This again?: Across Germany

July 31, 2013 to August 2, 2013

I'm going to merge a few days together here to save everyone a lot of time and space. Basically, I went back to Germany and headed north-east to Hamburg.

I've cycled this way before and in a nutshell, its very flat and full of farmland and all the roads have bike lanes next to them, so its very easy and boring cycling:

It mostly looked like this (except I didn't have a camera strap in my right field of vision)

By far and away the most interesting thing that happened was when I was cycling along on one if these bicycle lanes and I saw a blue parakeet digging at the dirt by the side of it. Now I don't know about you, but I didn't realise that blue parakeets were native to northern Germany. In fact, I don't think that they are. So I was concerned about this little fella.

I considered taking him with me. I had great visions of cycling the world with this blue parrot on my handlebars. It would fly alongside me and when it got tired it could rest on my head and just ride along with me. I would call it Daniel and we'd forget all about that real human Daniel because I'd have myself a bird friend instead. But I didn't know how to get the bird to come with me without bribing it with food, and I didn't want our friendship to be based on bribery. Also, I was heading north, and Mr Parakeet wouldn't appreciate that when the first nip of autumn hit. I wondered what would be best, and briefly considered calling some animal rescue agency, but I didn't know the number, or have a phone, and Mr Parakeet probably wouldn't have thanked me for sending him back to a cage after he probably spent the last four years planning a dramatic escape from the last one. So I left him to his freedom and with this sage advice "Fly south Mr Parakeet, fly south"

Now here's a ship to carry me across the oceans! But where is the parrot for my shoulder?!

On Friday I decided to make it to Hamburg or be damned and so I cycled 176km in one day to make it. I arrived in Wilhelmsburg, a rough looking Hamburg neighbourhood if ever there was one, with graffiti and shady looking characters everywhere. And I'll pass you back over to the movie analogy to pick up the story:

Gosling is cycling down by the docks through the beat characters of this shady neighbourhood amongst the dusk shadows. He is all muscle and sweat and afraid of no one. A train rumbles by overhead, coming across the bridge from the city. Across the water is all cranes and concrete, and beyond them the spires of Hamburg cathedrals silhoutted against the last embers of twilight. As he rides through the darkness he sees a young woman sat on the grass next to the path. He recognises her eyes through the shadows. "KARIN!" he cries. The woman, Fox, stands, and throws her arms around him and they embrace in the night.

31/07/13 - 91km (20km in Germany)

01/08/13 - 121km

02/08/13 - 176km

Today's ride: 317 km (197 miles)
Total: 1,584 km (984 miles)

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