Day 18 - Speyer Germany - 93 kms All soaked through !

It was our 7th consecutive day of cycling and the grind was beginning to show on H !

At breakfast it took him 3 attempts to blow out out a small candle on our table - not a good sign ! 1 km into our ride he came to a stop on the cycle path wondering why a line of cars were not proceeding until I explained to him that the cars were waiting for the ferry (on the other side of the Rhine) and that the river some 10 metres away was a pretty good impediment to their movement .... definitely not a good sign !

I had looked at the map prior to the days ride and noted that our path was unpaved - this in fact translated to a combination of bone shaking pavers, narrow dirt paths and 10 kms of full on mud roads complete with rain filled potholes !

H`s 4 wheel pannier drive, bald tyres and fearless riding (he had forgotten to put his glasses on ) triumphed over my rear wheel drive avanti as we both slithered and slipped our way along not able to check the Rhine river scenery for fear of losing control !

With drizzle continuing we took a cuppa at Macca`s on the outskirts of Worms. Now rejuvenated we were back on the bikes just in time to catch a heavy downpour that lasted all the way to Ludwigshafen some 30 kms later leaving us cold and soaked all the way through !

Leaving Ludwigshafen H made an unfortunate comment`wouldn`t it be funny if our last 20 km were in the mud ... damned if we turned the corner and there the mud was (why couldn't he have wished for 7 vestal virgins !)

Needing to get a couple of 90 km days on the board to reach Basle by Sunday we pushed on to Speyer a beautiful cathedral town and one of the oldest in Germany arriving in time for yet another downpour !

Eventually securing a hotel H showed his great grab of their German language asking if the hotel had a drying room - the receptionist went away eventually returning with two small hand towels to dry ourselves - close !

Operation clean up quickly sprung into action with freshly washed and drying clothes soon dominating the bedroom !

Dinner was in the hotels beaut winner cellar restaurant with the menu interestingly having horse as a main dish - not when you have seen some of the hacks I have !

The forecast is for rain clearing but we wont be in any rush leave !