Day 09 - Nievenheim to Cologne

33.7 km - Total so far 513.40 km - Route pedalled.      Relive Video (with pictures)

Video of the day: Europe Day 09

NOTE: Relive videos now include pictures

For the really keen blog readers (you know who you are) you may have noticed that the planned distance and the actual distance do not agree. I somehow gave Hélène the wrong civic address. 

Through "Bookings.com" app we found ourselves a bedroom with shared common areas in a newly renovated 2-bedroom apartment. The place was well appointed with all the latest everything and impeccably spotless.

Our home for 1 night

At breakfast, we were joined by Chris (Krzysztof), the other occupant. Chris is a younger Polish welder who works for a large local company that arranged for his tenancy. In spite of our language barrier, we had a great conversation. Chris travels regularly back to Poland (13 hours) drive to see his wife and 3 children). His time away from family is necessary in order for him to build a house for his family back in Tarnow, Poland. We wish him the very best.

Our destination today is Cologne a distance of 33.7 km. Today was a half-distance leisurely ride. It was our warmest day to date and the regular much lower temperatures come back next week.

We had stopped for Hélène to film more Rhine barges (for grandson Hudson). With the filming done, Claudia stuck up a conversation. Turns out Claudia, a blues musician from Dusseldorf, was out cycling to take advantage of the incredible weather. We had never seen as many people on German paths as we did today. After giving our travel card off we went.

Hélène & Claudia

Hélène had hinted for a coffee stop on our ride for today. We stumbled upon Kasselberger Gretchen a Gasthaus. We had 2 Cafè crema and snacks. What surprised me at the stop where plaques indicating record heights of flooding from the River Rhine. The highest water mark was dated 02 Jan 1926.

As we left the Gasthaus, we started a chat with a friendly couple local to the area who like everyone else we're taking advantage of the weather. We had another 16.7 km to Cologne.

I've been thinking about my late father ever since we crossed into the Ruhr River Valley, one of the most industrialized of Germany in the 1940s. He did not talk much of his war service as aircrew on a Halifax bomber of 425 Squadron "Alouette". Once in a while, he would recount some of their trips over Germany. I have known of the Rhur, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Berlin since my early childhood. I think that he would be happy to hear that the child of a German survivor who lost family during the bombings was not angry. I told the man at the Gasthaus about my father's war service and he told me about losses in his family. We parted ways after a solid handshake.

It was an easy ride to Cologne. Being close to 4 p.m. by the time we arrived, we ran into a lot of people walking the bank of the River Rhine. We used 'Hullo' a lot to get their attention but it was not very effective. I thought of using my 120 decibel whistle but that would not have been very nice.

We crossed the Rhine on one of the many bridges. Once at the hotel we headed out for laundry and groceries. We would not have been able to do laundry without Google Translate.

Overall another spectacular day with Mrs L.