Day 2: the biking

Started with good vibes, good legs, and no hurry. Figured I had a shorter day, as I was only planning on about 65 km. The route was similar to day 1 in that I was generally headed towards mountains. What‘s amazing about Germany is that there are so many off-street bike paths. Day 2 had a few, but also my first taste of riding on major roads. They were wide, but still…fairly unpleasant, despite all being fantastic asphalt and cutting through massive mountains. Fortunately, as I mentioned, there was also a lot of stuff like this:

And then the final destination, which looked like New Zealand, except land-locked:

Anyway, the first two days of riding have already taught me a likely valuable lesson: this is going to take longer than I think. I get lost fairly often, so I take quite a few 100-200 meter detours. Sometimes in the same place, haha. Oh well. My 65km turned into a little over 80. Luckily, I have nothing else to do!

A second important lesson: Any climbs over 15% better not last too long, because carrying 10kg in baggage makes that kinda stuff even more painful. Although doable, which is also important to know!

And yet another: hanging laundry indoors, outside of the sun and away from moving air, when outdoor humidity is at 87%, means that the laundry will take more time than you have to completely dry.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3873260336

Day 3: Relaxed with a hike

Well…maybe not quite as relaxed as I hoped, at least not in the morning. I needed to be back in town by 17.00 to pick up my bike (story for another day), and the logistics of where I wanted to hike meant planning for nearly 3 hours of transport, thus limiting where I could hike. That said, it was spectacular:

https://www.strava.com/activities/3878328823

I have to say, three days in, this is absolutely fantastic. I have a feeling that the month and the rest of the 2200 km are going to go by far too quickly. Anyway, stay posted!