May 3, 2022
Day 21: Hoexter to Hann. Munden
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Two Adjacent Towns Got Our Goat(s)
No, no, not goats like these, but goats like we were really ticked off. The rot began yesterday as we approached Hoexter. We found our track blocked by construction, and began to cast around for a way through to the altstadt and our hotel. No luck, every way seemed blocked. Finally we stopped another cyclist and asked him. The directions seemed complicated, especially in German, so finslly he said follow me, and took off like a Formula 1 driver. This has happened in the past, when people just do not understand Grampies speed. But time, ha ha, Dodie had the ebike and ramped it up into unaccustomed performance. The man still had to wait a bit, but he did, and finally pointed us on a straightaway into town. This did not end the problems, because the town had dug up and blockaded all sorts of intersections within the altstadt.
We finally did make our way to the hotel, thereby treating ourselves to the black cell like room and no internet that we described yesterday. This morning was the expensive breakfast, which had been highly praised in Booking reviews. were For us the question was whether this was a one jammer (Steve's opinion) or a three jammer, as rated by the gentler Dodie. I say, for Germany, one type of low cost sliced cheese, one type of ham slices, canned fruit salad, etc. earns you a one jammer rating. Of course, had this been at the Holiday Inn in Vancouver, we would have been delighted.
The hotel was right by the radweg, but that did not mean we were easily on our way, because again the town had thoughtfully barricaded most ways we tried. Finally we did but out onto the path by the Weser, and beside our featured goats. This led Dodie to nominate as today's Meaning of Life, being able to get the hell out of of Hoexter.
We have been struggling with an electronic equipment glitch, in that the battery for our Nikon Coolpix S7000, that we rely on for all the blog photos, is mostly kaput. The concept of a "camera store" is mostly unknown in the towns we are passing though. That leaves us looking for Media Markt or Saturn, but these are not at all plentiful. Still Dodie had the idea of dropping in to our next town, Beverungen, just to see it and maybe find a camera store by asking Tourist Information.
The TI was easy to find and in I went, only to be stopped at the door by the TI lady. She needed to check my vaxx passport first, she explained. This was our first encounter with this in Germany, where even mask wearing is very haphazard. OK, I pulled up my passport on my phone, but her scanner did not like it. "Lookit", I said, "You are Tourist Information. I am a Tourist, and I am from Canada. If your scanner does not like a Canadian passport, then deal with it." "Fine, how can I help you", she replied. So score one today for being a bully.
We got directed to an electronics store some 4 km distant, one which I had already spotted on my phone the night before, but which seemed too far off route. But with TI blessing, we set off, on a slightly busy road with no bike path. We got to the shop, and the man explained to me that a Nikon battery like that is a rare object and not much hope of finding one. I rather expected that , and went to plan B. "Can I look then at an entirely new camera?" This resulted in something I also rather expected, as the man explained that cameras themselves basically no longer exist, it's all smartphones now.
So we turned around an began noodling back, using the sidewalk, because of the busy street. The sidewalk, though, contained a lot of people who seemed reluctant to let a bicycle pass - unusal for Germany. So at one point, with the sidewalk too clogged, Dodie made for the other side of the street. She walked her bike across the road and needed to proceed 8 feet in front of the sidewalk there, to where a driveway would allow her onto the sidewalk. Dodie is not particularly up to or in to bumping her heavy bike up onto a sidewalk. But as Dodie made to traverse those ten feet to the driveway, a driver swooped of the road and made to park where we were standing, in so doing blocking access to that driveway.
Dodie stopped and the driver stopped. Dodie motioned to where she had been trying to go. The driver sat there. Dodie put the stand down on her bike, and crossed her arms. It was the driver's wife that headed off this potential international confrontation, convincing the driver to back up 8 feet. Up we went onto the sidewalk, crisis averted. "I'm German too, dammit", said the crabby Dodie.
Back near the TI and almost back on route, we got a small insight into an aspect of German society. There was a line of people in front of what probably was the rathaus of something like it - a nice building it was. I went over and asked what the occasion was. "We are waiting for money", said a lady. A little more probing revealed that the people, who looked like a totally normal cross section of the town folk, were waiting for a welfare payment. "Don't they mail it to you, or deposit direct to your account?", I asked. But apparently not.
Through our travel we have been struck by the apparent wealth all around, all the tidy well maintained buildings, etc. Poor people do not seem to be around, an yes, the ones in this line gave no indication of poverty. Also, even if twenty or thirty people were waiting here, that is a minute proportion of the town population. Of course we have no real facts or statistics on any of this, but it's the first time we have seen anything like this.
.We graefully returned to our path by the river, and really enjoyed just sailing along without people or towns to deal with. We preferred our animal friends:
Before Bad Karlshafen we crossed to the east side of the river. The little ferry was of the type that just uses the flow of the river for power, as it clings to a cable. I seemed to take a bit of skill to guide this thing onto the landing at either side. It cost 3 euros for us both.
On the east side, the river is contained by a high ridge, and we climbed up on this, above Bad Karlshafen.
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The ridge continued for quite some distance, and we found ourselves climbing and descending a lot. Part of this was on gravel track, and I found I needed to be relly careful not to go flying. This was a real test of post-concussion Dodie's balance, and I was relieved to see that she made it through. However she thinks that although she does not remember the downhill Mexico crash, there is something about it in her head, because she totally balked at the steep descents, even if they were paved. For a couple, I went down, came back, and rode her bike, but later she just walked her own bike down.
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2 years ago
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Finally we arrived at real highlight of the trip so far - Hann. Munden (short for Hannoversch), our destination for the day. The town is located at a point where the river splits (or joins, depending if you are looking upriver or down), and the altstadt is kind of on a spit. The place is absolutely spectacular as an old town, featuring 700 half timbered buildings, many over 600 years old.
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Our hotel is right downtown, in a very old building. After yesterday, we much appreciatd the large and airy room, with a view to the church where breakfast will be served. Breakfast in the church? Apparently yes.
After carrying our bags to the room, we went for a Dodie idea, eis for dinner. An eis cafe was just around the corner.Those familiar with this phenomenon in Germany and Austria will recognize the menu style:
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Hey, what does Erika think of Dodie's hands (and it's her nose too, actually). We wrote to our dermatologist in Mill Bay, but he failed to answer.
2 years ago
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With our arrival here in Hann. Munden we have completed the Weser radweg, and the second stage of this tour. We will now hop over to the "Hessian Route" and for several hundred km make our way though truly unknown territory, finally passing Frankfurt and landing at Mainz, ready for yet another stage.
Before we get into that, we will go out and have a closer look at Hann. Munden- tomorrow!
One loose end we thought we'd pick up, is that yesterday we passed the ancestral home of the Munchausen family in the town of Bodenwerder. Baron Münchhausen was born in 1720 and died in 1797. He was an adventurer and storyteller, some of whose tales were the basis for the collection The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. He is always pictured as a swashbuckler, and there was a 1988 movie about his adventures. Outside town we spied this figure:
I am not quite sure if this is the same Baron Munchhausen associated with Munchhausen Syndrome, which is a form of hypocondria, but we think so. Readers with more education or internet could check us on this!
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,235 km (767 miles)
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