We have been on the road for over a month now and the adventures just don't stop. When writing this sentence at the beginning of this week we couldn't anticipate what that could mean...

For those of you who looked at the map certainly questions came up:

• Did Ida loose a sock?
• Did Malte and Hannah realize that we took Kaya with us?
• Did Tilman quickly have to load the dishwasher in the office?
• Did Ida have to dedfend her master thesis again?
• Do they want to visit Aachen once more by bike?
• Did they forget to take a picture at the BE-NL border?
• Or were they just to drunk because Simon gave them to much beer?

For the resolution of this riddle you will have to read on. But so much can already be said:

This entry exceptionally only covers saturday to thursday due to the circumstances.

But enough of the hints for now. In the following you will read the continuation of: "The adventure of Tilman, Ida and Puschel"

On Saturday morning we woke up in peace. Tilman wrote the last lines of last weeks blog entry (at this point, many thanks again to the transcribers and translators!) and we talked to the people in whose garden we could sleep. At some point it was time to tackle the 60km of this short day. As usual on bicycle tours we treated ourselves to a good breakfast in the parking lot of a supermarket - an experience everyone should have at some point! Arrived in the praised Ghent, we were happy that we ate breakfast in the parking lot instead of some bench in the town. The town was way to crowded, so after Tilman took a nice picture we left quickly. Well, at least as quickly as you would drive if you just have 60km ahead. We drove on along the channel towards Brügge. And then continued straight ahead. Because of many breaks and dawdling around we arrived around 7p.m. at our welcometomygarden. We pitched our tent on the cow meadow and fell asleep soon. In the middle of the night Tilman woke up and managed tome uo to watch the stars. Through the tent opening it was comfortable to look up at the night sky in this mild summer night. This was already planned for several nights but sleep overcame to early...

Sunday began relaxed as it should be on a sunday. But to be honest it depends on who you ask... Our navigation device guided us through cornfields on a path. Actually it neither deserved the name "path" nor "track". It was barely a well used gap between two fields.

Our laughter and swearing was surely audible far beyond the fields. Then we continued to Brügge and soon learned why we took so much time on the previous days.

We reached the main square before the tourist rush and could enjoy our breakfast in the sun. Brügge is definetely one of the most beautiful cities we have seen so far on our tour. At least if you ignore all the other tourists (to whom we also belonged). While we relished our breakfast we talked to a woman for a while. We learned that her mother in law lives directly in the city. In the end we could convince her to join us on the tandem for a short round. We had the idea to offer this unique experience to others and lined up next to the carriages. But no one else was interested our private tour with less horse droppings...
When it got crowded we decided to move on and see more of Brügge. Unfortunately we couldn't enter the churches because there were ongoing services. Nonetheless we had fun and made an effort to create a new Puschel-search image. In any case we want to come back to Brügge someday!

And now drum-roll please, because now you will learn about the reason for our troubles. A planetarium! It is a bit outside the town and unfortunately not opened on sundays. But we forgive him, because the way there is super cool! Through a park with a planetpath! And the sculptures along the way were really artistic. Mythological creatures holding the planets in their hands.
At the planetarium I naturally had to race up the steps to the planetarium. I met some volunteers which could give some more informations. They use a full-dome-system for most of the shows and additionally a ZKP3 projector for some presentations. After every show they offer sunobservations if the weather permits it. The planetariums in the Netherlands and Belgium are apparently well interconnected with each other, because they knew Hilde from the planetarum in Antwerpen. Moreover they have a very good organisation of young members - JVS Vigilia with a pink zebra as mascot. Of course, Puschel became friends with her at once. When coming down again, Tilman and the bike had gathered a looud-laughing group. They probably thought the bike was funny. Before continuing the journey we had a conversation with the woman working in the "Naturhaus" below the planetarium.

We learned that not all bicycle lanes in Belgium are good. As proof:

Fortunately this was an exception. The last 70km to Lille we could manage at record speed! Long straight streets, few traffic lights and a lot of space to drive enabled an average of 25 to 30km/h. The crossing from Belgium to France was again without any signs and instead in an super ugly town. It is probably not necessary to loose more words... In Lille we arrived at Marguerite and Simon, and decided to try the famous "French fries" in the city center. An excellent idea!

On monday we had the best city guide, Marguerite. First things first before we came to the city center, a happy Tilman and Marguerite returned from the Boulangerie with a baguette! In a book store Marguerite acquired a special edition of Exploding Kittens. Together we wandered the streets of Lille. The sightseeing tour included the cathedral, the main square and a parking deck with great view over the city. Thats the advantage of being shown around by locals!

We spent the afternoon in the park playing Exploding Kittens. In between Marguerite left to pick up an actual kitten. Indeed, when we returned to the flat a cute furball sprang towards us. As appropriate for a monday we had soup for dinner. This tradition was established by Tilman and Marguerite during the Erasmus semester and is called "Soup Monday".

Tuesday went by unspectacularly. We spent it with forging plans and tedious burocreacy stuff. In the evening Marguerite and Simon prepared a delicious meal, we had a beer tasting, played Exploding Kittens and soon fell asleep.

The complete opposite was wednesday. We wanted to get up early with Marguerite and leave at 8:30 to avoid the heat. After a short test ride without luggage we realized that the rack was broken.
As emergency solution (Plan A) we wanted to get it welded together again. Easier said than done. We set out to an odyssee: from a very friendly car repair shop to two huge Decathlon locations with workshop, and after several stops in the city center we knew our way around in Lille and could conclude: Nobody is welding nowadays. Our last hope, the physics faculty, was also lost because all doors were closed. A weird sight to find an university entirely closed in summer. The only human being on campus took care of the university cats in the absence of all.
Conclusion: the only person capable of welding the aluminum was, as everybody else, on vacation! What a pity, through the window of the workshop with WIG welding machine we could see a selfmade recumbent bicycle...

That's why we had to come up with Plan B. Unfortunately the luggage rack is the only non-standard part of our bicycle and could not be replaced easily. In the shade of a nice park we started planning. We ordered a new rack to arrive at Marguerites father and intended to explore the north of Lille with minimal luggage, i.e. without a tent. So the requirement was to find places to stay overnight . But - similar to the welding problem - all Warmshowers possibilities were also on holiday.
And as planning typically goes: the best plans are made just before falling asleep at 1a.m. in the night. Here comes Plan C: the rack will arrive between tuesday and thursday in Lille and the smaller panniers are still at Idas parents. Because "Deutsche Post" is not known for reliability we decided to go on the athletic endeavour to reach Aachen via Brüssel in two days and use the 9€ ticket to go to Idas parents. Then pick up the bags and drive back. How that works out you will learn in the next blog entry.

The additional day in Lille was also used to make some adjustments to the website as there were several requests from you on how to support us. Because we had some time "about us" was updated and you can now find the latest information.

As in the previous posts, lets end with some astrononmical informations. Its not a stellar constellation this time but about the shooting star maximum on friday 12th August. The Perseides are an annual meteor shower. As the earth revolves around the sun - during a year - it alway passes the same points. In the first half of August it passes the debris left by the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Those small particles enter our atmosphere at high speed and cause long bright trails across the sky. Thats what we call shooting stars. So take the opportunity and enjoy firday or saturday outside with a cup of hot chocolate and watch the shooting stars!
Addendum: we did not manage to see them. Because of the change of plans we were in Brüssel and Aachen on friday and saturday, respectively - extemely unsuitable places to enjoy these phenomena.

At the end another Behind-the-scenes-Puschel picture.

Until next week!
Tilman & Ida