Our first delay was an overnight slow leak puncture on the Avanti causing a tube replacement and a repack of the bike.
Our 2nd was being accosted by a friendly local rattling off words while we smiled, nodded and threw in a few of our own. After the local left we both turned to each other and said simultaneously that we didn't understand a single word - `just like you and me H said I `!
The 3rd embarrassingly was trying to find our way back on to the bike path which we could actually see across the road and the railway line next to the river.
We'd remembered using an underground crossing not far from our hotel to get over the night before but despite riding up and down the road numerous times in the small village we simply could not find it !
On the verge of giving up we looked back at our hotel and saw the entrance less than 10 metres from it !!!
It was just short of midday before we finally hit the road laughingly suggesting we should stop for lunch. The weather though coupled with the beautiful river scenery was too intoxicating to resist so we set about turning the pedals passing many fair weather cyclists (had not seen a single one in the past few days) also with the same idea.
We made it to Trier the oldest city in Germany stopped for lunch and then like most cities we've cycled through struggled to get around it playing a game of snakes and ladders following signs that took us on an incredibly circuitous route.
Finally around Trier disaster struck again when I received a puncture this time in the rear wheel requiring a walk of 2 kms back to the servo we had recently passed.
A repack and a throw away line that we would be in real trouble with another puncture as i had no more spares, we set of riding getting another 15 kms before you guessed it another bloody puncture this time back on the front wheel.
With no more spares we thought we were fortunate that the puncture had occurred right opposite a town on the other side of the river - great we thought until when crossing the bridge we found out the town was having a weekend wine wine festival and they had no accommodation left !
With no other option and the nearest town now 5 kms away, we took to the tiring task of pumping the tyre up as much as we could when i would then pedal like a man possessed before the tyre went down again. We worked out I could achieve1 km this way as well as most likely qualify for the Tour de France at the speeds I was going !
We finally limped into beautiful
Neumagen where H set about finding accommodation while obviously stressed I sought solace from a slab of cheesecake and a drink from one of the nearby shops.
H saved the day getting us into a hotel which soon became a bicycle workshop as we patched all 3 tubes and set about finding the cause of punctures 1 & 3
With some fine detective work by H the culprit was found to be a small sliver of sharp stone caught in the tyres new tread that had worked its way over time through the casing.
We celebrated with a good meal and after walking the town at night took in a bottle of Moselle Augleese Riesling sitting outside on an almost balmy evening reflecting on the days dramas and the fact that rain is forecast yet again ...bugger !!!
What a differece a day makes ! What happened to looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow ? Just keep your heads down and think of England ☔. Well done H the bike course pays off .
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