We took a while to get ourselves going this morning, knowing also that it wasn’t such a huge day. It was after 9:30am on a cool, overcast day that we stopped at the small reception/kiosk for a departing photo. The camp manager reminded us very much of Sergeant Shultz off ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ on television. He was also the chef for dinner last night. He farewelled us with a great smile and a wave, as we made our way into the village centre of this beautifully restored medieval town of Tubingan.
It seems we say it a lot, but the buildings are simply beautiful, a museum of historic German architecture. The beautiful cobbled roads are also wonderful, but painful to loaded cycle tourists like ourselves. We lost ourselves in this medieval masterpiece, and then found it very difficult to find our way to the bike path out of town.
Eventually we were on our way, but it wasn’t as easy as we anticipated. We were assured the bike path followed the road north, alongside the river, but we firstly confronted massive road works which made us lose the road, and then the path where we ended up seemed to run into nothing but a single muddy track which gave us a bad feeling of things possibly to come.
The track became unbelievable! We have never seen anything as bad as this since the British cycle network which we found impossible to cycle. In this case, we had no option but to persevere, but the path became a muddy two wheeled track and then it became thick bush and barely a single muddy track that would even be spooky for walkers! There were many muddy pools which were very dangerous for our narrow profile wheels/tyres. We did everything we could to just steer the bikes on the narrow bush track, with branches and ferns etc hitting us on both sides.
We stopped for a brief break when an old, tough German came up from behind on a small mountain bike. He was cheerful, and delighted that we had chosen this ‘wonderful path’. He thought it was great, and after a few bright comments he took off and disappeared into the track and brush ahead. The path got so bad, we had to negotiate the bikes on foot through a gully with a creek running through it. Try pushing a loaded touring bike up a muddy slope, but that’s what we had to do.
Fortunately, in a few more kilometers, the track widened and gradually returned to what we have known for the past two weeks. We were approaching the next town, the path bringing us out alongside the main road, when I could see our old tough German riding back in our direction. When he saw us he turned and waited, and then asked us to follow him. He wanted to show us the way ahead because he knew we would be confused.
We were so impressed. He would have been a long way in front when he thought of us, and decided to come back looking for us to show us the way. We would definitely have been lost without his gracious thinking and acting. We couldn’t thank him enough. He then went one direction, as we followed the Neckar to the north.
The next major town half way to Esslingen was Nurlingen. Needless to say, it was another medieval architectural masterpiece. We love taking photos of these beautiful ornate buildings.
We are keen to do the train trip thing again in a few days, when we turn away from the Neckar. We were keen to get to a Tourist Information office, but at both Tubingen and Nurlingen the staff did not have enough command of English to fully explain our needs and be understood. We were hoping to get to Esslingen before 4pm in order to try the Tourist office there. So we had our heads down to turn over the kilometers in efficient time. We made it to Esslingen by 3pm, which was probably our best days riding apart from the muddy track and slow start to the day.
Esslingen finally came in to view after a lovely run along the Neckar river for many kilometers. There were many beautiful sights along the way, which were too attractive to resist.
However, almost nothing we have seen before rivals the beautiful market place of Esslingen. The narrow streets are cobbled, the buildings are each a masterpiece of medieval architecture, and for a Saturday afternoon, Esslingen was thriving with people everywhere.
To our horror, the Information Centre said that our anticipated ‘campingplatz’ did not exist. We couldn’t believe this because we found it on the ‘net’ with its own website and email address etc. However, we took the Information centre’s word, and have ended up in a reasobably priced hotel, a rare one in this town, near the river and just on the edge of the historic city centre.
Just as we were leaving the main market square for our Hotel, several bands were forming up. They took a while to get going, but when they did, they really drew a crowd. This was a great way to end another great day in historic southern Germany. Having showered, we walked the beautiful streets once more, just as dusk was coming over the very pretty Neckar River town of Esslingen.
We couldn’t stop thinking about the old, tough German who decided to turn around and ride back to find us because he was sure we would need his help. We would have been lost without his simple act of kindness. Jesus spoke of the importance of these kinds of simple acts of kindness, in fact he said that these kinds of acts would be the common point of distinction of those who had decided to become his followers. He called it 'give someone your coat as well, if someone asks for your shirt. Or, go the extra mile if you are asked to go the first mile'. It would have been inconvenient for the old German, but in the terms of Jesus, the old German 'went the extra mile'. (Matthew 5:40-41)
Wouldn't it be good if we all lived this way. What a difference it would make. Today, we thanked the Lord for a nameless, fit old German who made a difference to two strangers by his simple act of kindness.
From the Neckar River in the north of the Black Forest, we send our love. Kelvin & Julie.
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