We have tried to make the best of a frustrating situation. To recap, we rode to the bike shop in Limburg our first morning in Germany (2 weeks ago) with the plan that our tandem would be ready within a few days. Well, we have now spent a week at Georg and Cora’s farm, plus a week+ in Limburg and Diez. The irony is that all, but one part, arrived within the first week. Tomorrow should be the day that we have been waiting for, as the shipper has promised that tomorrow will be the delivery day of the missing part.. We had the same promise last week - we’ll see…. It has been tempting to just head out and have the part shipped to us. Missing this one part is like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle with missing parts. The job on our bike cannot be done unless all parts are here.
To save money and to have a change of scene, we moved from Limburg to Diez and that was a good decision. Our six nights at Hotel Wilhelm von Nassau in Diez have been good, yet we are both beginning to feel trapped. We are thinking that we will head out today, whether or not the part arrives. We can only wait so long…the clock is ticking….if we break down we’ll just have to cope.
The staff at Wilhelm Von Nassau are fabulous. One of the guests is celebrating her birthday which triggered a member of staff to serenade her with an accordion. Of course, everyone in the breakfast room joined in.
Leaving a bike behind for 5 years has naturally resulted in some issues that have required the attention of a mechanic. The obvious ones we have already talked about, but there is also a problem with the new (larger range) battery which we had bought for our e-motor and has been waiting for us in Germany for 5 years. The connector needs to be changed on the motor to make it compatible with the battery. Our problem is that we can’t find a mechanic in Limburg who is able to do it. A bit of history: In preparation for the trip we had planned to do pre Covid, we had organized for Seavo to be transported by Soeten’s (Dutch bike delivery service) to Lisbon and our plan was to ride back to Germany… As well, we had booked the services of a mechanic in Lisbon to do the necessary work on our tandem and to solder new connectors to make the battery and motor compatible. Well, as the expression goes, “the best laid plans…” So, into the breach has come our friend Georg, ready to rescue us from this conundrum of what to do with our new battery. Georg is a passionate short wave operator with the electrical skills to do the soldering work we needed. We are so grateful to him for his willingness to help and his expertise.
In order to help us, he has ridden his bike 25 km from his farm to our hotel. Wow, what a good friend he is.
We most often eat dinner in when travelling, but tonight we are treating ourselves to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. The older Italian couple who own and run it, offer great service and very good food. We had a great evening and shared 2 pizzas as well as some Italian red wine.
When Barry went up to the counter to pay the bill, the owner asked him where we are from. When the older gentleman found out that we are from Canada he began singing in Italian a song about Canada, “Casetta in Canada”….both unexpected and charming. A fitting end to a lovely evening.
