Woke up to a dry but grey day, packed in double quick time and got back on the road. Managed to navigate with some ease our way back onto the cycle route and headed to rejoin the Rhein. This involved a railway man opening a level crossing for us by telephoning ahead to check the line was clear. The path then went straight into a forest where we encountered what seemed like a whole school on an outing. Needless to say none of them felt that inclined to move and let us past. Nice to see German school kids are just like ours!
After negotiating the kids it was relatively straight forward to find the right path and continue to Dusseldorf. Despite it being another big city, the cycle route to the centre was very easy to follow. If only it hadn't now been persistently raining for a few hours the centre would have been very attractive. We made a stop at the tourist information office to see about some more maps and were directed to a large bookshop across town.
English books! Terrific news as I forgot to pack one! Plus we found a couple of map books that should get us to Basel.
Braving the continual rain we cycled out of Dusseldorf via an industrial estate and the container docks. Not exactly the correct route but we made it!
Unfortunately after a trouble free start to the day, the rest became a bit of a trial. The continual rain meant Debbie was freezing, I developed some kind of knee problem which made stopping and putting weight on it painful and when we found our proposed camp-site it was closed!
We had no choice but to make a dash for Koln and hope we could find a hostel/hotel where we could store the bikes. Obviously the cycle route signs disappeared and it was only by some luck that we found the right route into the city, via Ford cars land!
Desperation had clearly set in when we tried a Park Inn hotel, but they were full, or at least they didn't want us there! Still, they gave me a map and the rough location of a hostel nearby, so we set off once again across the city.
Fortunately the location was correct and the Hostel (Hotel is a better name) after a few mishaps with being charged for a single room when there was clearly two of us is warm, comfortable and has a garage for the bikes.
Staying put tomorrow to sightsee Koln and give my leg and a very tired Debbie a rest!
Milestone reached, my cycle computer went through the 500km mark. Only have to do this 39 times more and we might be in South Africa!
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