Day 3 Inner German Border Tour.

Our BBF had a good nights sleep, no muscle cramps, he must have drunk enough yesterday or was it the beer?

Before we tell about today’s journey we must mention a couple of things that could affect the whole journey.

Our saddle bags are broken! Both bags have lost the hook on the oval you see which hooks over part of the carrier frame to stop the bags rocking about. Clearly the rough nature of the terrain, as well as the tumbles we have taken caused them to break off. We feel the bags are not up to the task. We are currently in the middle of now where, or as the Germans might say, “am Arsch der Welt!” There are no cycle shops anywhere here to replace them and if the top hooks fail we are done for and will need to improvise. 

The other thing of note is the costs of overnight stays. When Alan planned the hiking tour of the border he booked all the accommodation before hand. We still have this plan and are using it to gauge where we might stay. The costs have doubled so a bed for one night now starts at €50. We only hope we do not run out of money before the end, which is a distinct possibility if the daily out goings are between €75-80 including an evening meal! Enough doom and gloom for now. Look on the bright side Alan says.

 

The weather was at least with us today and we set off around 0936Hrs and had chosen the proper cycle route to get to Birx we thought. The profile of the route was not particularly friendly either, but at least the horrid Convoy roads of the East German NVA could be avoided. Woods and fields tracks were plenty enough anyway. The only real adverse problem we had was the strong winds against us that and the hills meant we used quite a bit of power to maintain seed.

We’ve no idea who the man is, but he must have impressed some people to be given such a seat in the woods in the middle of nowhere!

At least the struggle to get to the top of hills when out of the woods is rewarded with great views.  

We paused here for a bit but didn’t partake of the fitness offer, as it was far too cold to follow the instructions.

The sign tells one to enter only with warm feet, to walk like a stork until the skin gets pins and needles, then not to dry the feet but to walk barefoot in the grass. Obviously the level of the river plays a part in all this as today it would have been deep an come up to your knees.

More decorated wells were found.

And as one would expect where we are this is also dedicated to the reunification of Germany as the village was a border one.

Back in the woods we forded a stream, but failed to take a photo as to stop would have meant not getting up the hill on the other side. After we had passed and climbed the next hill we found a nice little rest stops in an observation hut.

It was possibly used by hunters too. Note the gravel path. Not made for ordinary bikes that’s for sure. The navigation advice was to get off and walk!!

.

This well in  our waypoint of  Weimarschmieden like all wells we have come across, says not drinking water. Sad really when walking the Camino in Spain most villages have wells with potable water! If the Spaniards can do it, why can’t the Germans?

We think this chap may have been a Border Guard, otherwise why have a Border post in your garden!

We found a bench by the Church for our light lunch and planned where the next waypoint or stop should be. Birx was another 18 kilometres and the bike battery had another 21 kilometres on Ecomodus, but there was no accommodation there for us.  We eventually found a place in Heufurt which is well off the route, but at least we have a bed. 

We like the place as they had put out GummyBears for us Bears! We cycled 44.3 Kim’s today and are roughly between 18 and 19 on the route map. 

COVID 19 and What the World Needs Now!

Have you been in lockdown since 14th March like me? How are you coping? Are you beginning to get cabin fever? Or bored and looking for things to do?

What I can say is that being confined to my fourth floor flat is very much like sailing alone around the world. One is alone on board, and after essential work of setting sails, navigating, and doing minor repairs one is at liberty to sit and watch the world go by. Reading was the main activity for me. Now after essential work around the flat, cleaning and tidying up,  instead of reading I play computer games or chat on Social Media. I have regular contact to friends and family, not via radio schedules, but by Facetime or WhatsApp. The real major difference is that there is no motion (unless I've had one too many) and my bunk is not lying on its ear!



Petra as I indicated in my last blog is working hard to maintain her Patchwork Family and is very strict with us OAPs. She has her hands full with working from Home  and having to care for Vincent as the Kindergartens are closed. But she thinks ahead and orders for us online when she can, or receives the orders from the local Bio Bauer. (Farmer). Now though, we have felt safe enough to go and collect from her, saving just a little of her time.  As we have all been in Quarantine for the last four weeks, we were allowed to have a walk together on Easter Monday, wearing facemasks made by Sigrid and maintaining social distances!

I personally don't have a problem with being shut in my flat, as long as I can get out on my bike once per day I can cope. I've started to declutter my life. Going through old love letters and photos, takes time though and sometimes my mind will only cope with so much nostalgia. The size of the Paper Bin also determines how much I can shred at any one time. It is not as much as I would like, so I often have to wait a week to 10 days before I can resume. It means my flat is a bit untidy as I do not put it all away again, it sits there in various piles waiting for me to begin again with the trip down memory lane.

My main thoughts though are to the future and here I am fearful. I am fearful for the whole World, for it requires not a country by country solution, but a world solution. It is no good that China is on top of the problem now, when the USA and other countries are not. The only way we are going to get to defeat this pandemic is if we work together, sharing knowledge and resources.

Instead each country is competing for the limited resources of facemasks and other PPE (Personal Protection Equipment).

What the World needs now is a dynamic selfless leader to coordinate the effort to defeat the virus, and we don't have one. The Buffoon in the White House is not it. Boris and his BREXIT mentality is also not it, though perhaps if he changed his attitude he could apply his mind to it, but I doubt he will. Ursula von der Leyen is not it either, which is sad, nor is Angela Merkel, though she could be if she put her mind to it. It needs a super power to lead the way.

We do not need to look too far back in history to find examples of how it should be done.
When the EBOLA Virus spread out of the Guinea borders in 2014 President Obama activated the Emergency Operations Centre at the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta. The CDC was immediately deployed to West Africa to coordinate a response that included vector tracing, testing, education, logistics and communication.

President Obama worked with the UN and the World Health Organisation and rerouted all travellers heading from Africa to the USA to specific airports that were equipped to handle mass testing. In the USA more than 6500 people were trained through mock outbreaks of a pandemic, before a single case arrived on their shores.

Three months after Obama instigated this response a man travelled from West Africa to Dallas and slipped through the testing net. He was, however, immediately detected and isolated, but died a week later. The two nurses that cared for him contracted the disease, but thankfully recovered. All the protocols worked and Ebola was  contained.

Now before anyone knew about COVID 19 even in China, Trump disbanded the pandemic response team that Obama had put in place. He cut funding to the CDC and he cut the US contribution to the World Health Organisation. Trump fired the one person on the National Security Council in charge of stopping the spread of infectious diseases!

When the outbreak started in China, Trump assumed it was China's problem and sent no help of any kind. They were in a trade war, weren't they, so why should the egotist and isolationist (make America great again) help them.

I could go on listing the man's bluffing and blustering, but need not as the virus moves faster and now America and in particular New York is harder hit than anywhere else in the World.

The Spanish Flu pandemic lasted two full years from January 1918 to December 1920. It came more or less in three waves and finally died out in the summer of 1919.  More or less the same methods were tried then to control the spread, though not as successfully as now I would suggest. They didn't have the medicines to cope then, nor did they have a vaccine, just like now. 500 Million people were affected and 50 Million died world wide! This time we are or seem to be slowing its spread, but we have a long way to go before we can return to normal life. Consequently I feel the public need to be warned to dig in and not ease the lockdown or travel restrictions too soon. Countries will ease up because of economic pressures and history will show which countries were more successful than others at controlling the spread.

Stay safe, "for it's a jungle out there"!

Another Malta Holiday

Just before Christmas, friends of our BBF invited us to come and stay in their Senglea flat one last time before they sell it! There was no discussion, we all agreed and leapt at the chance to visit one more time. 

Alan was so keen to come, he had a momentary senior moment, and booked flights for a three week holiday, before realising that he had to be in Germany for Vincent’s fourth birthday! A moment of sheer panic gripped him, which lasted some 24 hours, until he sorted it all out and rebooked the flights for just two weeks! 

Jürgen kindly collected us the day after Boxing Day and took us to the airport. We were booked on a Lufthansa flight going first to Munich, where we stayed the night. The fun part was that the outward flights were all Business Class! Thus it was that we enjoyed meals at no extra cost in the Lufthansa Lounges in both Düsseldorf and Munich. 

We got to Munich late at night and stayed in an airport hotel and were greeted by a giant of our tribe! 

Early the next morning we set off for the airport again without breakfast!

But one was served in the Business Class lounge. 

It was cold and frosty outside! 

They took the precaution of de-icing the plane before takeoff! A necessary evil which didn’t look very environmentally friendly!

We were served throughout with small eats all served with real metal cutlery! It made us wonder what the peasants back in cattle class were served! Alan thought a ham or cheese roll! 

Vince a very friendly chap collected us from Luqua airport and drove us to the flat in Senglea. 

The first thing Alan did on arrival was open the balcony doors wide and admire the view. Little it seemed had changed. 

Alan’s friends had ensured we had the basics of coffee, tea milk and sugar, as well as the makings of a breakfast. As we arrived on a Saturday the next thing we did was go out shopping to get the bits for evening meals etc. 

It is five years since last we were here and so now we noticed that things had changed a bit. At the end of Dockyard Creek for example the dockyard building had been turned into the American University of Malta! 

We live on a hill so there are many steps to go down and up to get anywhere. Our BBF will be a bit fitter when we get back and hopefully will have walked off his Christmas fat. 

There’s no TV so reading is the pass time of an evening which Alan feels is no real hardship and has read four novels in the first week! 

On our first Sunday we took the ferry into Valletta and were surprised by the number of people on the streets. There was no cruise ship in the harbour so where did all the tourists come from? 

The view from the Upper Barraka Gardens to the Three Cities and Dockyard Creek in the middle. 

Malta has been more Catholic than the Pope ever since St Paul’s visit in the first century AD. 

So one is not surprised to find a life size Crib dominating a small square. 

We made a mental note to return at night to see the lights. 

Alan has a comrade living here so one day we went to visit him. Terry and his partner Jill work on rich folks yachts. 

Terry’s yacht is a floating gin palace, but very well appointed and it is in good condition thanks to Terry’s hard work. Jill on the other hand manages a real sailing vessel, a Camper and Nicholson super yacht!

This too is in super condition thanks to Jill’s hard work. We much enjoyed being shown over these two vessels. 

On New Years Eve a Gregale was blowing so all ferries were cancelled which put paid to our intention of going into Valletta! Instead we watched the fireworks from the balcony!

On Wednesday Terry and Jill invited us to go for a hike along part of the Victoria lines. They met us off the ferry and took us to somewhere just outside Mosta.

Jill pointed out the plaque commemorating the building of this defence work, which largely goes unnoticed by the cars thundering bye on the road beneath it.

There are fine views over the island from here. 

The start of our walk was easy and along the wall. It actually runs from 30 miles coast to coast along an escarpment and is a natural defence position for an enemy that has landed on the only beaches of Malta, which all lay to the North of the island. 

There are Victorian Forts and even WWII pillboxes at various places along the wall. Our mad BBF actually climbed across a sheer cliff to get to this pillbox, while sensibly Terry and Jill followed a goat track into the valley.

The cliffs here are a favourite with rock climbers and a few were out enjoying the fine weather. 

After crossing under the main road into Mosta we continued up the valley into Mosta where we stopped for an isotonic drink!

Here you can see the continuation of the defences on the other side of Mosta!

The sun has shone on all our days so far, but more often than not a very cold and strong wind has been blowing. On one day it was too strong and caused a swell in the harbour so there was no ferry. On the days where it is calmer, needless to say it is also warmer and so Alan throws open the balcony doors and we can breakfast there. 

We went by bus to the Playmobil factory where our BBF complained that the motor provided with the pirate ship he had bought Vincent for Christmas only went backwards! 

The fun park here was full of families enjoying the activities! We had coffee and then with a new motor provided free of charge we got the bus back. We got off at a shopping centre on the way back where there was a Lidl and after a quick shop got on another bus for Valletta again. All allowed for on the one ticket as it was within two hours of purchase! The ticket costs €1,50! 

Generally we walk a lot. Our BBF reads a lot and so we are unwinding from the stress that Christmas brings with it, and meeting old friends that live here. Monday we are having lunch with Lorie and Martin in Qrendi and Tuesday we meet Hanna’s niece Sarah! 

2020 for us at least has got off to a good start! 

All over, bar the Counting!

 It seems strange to us not to be getting up early to cycle, eat sleep, repeat anymore! This means of course that it's all over now, bar the counting of the monies donated, which as Branch Treasurer, is Chris's job! He has told us that so far he can account for:

Just Giving                                                         852,13

RBL Branch Bank                                             200,00

Cash Donations                                                 795,00 

Total so far                                                      1847,13 Euros

Chris has said that there is more money promised too, so it is not the final figure, only as of today 30 June 2019!

And while we are talking about cash, we made a mistake in our last Blog. The envelope Steve Owen gave Chris at our great reception party, was not a Branch donation, but a personal one from him and Brigite his wife! Other Branch members who were there made personal donations of cash too, for which we are very grateful.

So all in all the two old codgers cycled over 1100 kilometres in 17 days for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. Alan lost two kilos in weight too, which pleases him, but you watch, he'll put it all back on again soon.

The picture above is evidence of cruelty to Bears, for our BBF has put us in a washing machine!!! He says, it's so we will be ready for the next adventure, whatever and whenever that is?

Rest assured though, you will be the first to read about them.

An easy ride Home!

The intrepid cyclists were up early and rearing to go! Although Chris had said, breakfast at 07:00 hrs, our BBF knocked on his door at 06:45 hrs. 

As we had been treated to a five star hotel on our last night of this epic adventure a full English breakfast was in order.

This with fruit, coffee and orange juice should last them until they get to Monchengladbach!

Before setting off the two humans have always had a discussion about how far they can go on their bike battery. This morning they were both surprised not to see three figure numbers as usual. Alan on the lowest E-motor setting could only go 69 kilometres, Chris could do a bit better at 96! Why was this, they had both charged their batteries overnight?

We set off a little before 08:00 hrs and were soon out of Velbert onto an old railway track which had been converted into a cycle autobahn. It was downhill most of the way. Chris led as our BBF could not rely on his broken iphone to navigate by even though he had programmed the route into it.

After the hot days we had had this morning was refreshingly cool. The sun shone and there was not a cloud in the sky. On this cycle autobahn, Alan used no E-motor as the going was easy.

We were meant to turn off the cycle path, but at the point the Navi indicated, Chris could find no exit path, so we went on aways till a suitable exit was found. Now we had to go up hill quite a bit to get to Rattingen. Here both humans used power on the E-motor to get up the hills. Alan now discovered that far from being able to go a shorter distance than the initial 69 kilometres, now could go as far as 96 kilometres! Strange!!

Chris had the bit between his teeth for he seemed determined to get to Ayrshire Barracks as quickly and as early as possible. He powered on all the way to through Dusseldorf to Neuss, over 30 kilometres without stopping, before he stopped and only then, we felt, because our BBF had said he needed a Loo! They sat in a cafe and Alan explained that Chris had stated the arrival time was to be 14:30 hrs. Alan had asked for his grandsons to be at Ayrshire Barracks too and they would not get there until 14:45 hrs! For him there was no point in arriving before the welcoming committee had set up. It would spoil it all. At the pace they were going they could arrive as early as 12:30 hrs!!

Leaving the Cafe they now walked down Krefelder Strasse in Neuss rather than cycle because there were tram tracks in the road and there was a danger of a wheel getting trapped in one. Our BBF had had the misfortune of coming off his bike twice because of such tracks, once in Bielefeld in the 80's and once in Monchengladbach last year!

Once this stage had been passed we were off again at a cracking rate. There were cycle paths to follow, but there was lots of traffic on the adjacent road which did not make it fun. As we got closer to Monchengladbach Chris led us off the main road and into the country which was much more to our liking.

Chris now found, on the banks of the Niers stream, a bench and picnic table in the shade of a big tree. Here we rested and Chris produced an apple for our BBF to eat while he had a pear. They changed into their RBL shirts and though Alan was keen not to leave that location before 14:10 hrs we were off again at 13:50 hrs. Chris now went at a more leisurely pace and took us to a place where he had worked to chat to a friend who, he said was a mountain bike fan. We were made to wait outside while he went into the office, but sadly his friend was in a meeting!

There seemed to be quite a lot of traffic in the town and since it was a Friday afternoon we should not have been surprised. We finally got onto Aachener Strasse at Holt and once we had passed the Church Chris increased the pace again, which upset us a bit as we knew we would now arrive before Alan's grandsons. And so it was, they arrived after us.

The Rheindahlen Branch RBL Committee were there to greet us with champagne and small eats all which was very welcome. Speeches were made and Steve Owen the President handed over to Chris an envelope with the Branches contribution to our fund for the Poppy Appeal.

All in all we travelled on our BBF's bike 1107.16 kilometres visiting all 15 Branches of the Royal British Legion in Germany. Chris will have travelled at least 30 kilometres more since he had to cycle into Monchengladbach to catch the train at the start and insisted on cycling home again, even though transport had been offered to him. We Bears understand the reason for this. No one wants to have his E-Bike thrown into the back of a  pickup truck. 

So how much money have we raised? We can't say with any certainty yet, as Chris, who is also the treasurer will have to count up all the cash collected along the way, as well as all the donations which come to the Branch via Bank Credit and add this to the amount collected via Just Giving. 

We intend to report again when we know more.

In the meantime we would like to thank all the RBL Branches in Germany that made us feel so welcome and special. We have made new friends on this adventure. Chris gets a special thanks for putting up with us and our BBF which cannot have been easy for him. Whatever anyone says about it we enjoyed every minute of the journey and thank the Gods that it never rained.