Day 1

After what felt like an endless time of planning, we finally made it and started. For the first week(s), we planned to meet friends and for that, our first destination was Wolfenbüttel where Ida's past flat mate from Braunschweig currently lives. One half of our duo had a pretty hard time leaving Haldensleben. Farewells are not a nice thing, especially for such a long time. But we kept the motto from the main page:

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

And that is how we, together with Madita and Sonja (and a few tears) got going. They accompanied us for a few kilometres and also said goodbye. After many further kilometres, the tears also faded away.

Heading west, we had a few mini stops: crossing a border, a duck house with a rubber duck head, a lot of up- and downhill and a bit more and finally, a little bit of rain. But that was no problem, since we did not only visit Mario but there was a warm shower, a burger and a nice town festival in Goslar waiting for us.

The second day of the tour started with a loaded breakfast at Mario`s place including a tandem test ride. Mario came along with us for quite a while on his inline skates until he also had to leave us due to lacking skatable roads. Finally, it was just the three of us: Tilman, Ida and the headwind.
Funny enough, almost all villages and towns had a festival on that Sunday. After moving so many times lately, we could finally watch other people moving across town [Translator note: this includes a German pun]. 😊

After a short nap to recover from constant headwind, we were reminded of peoples' helpfulness: One woman reversed her car fearing something had happened to us. After reassuring her that we're fine, the woman left and shortly after we followed. That day kept another surprise for us: perfect bike routes within the city centre of Hannover. And so, we finally arrived safely at Tilman's self titled EOA (extremely old uncle) and Heidrun's place. Together, we spent a wonderful evening with great conversations, Greek food and wine.

After a large breakfast, fuelled with new energy, we continued in the morning on day 3. The next destination was Göttingen where Merle (not Joline's cat and not Julia's cat) lives. Since cycling for 120km at the beginning of the tour would have been too intense, Tilman arranged a one-night tent after 90km. The weather was comfortably cloudy so that the temperature was nice for cycling. Most of the route was more or less relaxed cycling along the river "Leine". Even though the path itself was a bit rough at times, we discovered nice places in the surrounding areas. For example, we saw a beautiful castle hidden between trees on a hillside.

While packing our bags, two women sat down at a close-by bench and watched us with interest. They were that entertained by us, they even offered us some sparkling wine and so, we had a small chat. One of them thought it's crazy that young people still have wishes and dreams considering everything that is happening at the moment. She is kind of right but what else should we do? So, we just enjoy our cycling tour. Besides the up and down of the mountains, we met another person on that day. While stopping at the Leine for snack time, somebody walked past us and looked at our bike with interest so we invited him to a few pieces of our chocolate. He told us about being immensely involved in building the "Leine-Heide-cycling path" at this place. And so, a history lesson came with the chocolate break. However, we wanted to arrive at the 1nitetent at some point so we got back on the ride. That was one of the days when the path had a lot of elevation gain, especially during the last 3 km. Nevertheless, we made our way up safely. Of course, not without stopping for a photo in Orxhausen.

There, Sonja awaited us with a big garden and for the first time, we set up the tent.
After a restful night in the tent, day 4 arrived. We started the day by letting Sonja take a round on the tandem. She was/is a scout and had some stories to tell.
We only had 40 km left to Göttingen that day. It was supposed to be one of the hotter days. On the way, we stopped at a street after inventing a new strategy for cycling rough and steep paths: Tilman pushes from the back end and Ida steers and pedals in the front. We used the break to play with Tilman camera and so we came up with some nice pictures.

So far, we shared many nice moments from the breaks. However, we also experienced some not so nice situations during cycling leaving us a bit angry at times. While going up a steep hill – obviously quite slowly – somebody hectically rang the bell behind us. We cycled to the right when we all of a sudden heard loud shouts and moaning. A woman cycling on her e-bike, going 25 km/h uphill, overtook us and found herself between Tilman and the street…
Conclusion of the day: Dear e-cyclists, only go at the speed that is appropriate for yourself and the other users of the road.
In Göttingen at Merle and Chimu, we explored the nice city, chatted a lot, ate summer rolls and finally, exhausted but happy, went to sleep.

Day 5 began with an extended breakfast and so we eventually started (as always later than intended). The tour began with a very moderate rise. Best for warming up your knees. After a very melon-y break, it went veeeery long steep downhill.

I (Ida) didn't want to follow Tilmans motto: "Breaking is for cowards". Still, we got fast to the Weser and really enjoyed this cycle path.

Much prettier than cycling along the Leine, many fields, forests, cute villages and the nice Weser, where we found a direct path to the next river: the Nethe. But before we rode along the Nethe, Tilman made a picture of the Weser.

Our todays place to sleep should again be an 1nitent and the last kilometres stretched like chewing gum. So we ignored an road work sign, which wanted to lead us to a 20% rise. We just rode along and made it through :)
Just in front of our last hill, we stopped at a bench. Suddenly a voice behind us asked: "Wanna have a cold coke?". The man in the house behind us offered two little, closed (!) coke bottles - we just couldn't refuse.

He also recommended a certain route over the next hill. After we made it, we actually arrived at our 1nitetent and the man was waiting for us. He showed us where we could use the toilet and shower (definitely not standard at 1nitetent) and we talked for a while. After that, we set up our tent in his apple plantation, enjoyed the rest of the summer rolls and went to sleep after an exhausting day (99,2km).

Day 6 seemed to be an exhausting, too. We were in front of the "Teutoburger Wald" as an ascent. However, it turned out, our fear was worse than the reality. And so we rewarded ourselves with the view of the "Externsteine", which Tilman only knew from stamps and Ida not at all.

We admired them only from below, because the "climb" costs "only" 4€... After the Externsteine, it we rode downhill. It was a very long downhill. Well, a really very long. Sadly, partially on poor terrain, but you can't have everything. After that, it was a laid-back trip along the Lippe (also very plain). So we just had to learn the difference between drivers from Lippstadt and Paderborn. People from Lippstadt overtake perfectly, while most drivers from Paderborn should retake their driving licence courses.
During one of our breaks we made Italia-gourmet-food: stick bread with mozzarella and basil tomato paste. Just in case you are wondering what we are eating.

In front of the last Aldi [t/n: german supermarket] we talked with a woman and it turned out, she was an acquaintance of our Warmshower-host Hedwig. So she accompanied us almost the whole way. Hedwig lives with her family on a big farm. A little while later, Adam showed up, another cyclist from Berlin. We had dinner together, talked a lot and finally went to sleep.

You made it so far, you will get through Day 7 as well :-)
Together with Adam we set out after breakfast (also not granted at WS). Adam rode a couple kilometres on our tandem with us. In the morning, Hedwig told us, we would cycle through a village, where the holy Ida lived and worked (Herzfeld). Obviously, we made a break there to learn more. The holy Ida always kept a box with food and clothes for the poor. A shopkeeper (who took a picture of us, for us) also explained that through a letter to the pope, the church became a basilica. Next year in September, we plan to visit again for Ida-week :)

Some villages later, ours and Adams paths separated. The last 25km to Tilmans former tutoring family were just straight along. At the Gilles family, we barbecued and talked far into the night. At this point, I (Ida) want to call attention to a beautiful constellation: "The coma berenices". In the past, it was the last part of the tail of "Leo". Today it is an own constellation, which can barely be seen right now.

These were our first week impressions. We hope, we can write our part on Saturdays, after that our transcribers and translators will do their part. We are so thankful for their work!

Until then: be attentive drivers and considerate cyclists :)
Tilman & Ida