As you can hardly miss on the map, we are finally off again!

Easter Tuesday (11.04) we had to get up early to say goodbye to Ida's parents. Now that we had the house to ourselves, we could of course celebrate a farewell party. So Sonja came over for a coffee (there you realize again how old you have become!).

When the coffee was empty and Sonja also had to go to work (what is this 'work' actually?) We packed our things and went on the way: again follow the Ohre, and again along the canal. But this time it was different ... Not only because it was for a longer time, but also because of the hail that fell on us.

At some point, the canal then flowed over the Elbe, and we took the opportunity to change the route and followed Germany's most popular bike path (2004-2017, 2020). In our opinion, in some parts still a little too narrow! But already much busier than we are used to.

What surprised us was that we were probably back on the Camino de Santiago! As you can see, you are probably nowhere safe here: buen camino!

After some time we arrived in Magdeburg, and at the entrance Ida heard a strange clacking at the bike. Once tool unpacking later was the guilty thing also located. The spring of the brake pads had bent! We had stupidly left our spare pads at home, since the pads still looked good. Fortunately, we were in the middle of Magdeburg (a phrase you probably don't hear that often) and drove only a few meters to the nearest bike shop. But they did not have our brake pads of course, but could bend the spring back at least to some extent. We then wanted to take care of the replacement in Halle.

First we passed the cathedral, known from the 200 Pfennig stamp of the series Sights issued in 1993.

At Schönebeck (translator's note: "schön" -> beautiful), which had apparently invested the entire beauty budget exclusively in the name, we then left the Elbe and slowly made our way via Calbe to Sachsendorf.

It must be said that the field paths in saxony-anhalt are ideal as bike paths! So with two perfect tracks and almost unridden, we enjoyed the last kilometers until we arrived at our campsite, which we had organized via 1nitetent.

On Wednesday (12.04.) was Ida's birthday. And as you do on birthdays we slept in. In between, someone ran behind our tent, but the advantage of legal camping is that it does not bother you!

The day started great! Ida had fortunately wished for sunshine for her birthday, and it shone down on us while we continued to enjoy the empty dirt roads.

With a little headwind we continued to Köthen, listening to the Wise Guys, about a small box, which we will now probably not give as planned to Madita in Croatia.

Köthen had a nice pedestrian zone and wide bike paths and so of course a break was inserted there.

But the weather unfortunately changed and the wind was joined by rain, so we had to leave quickly. To top it all off, the road surface changed to cobblestone. So we drove as quickly as possible to Halle, for this some luggage was shoveled from the recumbent onto the cargo bike (really handy such a cargo bike!), and with less weight also rose the mind and together with the thought of a warm shower we were there in no time.

After the shower the evening ended with Kladdkaka and burgers and one or another round of Codenames.

Thursday (13.04) was slept off relaxed. When Madita came over at some point Ida was already get buns and I remained in bed. After breakfast we went to the bicycle dealer "Fahrrad Focken" recommended by Madita. Of course, he had our brake pads and we were even allowed to test a cool skate bike!

With skateboard wheels in the front and a normal wheel in the back, you could only go around corners by shifting your weight. Or in our case, you could not.

Unfortunately, the second thing we had on the list was missing: chain. And before you wonder what a bike store does not have a chain, we wanted chain as "by the metre". The reason is clear if we would explain that we need it for the recumbent! My chain was still perfect (I had changed it only before the trip to Oslo, so it had maybe 1500 km on it), but Ida's legs are much longer than mine, and thus we had to add a little more chain. And while normal wheels (and thus chains) have around 126 links, the recumbent has ~270. Too long for 2 chains, and too short for 3.

So we made our way to other bike shops, of which there is no shortage in Halle. Over 2 km we drove along a street and visited 6 bike stores! But unfortunately none of them had chains by the meter. One had 10s and 11s (yes, it depends on the gears which chain you get) but the subsequent delivery of the required 9s should unfortunately only come next week. The next then claimed that there was no such thing and another said offended that it only sells standard parts (and how dare you ask for something like that). In the end we returned to Fahrrad Focken, with cake as a thank you for the time they had taken and picked up packaged chains.

They were attached to the bike at home and the existing chain was transplanted onto Madita's bike, as hers was a little more than a little rusty.

To celebrate the successful surgery, we made a curry (not from the pigeons that got caught on the balcony for repeated times) and played a last round of Codenames.

And bang, we are on Friday (14.04). After breakfast, Ida packed our things while I brought a bed to the recycling center with Madita (we could not have done that with the tandem!). And since Madita had now done everything things on her ToDo list, she drove with us the 40 km to Leipzig.

The route began directly behind the house along the Saale. There was also the newly opened planetarium, which was unfortunately closed at the time. Well, we'll have to come back to Halle!

At some point we changed (with a pair of detours thanks to construction sites) to the Elster. We could then follow, sometimes on the dike and sometimes through wild garlic fields, until we were in Leipzig.

Overall, the short trip with Madita was really fun and we are really looking forward to spending the two weeks in Croatia with her.

In Leipzig, we then drove to Globetrotter, because we had problems with the tent last night. But they said we should clarify that in Dresden, because there is a much larger store. Fortunately, we wanted to go to Dresden anyway! How it all goes will certainly be reported to you by Ida next week.

From Globetrotter we were then picked up by Janek with whom we were allowed to spend the night. To a gaspacho and bread from the freshly connected oven we chatted first with Marie in a group of four, then of three and at some point only of two about our old adventures during a hike in February above the Arctic Circle ... But you won't hear the story today.