

The Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, has wished me “fine weather and above all many sponsors” for my “Power pilgrimage for Nepal”. The latter has already come true, but I’m less optimistic for the former.

… and hopefully finish at Aachen Cathedral

According to the weather forecasts, it will stay dry with a little luck. However, it could be stormy. That is unlikely to change on Thursday, and then, on my second day of hiking, I must expect rain showers too. I’ll inform you via Twitter (have a look at the right side of the blog) where I am and about my physical and mental state while I’m hiking, later probably sneaking or in the end dragging myself. For those who want to read directly on Twitter: My name there is “Springinsfeld”. This character of a mediaval German novel was the pseudonym I used for my first article that I published in a small magazine with a circulation of only 500 copies a few decades ago.

By the way, I already made (for some other reason) a short visit to Aachen Cathedral on Monday. Just at that moment, it began to rain. That was surely a good omen for my “Power pilgrimage for Nepal”, wasn’t it?