Winter was coming on day 4. Wind, nearly rain and a fair amount of hills were on today's list.
After the last days of having a nice sun and some warming temperatures, day four started freezing cold. The night before it was pouring cats & dogs and the temperature felt below 20°C. After the first meters I regretted to not have packed my jumper today and suffered this freezing cold environment the first two-third of the trip (while Phil was praising the Queen making this possible with her weather machine).
First we had our Good-Bye with Elisa whom took the opposite direction riding home. We were targeting into the north as we both agreed, that >150km were not possible, so the plan was a good 50km trip.
Of course we again jumped from shade to shade (in which the temperature dropped by another degree, ), but had a very good start and the first kilometers were a buzz. It was a constant up and down, but in a fair way, so again thanks to my miracle healing of my knee yesterday, we kept an high average. There was only one steep peak on the way, but that was later.
First we followed a couple with a nice pace which was interrupted by one of my bag which had mislaid itself in my wheel. So after fixing that we have started the pursuit again and got them after a few kilometers. We had a good speed and while climbing a steep hill, we were asked if we use electric support (of course not). Our app then suggested to leave the official track and to take another route where we were mostly alone enjoying the ride.
We saw again many "Schmetterling" but had not found any other insects...Strange thing, the world is really going down, as this was also the case the other days (ignoring the wasps when we went out for dinner).
Following the trail (I was surprised, there was no snow yet, that cold was the temperature felt) we reached the steep climb. It was really challenging but at the end there was a wide view with wind turbines and a long down hill path in front of us.
At the end of this descent, suddenly some drops of rain were falling down and we hoped for not getting wet. But the sun showed mercy and appeared from behind the clouds, warming up the air. Now it started to become cozy and warm enough (29°C+) for me to enjoy the day.
Beside a longer stop to charge up the mobile phone and exchange the current position with Elisa the last kilometers where really unsuccesful. We reached the train station in Lauda-Königshofen, booked a bike ticket (which would have been free, we found out later), went into a small coffee shot to enjoy some drinks and a cake and then took the train to Heidelberg.
The accommondation was again super comfortable (Thank you Sam for organizing and booking all this cool flats/hotels) and we prepared for going out for dinner to meet some friends of mine living nearby. We were in a very nice Korean restaurant with some really tasty food. After 3 hours of chit-chat, English lessons and a very good time, we took the obligatory photo from the Heidelberg bridge with the castle in the background and then went home and to bed.
One day left where we will ride to Frankfurt, then we will have a one day break for some Joomla! coordination.
