Visiting friends
I left the national park feeling great, having had the rest day and two easier cycling days before that. Legs were great and spirits were high, especially as I was headed to Wuppertal to visit friends.
The ride started off gorgeous, not surprisingly.
But, as expected, it gave a taste of what‘s to come, transitioning from forest to agricultural land…
…to this suburban agro-industrial wasteland:
I followed the wasteland into Cologne, which I was advised to visit but definitely not to spend the night there. I understood. Cologne is famous for its church and for its Carnival party. I can definitely check off the church, pictured above. Carnival I‘m gonna have to come back for, sometime when corona is no longer ruling the world.
From Cologne, it was more suburban delight basically all the way to Wuppertal, another one-hit-wonder city. Wuppertal is home to the Schwebebahn, or hanging trains. Cool. I‘ve been now twice and still haven‘t ridden one. I‘m sure I‘m missing out.
Here, like in Stuttgart, I got to meet a new kid. Also adorable, though unfortunately no photos to share.
Heading east
From Wuppertal, my route to a pretty definitive turn to the east, which is my primary direction now. I‘m on the home stretch. Which is exciting on the one hand, as it‘ll be nice to be back in Berlin, but also kinda sad on the other hand, because I feel like I could just keep going. I also don‘t have much in the way of spectacular scenery or major cities ahead of me, though I have a feeling these low expectations will set me up for some pleasant surprises. Not that my expectations are low, it‘s more that I‘m expecting a ton of agricultural land mixed in with some forest, which is the standard fare in and around Berlin. Could be much worse, but definitely doesn‘t really compare to the mountains in Bavaria, for example.
Being me, I have planned a blitz through the flat, ag land, and will be riding I think six days in a row, covering about 700km. I am dumb. But let‘s see how the legs feel. Worst case scenario, I just soft pedal for seven hours a day until I can collapse in my own bed in Berlin.