11 Aug 2011

Frankfurt to Heidelberg to Bretten (60 km)

Nothing like changing your mind at the last minute.  This is what Gina and I did this morning.  Rather than toss our last few items into our panniers and bike out the door onto the main cycle path leading out of Frankfurt and over toward the Rhine Castle region – as was our well-conceived plan last night – we spent a solid 45 minutes on the internet checking the weather forecast throughout southern Germany and her neighboring countries.  It’s not that we don’t have waterproof panniers and slightly less waterproof jackets because we do have those things and we are bound to need them over the course of the next 6 weeks, it’s just that we have a low tolerance for rain while cycling and an even lower one for starting out our trip that way, which looks to be the case should we stick to last night’s plan.  So this morning at 8 am we changed our plan and within an hour were on a south-bound regional train for Heidelberg.  No messing around, we have a Black Forest to see and with any luck one that we can view through sunglasses, not rain goggles.

The biggest stressor in all of this re-planning at the last second was really that it was taking away from my birthday.  I woke up this morning thinking that perhaps on this, my birthday day, I’d be merrily pedaling my way up the Rhine River, gasping at the beautiful castles studding her banks, maybe even sleeping in one tonight.  Instead, I spent my morning rushing to the train station, trying to squeeze my 400 pound bike up onto a high and narrow-doored train, sitting in the dirt to picnic not just once but twice, and sleeping in a no-name town somewhere many many miles south of the Romantic Rhine.  But in all fairness, our accommodations tonight are quite lovely as is the little town in which we will sleep and it was a great first day on the bike.  It’s been 3 years since we’ve bike toured in Europe and it only took 3 seconds for us to remember why we love it so – quiet roads and bicycle-only pathways through woods and farmland and should we make it far enough, mountains and river valleys.  Hard to beat that on a bike tour.  So Happy Birthday to me and pass me another one of those ice cream bars we picked up at the Norma for 49 Euro cents – I’ve earned it.