23·2 undulating miles: https://cyclemeter.com/3432aa395de1d505/Cycle-20220817-0959-48514 (cumulative cycling 212·5 miles)

I spoke too soon in the last entry about getting into my stride. (Would cadence have been more appropriate?) The way from Neumünster to Kiel was mostly on tarmac cyclepaths (with occasional ‘drempels’ due to tree roots) but it undulated by a few meters quite often, and that was taxing. I’m also pretty sure I’m pedalling against some friction, despite Lev having been serviced not long before we left. (I blame the crap UK trains – no way were Lev’s handlebars squint before we left.) There were some patches of gravel en route, which had me singing something like Deutschland Deutschland ohne Wegdek mainly because Deutschland Deutschland ohne Straßenbeläge doesn’t scan.

We had a drinks-break at a lakeside café on the east of the Bordesholmer See. It night have been possible to swim in the lake (and the temperature made this tempting) but there was nowhere to change – there was a sign on the café door saying very strictly ‘this is not a changing room’ and I really didn’t fancy doing the last 10 miles in squelchy padding.

So we were both quite happy to see this sign and then get to our hotel.

Our first task after checking in was not sightseeing or other touristic activities, but to do the first of the German holy trinity (although it seems we had a drinks-stop in Europaplatz en route):

With clean but mostly still damp clothes making our hotel room look something like a bomb had exploded in a jumble-sale, we headed off to the nearby Hans im Glück. By this time my blood-sugar was going low again so I was very happy to take on carbs, show off how crap my spoken German is, and feel cold for the first time since leaving the UK.

My kilt also inspired a joke today or yesterday:

Why don’t Scotsment stand next to each other in a river? Because of what they will see when they look down.