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October 5 Thursday sunny Bicycle touring Germany After a quick shower to begin the day, we sat down with Helene for a quiet breakfast. Tony had already left for work of course and the girls had left for school. Helene said the girls were a bit distressed that we weren't up yet so they could give their farewell wishes. They are such sweet little girls. Sherry says she feels a bit stiff. I tell her the day after the first day is the hardest. A bike path running along a canal was close to our hosts' house. At a T-intersection, on the way to the bicycle path, a car careened around a corner and barreled towards us. Sharon swerved her loaded touring bike expertly around the heavily braking vehicle. Sherry jammed on her brakes and skidded. I was following closely behind and had to maneuver my bicycle quickly around both the skidding Sherry and the skidding vehicle. Certainly gets the old heart pumping in the morning. The canal route bike path was being repaved. We had to suffer mucky mud in places. Sherry was glad she had her mountain bike. I tried cycling around the worse places by riding on the grass. We cycled by a beautiful rose garden. It was a place that sold rose bushes and they had every colour and style of rose bush I could imagine. All the colours made a great contrast to the muddy path we had been staring at. The leaves on the deciduous trees are beginning to change. We are cycling past red and yellow leaves lining the bicycle route. Eichmuhle, Germany, is where we are spending the night with our hosts Reinhard and Achim. We're not right in town; we're in the country about a kilometre from the little town. Reinhard bought the house from a group he used to live with in a commune with eight others. But, eventually, they each got married and moved away. The huge farmhouse is over 250 years old. It is fantastic. We marveled that the farmhouse was significantly older than our country. The rooms are being remodeled and the farmhouse is in good shape. A little cool for us though as it is only heated with tiny wood stoves in each room. Reinhard showed us a stable area. With all its partitioned stalls, it looks like what I imagined Noah's Ark might have. For supper, we had fresh farm cheese from a friend down the road, bread, fresh eggs from some chickens that wander freely out back of the farmhouse, and tea. There is a pub on the road in front of the farmhouse. We had a long conversation with Reinhard. He used to start alternate kindergarten schools. When we first got there, we asked if he spoke English. (Helene had phoned for us this morning in case he didn't.) Modestly, Reinhard told us he spoke a little English. As our conversation progressed, it became evident that he possessed more than just a subtle grasp of the English language. At one point he paused, pondering for a word that for the moment had eluded him. Not to be beaten, he consulted his dictionary. Once he found the word he was looking for, he exclaimed, "Ah, 'rootlessness,' of course." While Achim and Reinhard went for a beer at the pub next door (very handy, indeed), we hit the hay, snuggling deep into our sleeping bags. Nothing like a day of cycling to make one too tired to go for a beer. |
