We had talked about our plans for the rest of the vacation and today was going to be our last day of riding. Since there was no train station in Amerongen, we will need to ride the last 14 km from Amersfoort to Amerongen. All of the train schedules from Basel put us into Amersfoort after dark making a single day trip impossible. We resolved to travel first to Düsseldorf, stay overnight and then travel on to Amersfoort the next day. We also planned a rest day in Amerongen,, a day to tour Amsterdam and a day for packing. This filled up the rest of our vacation. Hard to believe that four weeks was over so quickly.
The day was going to be hot again and we wanted to get an early start before the heat of the afternoon. We rolled into Bad Sackingen determined to find a internet connection and locate accommodations for the night. We found an internet cafe and I started to work on accommodations. Alex sat down to watch a soccer game that was playing on a large screen TV and was promptly given a betting sheet. Most internet cafes in Europe are not nice places to sip coffee but rather associated with the darker side of the internet such as gambling. In about 20 minutes I had found a Youth Hostel in Lorrach about ten or fifteen kilometers outside of Basel.
Our bike map is occasionally annoying when the proposed cycling route goes through a pedestrian zone. Riding in pedestrian zones is not allowed but is not uncommon. We preferred to avoid the wrath of the Germans and usually walked. The tandems were unwieldy when they were being walked. They are easy to push but if they load is not properly balanced, the weight can quickly pull the bike down. If you try to recover by lifting up on the handlebars, the front wheel will lift off the ground and the rear panniers will pull the rear of the bike over. In order to recover, you needed to press down on the front wheel and push or pull the bike back to center.
Once out of town the riding was easy. We arrived within 17 km of Basel around lunch time and ate leftover pizza for lunch. As we approached our lunch spot, I noticed a bike sign for Lorrach which was also 17 km away. I didn't know for sure but I though Lorrach was about 10 km outside of Basel. We had to make a choice between the 27 km route to Lorrach through Basel or the 17 km route directly to Basel. The map indicated that more direct route would be travel next to a river most of the way and transitioning from one river to another. There was clearly a hill there but we could not tell how large it was.
We decided to go directly to Lorrach and deal with the hills. I purchased a new map so we could navigate our route. We followed the bike path signs only to arrive at a spot where Lorrach was no longer on the destination signs. Without the bike routs signs, we had to follow the roads. We started along a highway that had a nice bike path and gradually rose. The bike path turned into a gravel path, then a single track and finally stopped. We were about 5 km away from our destination but the road was a two lane road with 70 km/h traffic. Traffic was steady but not heavy. The road also pointed upwards and rose well above the river that ran beside it. It was also about 2:00 PM and the temperature was in the low 30s. We had to make a decision. Turn around and travel about 35 km to Lorrach or push forward on a highway over a hill of unknown size.
We pushed forward. At the beginning, we believed the hill would soon end and we pushed hard to minimize the speed difference between us and the cars. We looked up the road and thought the hill must end soon. We rounded the first corner, no crest, we rounded the second corner, no crest. Soon we were in our granny gear struggling to keep moving and the hill continued upwards.
Turn after turn the hill continued and soon we were sweating profusely. I stopped to let the other tandem catch up but there was almost no shade to cool us down. The other tandem had given up on riding and started pushing the tandem up the hill. As I found out later, the only thing that kept the captain going was the visions of new shoes she would have when this was all over. Our tandem continued riding and I made some interesting discoveries. First, when I furrowed my brow, I could squeeze a 10 to 20 drops of sweat out of the padding on the inside front of my helmet onto the road.
Second, no matter how many times I lifted my glasses to wipe my brow I could not keep the sweat from rolling into my eyes and causing them to burn.. After about 20 minutes of good work, my stoker was done for the day and I had to pull both of us and our luggage up the hill.
As the say, all good things must come to an end and eventually we reached the top of the hill and waited for the other tandem to arrive. The other side of the mountain was just as steep and we blazed down the other side. Not sure how fast we were going but the cars who had a speed limit of 70 km/h didn't really find a pressing need to pass us. One or two did pass and pulled slowly away from us. Amazingly we were close to dry by the time we reached the bottom of the hill. I guess descending on a hot day is much like standing in front of a blow dryer.
At the bottom, of a hill we saw the telltale sign of a youth hostel and turn off the main road only to be faced with yet another hill. Finally we arrived at the Youth Hostel. Our last day of cycling ended with our largest challenge. On a bike ride that seemed to present challenges each day, the last day was no different from other days.
We reserved two days at the Youth Hostel. It would not be possible to take the train to Amersfoort the next day since we needed to make advance reservations for the bikes on the trains. The kids were elated to find a soccer and table tennis available at the Youth Hostel and a climbing forest (more on this later) right next door. We unpacked and had showers.
After dinner Alex played soccer and table tennis with Sarah. The parents rested on the balcony that overlooked the outdoor table tennis facilities and soccer fields as the kids played.
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