A quick glimpse of the city from an angle we did not see last night.

The day started with beautiful, sunny, clear skies and 61 degreesas we biked along the Elbe.

Our first (and worst) climb came in the first hour, after that, the hillsides faded into the distance and then totally flattened towards the end of the day. Of course, some of the small towns we went through along the way, perched themselves higher than floodwaters (so they hoped).It may not look perched, but you have to downshift to get into town and that counts as a climb……and we count every incline to the top of a dike, a climb too.

The morning was beautiful as the air remained cool.

For the blog, we tend to pick the “prettiest” pictures, none doctored and many taken while we are pedaling.  So thought we’d treat you to real life; even with a view of a castle out of your window, you still have to do laundry.Around 1:00 and after 50 miles, we did lunch and a grocery store for more liquid.  With the sun shining on the open plains and dry air, we couldn’t drink enough water.  A few times we were cooled by a bit of shade.But a couple of hours later, we started hunting more liquid.   The afternoon had become hot,we were running low and had miscalculated our destination distance.  Shortly before 4:00 we found a small pension with an even smaller bar, but the beer and water were cold and much needed.  Best of all, the proprietor knew the bike course, a ferry (we were supposed to take) that was broken and a couple of hints to streamline our last 40 km.  The stork nest was just a bonus.

As a note to the ride: Yesterday, Jerry asked me if I wanted to do 70 miles and i said ‘no thank you’; what i should have followed up with, is ‘no, i would prefer to do LESS.

But all was good, despite the heat we maintained an aggressive pace (we felt good) and the scenery kept pace, too.By the time we reached our destination, we’d had eight hours in the saddle and had done 95 miles.  We were done!  However, since our chief navigator and hotel picker found a great hotel in the middle of the square, we managed a couple of pictures before dinner and bed.