2014-03-29 48 8

Location

On a path near Waldprechtsweier

Participants

DODO

Plans

To start now (13:30) from home on bull and try to be there at 4pm. Coming home by train from Ettlingen or Karlsruhe.

Expedition

OK, weather is great, it's Saturday afternoon and I don't have to go rowing (although I planned to), because daylight-saving time starts this weekend and so I can do so in the evening during the week.

There are two possible hashpoints, one (48,8) with a 70 KM ride, the other (49,9) with a 80 KM ride (but a closer trainstation). Its already half past one and obviously to late to reach any of them by bike, but the bull is well fed and I want to try how far the battery will last. I decided to go southwards, what came out as a good decision, as the wind came from the north.

Shortly after I crossed the river Rhine I saw some storks that welcomed me with a adequate chatter. Then I had to leave the Rhine and ride through prosper landscape and villages, most of the time on well maintained cycle tracks. After a while I came along a forest which was completely covered with bear's garlic. Of course I couldn't resist and made rich pickings.

After that I crossed Karlsruhe-Durlach with its old houses and towers and headed on to Ettlingen with its big castle. It was already quarter to four and so I had to hurry to reach the hash (half way) in time. And so I did. Supported by the wind and the bull I reached maximum speed over 48 KM/h. But at four o'clock I had just reached Malsch. From here it was still a little bit (in the end very steep) hill to the hash. Ten minutes later I reached some stairs, but the hash was just 100 m away, and so I decided to stake the bull and go the rest by foot. The hash itself was rather boring, a way crossing between some wood, a house with a garden and sports ground. Since little DODO died (as I must confess to myself) on 2014-03-16 I just left a mark on the ground and left (and even forgot to take a picture of myself). Well grief...

The hill after the long ride afflicted the bull and he says, he had just 15 KM to go, but downhilling lightened up his mind a little. Nevertheless, the way back to Ettlingen leads against the wind now, and we both had to fight. So we allowed ourselves a pause and some food (at least for me), before we tackled the last 7 Kilometers to Karlsruhe main station.

Lucky enough, 15 minutes later a train to Speyer took us home (the bull still could go 10 KM). And even more lucky, some football supporter (1. FC Kaiserslautern player 2:2 against Karlsruhe) shared the cabin with me and offered me some beer.