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Published: July 22nd 2023
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Bambi
We've seen a few enclosures with deers. Doesn't look to be commercial numbers, maybe it's the meat locker? We left Erkelenz by 8am, our earliest time on the road yet. The air was still quite cool. We warmed up slowly, in fact the whole ride was done at quite a leisurely pace. Today we have 56kms to travel to Cologne where we'll spend a rest day on Sunday.
The first 15kms of the ride was in pure farmland. Corn, wheat and other crops I couldn't identify. For the next 25kms we were in country areas on very quite roads, still with the odd ploughed paddock. We stopped at 10am for our morning break with only 25kms left for the day. It wasn't until the last 10kms of the ride that we were on the main road into Cologne, despite which, we still had good bike paths all the way into the old part of town.
We are staying at the Mauritius Hotel and Therme (wellness centre). It has a swimming pool, sauna and gym we can use and also spa and massage facilities you can purchase. We're both booking in for a massage. After over 1300kms our bodies deserve it.
We got to Cologne just after 12pm and went straight to the hotel. Check-in was from
Windmill in Germany
This just looked out of place in Germany 3pm but everywhere else has let us in early. But German efficiency doesn't work like that. I was politely told we could store our luggage (which we did) but not check-in until 3pm.
We grabbed a bite to eat for lunch in a park before heading off on our own, planning to meet back at the hotel at 3pm. I love being a tourist in a town that has an "old part", which is just about every major town in Europe. I headed down to the Rhine to get my first look at the mighty river. It was substantially wider than I was expecting and there was quite a crowd out and about. I had just gotten to the massive Koln Cathedral when I got a call from Jeff letting me know he'd lost his wallet some time over the course of the morning.
We met up back at the hotel. Jeff cancelled all of his cards and notified his bank, not much more he could do. We checked in (at 2:50pm - a win for me) and unpacked. Jeff then took care of a few more formalities while I went site seeing.
I took a route
to the south of town, a lesser travelled road I think, to look at parts of the old Roman wall that formed part of this fortified city. I also found the South Gate and a number of fortifications and churches. I'm not sure what the record is for churches per square meter but Cologne must be right up there.
For dinner we wandered around the old part of town looking for somewhere to eat. Eating is a very distant second to drinking here. I asked to look at the menu at one place and got given a drinks menu. In the end we grabbed our first pizza of the trip. It's not German food but you wouldn't know that by the number of Pizza places here.
We get to sleep in a bit tomorrow before we explore the city some more which I'm keen to do, as well as get a massage and check out the swimming pool and sauna. Hmm, maybe we need 2 rest days in Cologne?
Distance travelled today: 60kms
Distance travelled so far: 1281kms
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Mike1234
Michael Carra
Lost or stolen
I suppose it really doesn't matter which way you loose your wallet, it's gone and what a hassle. Tighten up security and safe travels. Photos look great. Ciao Mick