WEEK 6

Monday
Day 36
Verdun - guided tour of battle site in pouring rain. Squashed  into a damp minibus with an old French couple,  several Brits 'doing' the battle fields, the  elderly British couple who talked unceasingly about their bowel habits during our meal last night and our guide, it is a scene ripe for a sitcom. Naturally our guide does not speak any English and chooses to use the most complicated, educated French she can muster, but her plan is foiled by 'Mrs Bowel' who speaks excellent French and between us we translate for the rest of the group. Joking aside it is a grim 'must' to witness the sites of such unimaginable horrors. I trudge in disbelief through the tunnels of the concrete fortifications, glance through the windows of the giant ossuary at the bones of 150 000 unknown fallen with tears in my eyes. That thousands died is ghastly enough but how survivors managed to live after experiencing such horrors is beyond me.

Day 37
Steady rain all day. I trudge round town trying to find non existent supermarket ending up forced to eat a really delicious meal during which I discover Suze -  now my favourite aperitif. During the day I've seen the Peace Centre which would have been even more stunning in dry weather and visited the  Citadell where troops were stationed before going up on to the ridge to be bled white.
 

Day 38
121km on my own to Remich on German Luxembourg border,  via Etain,D906 Briey, Joeuf, Uckange, Yutz and  Perl. Rather longer than I’d banked on. Tramped over Verdun ridge in low cloud – rather eerie. Birds sang in the distance but there were no wayside flowers. The forest that is there now was planted to hide the contortions of the ground and gruesome reminders hidden in the soil. Wherever I glanced I saw the upturned earth, tracing the old front lines and trenches. Dropping down onto the plain I glanced back at the ridge that became so central to French policy in the years that followed. Little overgrown gun posts poked out of the grass verges, lay half covered under old trees. A grey, overcast day in more ways than one.
In Remich tents are not allowed in the campsite but use the green in front of the hof but everything seems calm so I lock my bike to everything I can and fall asleep to the quarter hour chimes of the church clock and the throb of barges on the river. My first impressions of Germany were rather tainted by industrial collapse and grime, rather a comedown after so many pretty miles.

Day 39
117km to Zeltingen Rachtig via Moselle valley. My intended route to Trier was blocked by a hostage crisis in Luxembourg and I am forced onto the banks of the Moselle.
Ascension Day. Much partying, brass bands etc. The flattish cyclepath winds through industrial estates, housing estates, and vineyards, vineyards, vineyards. You can taste and buy at hundreds of places but I don’t. Watch a horrendous ascending bungyjump at riverside fair. Rather hit & miss riverside campsite, plenty of drunk but friendly German pensioners who insist on me sharing some strawberry snaps with them.
 

Day 40
102 km to Brodenbach via Moselle valley. Earlyish start, shops open again. Puncture and poor pump wastes a lot of time finding garage with compressed air for tyre. Intended YH full and campsite packed like sardines but I find a small pitch for my tent which I erect watched by a glazed eyed German couple who do not move from their chairs for hours. Tedious windings of Mosel give the impression I'm getting nowhere fast. The cycle paths are sometimes very poor, criss-crossing across busy roads and badly maintained. Not using an existing path means enduring car horns, gesticulations and ridiculous police instructions which leave me crossing the road again every 300 meters. Hot day and more heat promised.

Day 41
99 km to campsite on lake at Rehe
Out of Moselle after a poor, noisy night. Brisk run into Koblenz having been advised north bank is better than south but who knows?
Koblenz is confusing as the Moselle posed as the Rhine several times! Road out to Montabaur is steep at times. Hot weather & torrential rain. I am hot, tired and irritable. The combination of poor cycle paths and aggressive car drivers is driving me berserk. The endless windings of cycle paths and the Moselle scenery have not been my cup of tea and I feel goal-less, almost bored. Must decide what to do – Skagen or Puttgarden.

Day 42
113 km to Herzhausen through Herborn
More lake-side camping but quiet at last! Violent thunderstorm last night threatened some tents. My right hand weak & unprecise probably due to my unchanging position in the Moselle valley. Nice scenery but I’m finding Germany rather dark in an un-Swedish way. I have decided to get home by 13 June fetched or otherwise, which leaves me 8 cycling days. Denmark & Skagen can wait. At an Aral petrol station I find two good maps to aid with planning and get a well-timed, encouraging SMS from a Swedish friend telling me to ‘Struggle on!’
 

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