August 13, 2015
To Holzminden
The Pension Sweinberger was a real gem. Only 40E a night with breakfast, we had a comfortable room on the ground floor and the breakfast this morning was great with the perfect German soft boiled egg, tomatoes and cucumbers picked directly from the garden and homemade jam also made from fruit from the garden. However the best thing about the place was Ericka. She had a photo of her father on the wall outside the house and he had been born there. Her mother had run the business before her and Ericka had been born there. Ericka had followed on the tradition and her years there since a baby certainly mean that she knows exactly the best way to run such place. To us she appeared a very contented person to whom her relationships with others were the most important thing. She certainly was very kind to us in our hour of need. Thank you Ericka.
This morning I felt that I had once again joined the human race. We set off around 8am in what initially were reasonable temperatures not knowing how far we would get but being prepared to stop. Much to my surprise and even more Ken's I was riding fairly strongly much better than I had at any other time on the trip. The radweg is very easy, it runs beside the river and passes through quite varied countryside. At first the valley was quite narrow with heaviy forsted hills on either side. In Bad Karlshafen we came upon a bike shop so the mechanic was able to adjust my front brakes that had been grabbing a little. Coming out of here Ken saw a man with an old Holder tractor, Ken has a Holder but this was a model that he hasn't seen before so he had a happy time talking tractors while I slowly trundled on. Then on to Beverungen on a lovely shady path beside the river this was really the place where I had imagined we would get to today but through we went and shortly after
at the tiny village of Blankenau we found a little bakery for coffee. They had only brot and brotchen, no pastries left at all but the coffee was good. It was interesting talking to the lady in the shop who told us how difficult running a small bakery is becoming with the big supermarkets beginning to corner the market. It all seems very sad to me as bakeries are such a feature of the country, a feature that we love and feel lucky to enjoy, I wonder just how much longer they will be around. And they smell absolutely delicious.
After that it was on to Hoxter which is a fairly large town the place Ken had hoped we would get to. Then the steep hills and forests seem to have disappeared and we were passing through agricultural country, it was here that Ken saw what he had been hoping to see all trip a farmer actually working in the fields - he was baling straw. It was pretty hot by now and we thought we had probably missed all shady lunch places but just before we got here to our ultimate destination, Holzminden we found a seat in the shade where we sat and ate our brotchen, cheese and peaches as we watched the other means of transport along the Wesser, canoes went by and we saw 2. people drifting lazily down the river in an inflatable - it looked a very peaceful and relaxing way to travel to me.
Holzminden is an old town established around 1200- it was destroyed in the thirty years war but gained new impetus in the18th century with the foundation of steel works, today it is still is a place with industrial sites. In the centre of the town is the historic market place with plane trees enclosing it and pedestrian streets radiating from it. It was here that after finding a nearby hotel and checking in we returned to sit amongst the trees and have a cold beer. We will return there this evening for dinner.
All and all a very good day - Ken says it is a miracle
Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 362 km (225 miles)
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