7th August: around Düsseldorf

Travel plans

to cycle to the Neandertal museum (cyclemeter map – about 8 miles east of central Düsseldorf) and back (cyclemeter map)
to swim in the Rhein
distance 18·99 miles (227·31 cumulative miles so far)

Missions accomplished. Some very hot and slow cycling to the museum but very worthwhile. The museum building has an ellipsoidal horizontal cross-section containing a gently sloping floor full of artefacts and dispalys designed to make you think about the origins of culture and society, and how these were affected by geography, evolution and mixing of waves of different human species coming out of Africa. If you get to Düsseldorf, this is a must-do.

Cycling back included several piss-stops – I was quite dehydrated, yet water flowed right through me. So it was quite enjoyable to go to a Strandbad and add my own contribution to the Rhein. As is usual for me and European rivers, I didn’t swim far – the point is to have been in the water and have swum a few strokes. Also, at least on this part of the Rhein, moving more than 20 metre from the beach would have meant mixing with jet-skis and huge barges. No thanks! For this reason, I prefer swimming in the Danube at Arbeiterstrandbad – it’s pretty safe to swim all the way across, as far as I can tell. (I’ve not yet done so.)

We cycle back to our hotel, cleaned up and then walked to dinner. Because my sandals were wet from swimming (I don’t go into unknown water with bare feet), I didn’t wear socks, and my sandals rubbed my feet quite unpleasantly. I still haven’t found ideal cycle-touring footwear. One option is to abandon SPDs and use shoes with hard soles in toe-cages. But I like SPDs: I can change the empahsis of push and pull, keeping my feet from getting bored, and relaxing any painful bits. So I’d like to find sandals with SPDs, but with easily removed cleats for normal walking.

Dinner was back at the wee Asian diner d-thai bistro – spring rolls followed by an orange Thai curry with tofu. I think this has to be the best tofu I’ve had in a restaurant outside of south-east Asia. Filling and very cheap.

A final hobble back to the hotel, where Elly ministered to my feet – she’s lovely and I can’t thank her enough for this and many other things.