Changing Gears

Gommern, Germany 3,865 km

Well, we completed our journey on the North Sea Cycle Route quite a bit earlier than expected, as the cold and wet weather made us go more quickly through Scotland (dashed our dreams of wild camping by a "loch" for a few days, catching fish, and soaking up the sun) and cut out part of Norway. And, because the weather was so bad, we talked about completely switching gears and heading down to Italy (by train) for one more month of riding - we knew it would at least be warm there! But when we got to the train station, and realized how difficult it would be to lug the bikes, the trailer, our equipment, etc., etc. from train to train, we decided to bag that idea and ride back down along the Elbe river to the Czech Republic. Besides, the weather in Germany was already much better than in the countries farther to the north; it still rains a bit almost every day, but it's much warmer and there's much more sun.

So, we rode back the way we came and arrived at Matthias' parents house yesterday, where I immediately showered and put on "street clothes" (that now fit again, by the way!) Matthias is tinkering with the bikes, and I'm busy doing laundry, labeling photos and catching up on email. We leave tomorrow in the direction of Prague.

Speaking of photos, I've uploaded all the photos from the bike ride and included a link to the left.