It was sad to say goodbye to the Boos family who were so kind. They gave instructions for getting out of town, but we were still perplexed as we got to the edge of town and couldn't find the bikeway that we could confidently feel would take us south. Anyway, after some detective work and a few hunches, we headed off at least in the direction of the great Rhine River.
It may seem funny to say, but we tracked with the river all day, but only actually saw it for about 1 kilometre! The bikeway was excellent, riding out through dense forest broken by vast open green spaces. The countryside was more like New England in parts, just spectacular and green. However, this gave way to vast flat open fields where farmers were hard at work. The farms were rich in good soil and productive crops including vast corn fields, potatoes and cabbage or possibly silver beet.
We were stopping a great deal for photos, so the 'miles' were passing very slowly. From the signs along the pathway, we worked out that todays ride to Speyer would only be about 55k at most, so we were not in a hurry.
At the 25k mark it was already late morning so for the first time on this trip, we stopped in a park rotunda that was miles away from nowhere on a long trail that ran through some very dense forest. We put the stove on for the first time, and in no time the milk (milche in German) was boiling and we enjoyed coffee au lait (thats french for milk) which oddly enough appears this way at German cafes. We ate the rest of our cheese, shared a banana and munched on some peanut M&M's and called it lunch.
We were heading for Ludwigshafen which was about half way to Speyer, although the bikeway passed it without us actually really seeing it. We seemed to pass through the outer suburbs, so it was a sizable town. When the path passes through towns, it takes on all possibilities - sometimes separate bike path, sometimes footpath, sometimes roads with cars. It is mostly well signed, but not always, and even today we had times of frustration and guesswork about where the path went.
The weather was great today, started quite cool but warmed up although we seemed to be putting the jackets on and off all day. There was only a short section between the vast farming areas where we came alongside the Rhine, but only for about 1k. The sight was glorious though, and added to when we timed it with a large barge that came past just as we stopped to take some photos.
Once through Luswigshafen, we were feeling the day and were keen to get to Speyer. The path was a great run that gave us great views of the skylines of a number of lovely country towns. The church spires stood out across the fields reminding us we were in a very historic part of Germany.
As Speyer was getting closer, we began looking for clues as to how to find our camping ground. From the map we had, it didnt show street names, but we could work out when we were getting close. We passed numerous other camping grounds during the afternoon, but ours was actually in Speyer itself.
Finally at about 60k we found the main street we were looking for, turned up and then found the road with the same address as the camp ground. It was down a long road that ran into a lake formed by the backwater of the Rhine. However, when we came to the entry, what we found resembled a caravan cemetery or perhaps a quarry with a few old vans. There was no sign of life, and in fact it looked like it had ceased to exist a long time before. It was very disappointing. We were several kilometrs short of the centre of Speyer, but felt we had no choice but to keep riding and see if we could find the Tourist Information office in Speyer.
We discovered an ancient hidden treasure in Speyer! We couldn't believe our eyes. This city at the heart was beautiful and very German. The streets were so cobbled, that we couldn't ride the bikes on them. We walked. The closer we got to the city centre, the more culturally beautiful it became.
However, we delighted in Speyer. It was a photographic paradise. The 'Dom' was even more massive than the Dom of St Peter in Worms. The open cobbled plaza in the centre of town was alive with people and surrounded by ancient buildings all adorned with pretty window boxes filled with flowers. We enjoyed coffee in the plaza, before negotiating our way up river to the beautiful little town of Mechtersheim, where we were booked at the Losch Hotel Pfaizerhof. It was actually a hard ride to end the day, but we made it, celebrating with an Ox meat and potato and plum dinner for Julie, and a pork steak with grape and onion for me, taken in the 'biergarten'.
Today the countryside was varied and beautiful. The mess-up with the camping ground could have been a major difficulty, except that we scored the last room not in the town but in the region. Cyclists after us came to town, and we could see their faces when told there was now nowhere to stay.
The daily verse that Julie received this morning on her phone by SMS was proven for us today "In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to his purpose". Romans 8:28. We sleep tonight being grateful of His constant watch over our lives.
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