Tag 12 (Neuhermsdorf, DE; Thursday 99.04.22; distance = 95.1; time = 4:52;
odometer = 1347.2; max = 64) -- I got up reasonably early and got packed up
by 8:00. Annoyingly, there was no one around to give my key to.
Fortunately, the door to the bike room had the key in it. Oh well. I put my
key in the restaurant's lock, and off I went. I stopped at the micro
bakery, then at the post office. How can they get 5 post cards to 3
countries for 70 cents? Amazing! Then, up to the border. I had a choice of
two parallel roads -- one in DE, one in CR. I picked the DE route, and away
I went. I was riding along a creek valley. On the other side of the creek
was CR. I think my road was paved better and since it was a descent, it was
the right call. I stopped at a hardware store in Barenstein and bought some
grease, in case I felt like redoing last night's hub overhaul properly.
There was a wicked, long climb into Geyersdorf -- wicked because it was
long, steep and cobble stones! In Marienberg, I spotted an Imbiss stand
which featured Donar Kabati. Cool. This was run by Asians, and they made it
too oniony and too Chinese-tasting. Not bad, though, for 4 DM (~$2). More
cobble stones in this town. I stopped at a book store and bought a
1:200,000 scale map of NE Germany. I am convinced that good maps make cool
tours. (I must remind myself to pay whatever it takes to always have good
maps!) After all this good riding in Germany, I started to notice something
... there were no irritating bike path/sidewalks. The cars were not
Mercedes and BMWs. They were now VWs and Toyotas. Not only that, they were
extremely polite drivers -- like the Swiss. Hmm. AND when I rode by, people
greeted me with the regional greeting (which I think is "Guten Tag" here).
Everyone that I greeted responded. The buildings had an odd look to them,
too -- definitely German, but not so cutesy or perfect. I realized what had
happened -- I was not in the former BRD (West German). I was in the former
DDR (East Germany). The clincher was seeing some of those cars that you see
in spy movies, Latva or something. Hmm. These former Communists are much
cooler than their former Bavarian cousins. The route was pretty hilly with
map checks only every 5 km or so (pretty good for this area!). I was helped
by a nice tail wind in places. At one point, I came across a hilltop with a
totally cool wind mill farm. I've seen quite a few here. In the afternoon,
I was back at the Czech border. Following it, I was climbing now mostly in
beautiful forests. The traffic wasn't bad, and they were very courteous and
patient. Then I came across a bike path. It was well labeled and went where
I wanted to go -- along the border. What a perfect bike path! This didn't
parallel any road like Bavarian ones. This was more like a rails-to-trails
path -- exactly, in fact. It was perfectly paved and perfectly straight for
about 5 km. Then it had an option: go back on the road or go along the
border on a well-groomed dirt trail. I took the trail. Beautiful. There
were little concrete blocks scattered every 50 m or so along the creek --
these were the border markers. One hiking path had a little bridge with a
little border crossing sign. (I think you were supposed to check your own
passport there.) I passed a couple of nice-looking Gasthause. It was
getting very dark and rainy-looking. I wanted to go quite a bit further,
but I also didn't want to get wet. Eventually, I came to an old railway
station along the path that has been converted into a nice hotel. I
couldn't resist. For 10 DM, he had a bring-your-own-schlaf sack room. It's
pretty damn nice. The shower was great, and for another $6 or so, I had a
huge, delicious meal. I was the only guest. This place specializes in cross
country skiing. This is kind of a slow time for them. The owner was very
friendly and helpful, and his German was just like German should be -- no
funky dialect. He was pretty interested in my trip, and he was very proud
of the train station he converted. We talked for quite a while before I
headed off to my loft. And now, I'll do a bit of organizing and then a bit
of sleeping.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
