clairedavieswriter

Einbeck was looking just as lovely in the early morning light as it had yesterday:

The Altes Rathaus (old town hall) is like something out of a fairy tale:

The main square was playing host to a weekly market this morning:

This friendly chap, in a stream of unintelligible German (this is becoming something of a theme), made clear that he wanted me to take a picture of his strawberries:

I would happily come back to Einbeck one day – not least to check out the brewery, which I only saw from the outside.

Word of the day: Fachwerk, which is what they call the wooden-framed houses round here (not sure what the old timer refers to):

Team Bernard hit the road in surprisingly fine fettle. My legs were feeling fresh despite yesterday’s punishment, and Bernard still had his dancing shoes on after a night under the disco ball (and chandelier – every function room’s must-have combination):

Guillaume has been on best behaviour lately: the new (to me) planning app, Cycle.Travel seems to have ironed out his wilder eccentricities. But he’s not entirely without mischief – rather than misdirecting me into eucalyptus forests or ploughed fields, he has instead taken to telling me to turn round. It was alarming the first time, but I just ignore him now:

The first few miles of today’s ride were not unlike bits of yesterday, but happily the wind was much less strong:

Soon though, it got more varied, and more enjoyable for it. Since yesterday we’ve been following the Leine-Heide-Radweg (Radweg = cycle path) which wiggles over 400km from Hamburg to Eichsfeld:

As the name suggests, it mostly follows the river Leine, and we spent some lovely peaceful moments right beside it today. Signboards indicated the presence of beavers, otters and bats:

Another board explained that the river flooded badly in 1962 (perhaps the same flood commemorated in that plaque I passed on Day 3?) necessitating the creation of a Hochwasserrückhaltebecken.

Ok, I confess I only mentioned this so I could use that word. So much more impressive than ‘flood retention basin’, don’t you think?

Aside from our meanderings in the flood plain of the Leine, highlights today included my sunny coffee stop in Göttingen. Once again, the sight of me sitting in a supermarket carpark prompted a conversation:

Passing woman, smiling: *stream of unintelligible German

Me: (in my best Deutsch): ‘I’m sorry I only speak a little German’ (in itself a massive overstatement)

Woman (switching effortlessly to English): ‘You have coffee, a place to sit, alles ist perfekt!’

I couldn’t disagree, but it’s so frustrating not being able to respond properly!

Team Bernard’s lunch venue a short while later wasn’t bad either, though it yielded no chat:

I loved this grafitti on an underpass near Weende. ‘A good life for everyone is possible’. If only we could find a way to achieve it:

I also enjoyed this wholesome welcome to the village of Klein Scheen:

And this was my Sign of the Day: a first for me – I’m assuming that’s a newt?

And as silver linings go, my supper was up there with the best of them. I’d been banking on eating at the campsite Biergarten (albeit something deep fried and probably not vegetarian):

So it was disappointing to learn that the cook was ‘krank’. But it turned out for the best. First, because Witzenhausen – only a few minutes’ ride away – was another town of pretty painted-wood houses, and an imposing Rathaus:

And second, because I stumbled across this absolute gem of a café, just before it closed:

The owner (in fluent English) said she’d been ‘almost cleaned out’ (see fluent, above) of hot meals but could do me a bowl of cauliflower and white bean soup and a feta and carrot toastie. Would I like that? Yes. Yes, I would, vielen dank. And a beer please:

Absolutely delicious. Though I confess I didn’t notice until I’d nearly finished my beer that it was 11.7%. What is it with these brewing monks? We toddled home very carefully….

Home being Terry the Tent, of course. At least this time it’s not raining (famous last words). And in Hannover I invested in a warm puffer jacket at a bargain price, with the intention of sleeping in it. So I’m hoping I’ll have a better night. Jacobinus’ brew might help.