15 April Stage 6 Dusseldorf - Bad Honningen

Dep  1020     Arr  1730     Dist  114.6km  Ave  20.5 kph  On bike 5hr 35min    Beard coming on

Breakfast had been paid for in the hostel fee of 25 euros so I filled my boots, sort of. The coffee was fantastic, maybe because I hadn't had any for a while and it was in one of those flask things and it was help yourself. I had 3 or 4 cups and I must have had 8 or 9 rounds of toast as well, some with pate, some with cheese, some with jam. Continental breakfast rules! Before I left I checked on the internet and sorted my way out of Dusseldorf and vaguely planned the next 2 days.

The weather was cool and cloudy as I set off for the 4th consecutive day on the big ring. I managed to get out of Dusselfdorf OK and kept on main roads which were quiet with it being Sunday, as I only realised later. I hadn't planned to come this way so I didn't have very well prepared maps, just a list of towns on the route. When I was in any doubt I stopped and asked for the next town and people just kept pointing me in the direction I was going. Thankfully, I didn't go wrong too much. I stopped for lunch at a Turkish place and had chicken doner and chips. The lad din't understand my Turkish when I asked for tavuk. What chance have you got? There was loads so I took a doggy bag and really enjoyed the remains later. My route was generally a track alongside the main road through a lot of big towns and around cities like Leverkusen and Cologne but near the end the track ended up alongside the Rhine and took me through some beautiful little villages. There can't be many nicer places in the world than Erpel. I actually took a few photos which will appear on here one day.

I found the planned campsite at Bad Honningen which was a big  caravan type of site with almost everyone German. I was the only tent and I set up and found my way to the bar and asked for a beer. The standard measure is 0.2l which is less than a mouthful for me after 70 miles. I then asked for a large one and got 0.3l. The chap sussed I was English and got the FA cup 2nd/3rd place playoff between Chelsea and Spurs on the telly. I decided it was too windy to cook, honest, so I ordered some food off the seniors menu and they were worried that it was only a small portion of meat. They needn't have. It was tremendous. About 8 small pork steaks on a skewer with chips and rice with salad. Wunderbar, as they say. I finished off with a 0.5l bottle of weissbeer! When I had checked in I asked about charging phones and things and the girl said bring them to the office and I could collect them in the morning. I did that and got yed darn.

Today's Route