Sanding Sandy

Short cruise 3

Our trip home Tuesday was one for the memory bank. Sailing S with a N wind 15-20 kts, we were at Carina's hull speed almost the whole way down the Intracoastal Waterway. We never even raised the main; just charged south with jib alone. The harder the wind blew, the better we liked it. Home by early afternoon.

Wednesday I went to the DMV to get the dinghy motor-legal. I expected a problem getting it registered since I have no papers showing that I own it, but they registered it and gave me a title just on my say so.

We enjoyed this little cruise: No hardships, pretty good weather, no major problems with the boat, comfortable sleeping at marinas, and good food ashore. We came back with a medium-long list of maintenance and improvement items. Last winter I had a list as long as my arm and checked off every single item.

Back to boatbuilding

A long while since I upddated the boatbuilding part of the blog, but I have not been idle. 

After the last reported step of glueing the planks together, carefully skipping over the copper wires to avoid cementing them in place, I pulled the wires from along the keel and fiberglassed the middle two planks. Near the stern I widenened the fiberglass to cover two additional planks on each side. That proved difficult because the cloth did not want to stick to the corners where overlapping planks meet, and left bubbles I could not get rid of. That worried me, but in the end it just meant that a few spots had to be ground out and refilled.

Once the fiberglass cured, I was able to pull out all the rest of the wires. The next step was to go back and refill the seams with epoxy. But before I could do that I spent several hours sanding, grinding and shaping the first coat of glue so that the seams would come out looking neat and uniform. In particular, I worked on the "gains" at the bow where the overlapping seams taper to a smooth surface.

Yesterday, December 10, I filled all the wire holes and then put the second bead of glue along each of the ten seams, followed by a coat of epoxy over the whole exterior of the hull. The pictures show the before and after of that last step.

Today is too cold for epoxy or boatbuilders to work, but yesterday's epoxy had cured so I looked over the whole bottom and marked spots which need filling or extra sanding. It still needs a lot of work, but already looks pretty good.

The jigsaw-puzzle joints in the planks are smooth but conspicuous, so finishing the exterior bright (varnished) is not an option. She'll be painted. But I will try to work neatly enough that most of the interior can be varnished. 

If I put her in the water now, she'd float and not leak, so I guess she's actually a boat.

Next step will be to turn her over and work on the inside.

short cruise 2

Saturday, Nov. 26
Couldn't have had a better sailing day. Sunny, 70's, fresh wind SE as we headed N. Covered the 15 mi. to Tarpon Spgs in 4 hrs., which for Carina is freefall speed.

We docked at Tarpon Springs City Marina, on the Sponge Docks. Took a walk along the main drag. Still a busy strip of T-shirt, sponge and shell shops, along with many Greek restaurants and hawkers gathering passengers for the sponge boat excursions. Not high culture, but fun. Back aboard for reading and a nap, then dinner at Mykonos, our favorite Greek place.

Across the sreet from the marina is a Greek taverna with an open front and a good sound system. It was Greek kareoke night, which lasted until 2:15 a.m. You can imagine.

Sunday, Nov. 27
I took the bike parts ashore and assembled it, just a 10-minute job, and we rode one mile to Sunday Mass. We opted for breakfast aboard, including some Greek pastries we picked up last night.
Later we cranked up the dinghy and explored they bayous and springs. On the way back we were stopped by a FDLE police boat, who noticed we had no registration number displayed. I explained we'd just bought the motor (slight exaggeration) and although we have had the dinghy 30 years or more, had never registered it because a small rowboat didn't require it. We got off with a warning, but talking with them about the registration process made me realize we may not be able to document ownership. If that's the case, will need a new dinghy. And in any case, I'll have to get right with the law and register all our fleet of small boats.

Greek kareoke doesn't go late on Sundays, thank God.

Monday, Nov. 28
The forecast was for a front to come through this afternoon, shifting the SW wind arond to NW and N. We motored out the Anclote River and across St. Joseph Sound to the Intracoastal channel near Anclote Key. We'd intended to anchor at Anclote, and the S. end of the island gave good protection, but with a shift to the N we'd have been exposed to a strong wind and to a lee shore. So we continued to Three Rooker Bar, which had just the opposite features: would give good protection from the NW or N, but was exposed and choppy this afternoon. So onward. We decided to anchor offshore at Dunedin, but were able to get a slip for the night. By the time the front arrived: a vicious blast of NW wind, a hard short rain, and a drop in the temperature into the 60's. But by then we were tied up and snug

Off on a short cruise

Boatbuilding will have to take a breather. S and I will celebrate Thanksgiving with about six days aboard Carina.

Thursday, Nov. 22:
Away from the dock about 10:30 with clear sky and east wind about 10 kts. Temp in low 60's. A good sail from Treasure Island Causeway to John's Pass, and again at the outer channel marker as we headed northwest along the coast. When the coastline curved northward and the wind died, we powered the rest of the way to Clearwater Pass. What wind there was felt cold when it became cloudy, and the last part of that leg got pretty choppy. We were glad to get inside to calm waters. another few miles took us to our objective,  Dunedin Marina, before sunset. We opened a nice bottle of St. Emelion and relaxed a while, then grilled a T-bone steak for our Thanksgiving dinner. Rolled out our sleeping bags and sljept like stones.

Friday, Nov. 23:
A few problems cropped up yesterday. Although I'd filled the water tanks two days ago, they were empty. I know where the water went because I had to pump the bilge frequently, but I didn't know why. This morning I refilled the tanks to try to find where the leak was coming from. All I could see was that water was flowing from the direction of the starboard tank. It feeds the faucet through a common line, so if one tank empties, they both do. I pulled the hose and bypassed the starboard tank, refilled the port one, and problem solved. We only have 10 gallons instead of 20, but we also have some jugs of water, so we have plenty for this trip. At home I'll tear the forepeak apart to get at the starboard tank. My guess is there's a leaking connection at the tank's exit, but I can't get at it now.

Also, the new automatic bilge pump wasn't working at all. I found a loose wire which put it back in commission to the extent of running when I hold the switch. It still doesn't automatically run when the flapper floats up. Another job for home.

Also, the battery voltage was lower at the end of the day, even after running the engine for several hours. Some problem with the alternator, evidently. I hooked up to shore power and charged the batteries. Should be OK for this trip because we don't use much juice: autopilot, phone chargers, and LED cabin lights. Again, it's on the to-do list for home.

Those chores took part of the day, then we relaxed, read, and napped.

We'd wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner at a good restaurant ashore, but had learned none were open. So we did our shore dinner tonight, at the Black Pearl, a real cloth tablecloth place. An extraordinarily good dinner: duck for S, lamb for me. Good dinner and a good day.

Boatbuilding Part 4

 Now She has a name. Despite all the exposed copper wire ends poking holes in my hands and arms, she will not be Porcupine. I wanted to name the sharpie skiff after my girl, but she declined. I must have caught her at a weak moment, because she agreed that the new boat will be... Sandy.

I've been lazy with the blog about boatbuilding, mostly because it has not had many challenges. Anyway, here's a summary of the project to date:

10-22 Received the kit from Chesapeake Light Craft.

10-27 (interim was site prep and erecting the "little white house" shelter) glued up the four scarfed rub rail 8' sections into two 16-footers. They will go onto the boat later in two layers on each side.

10-28 Started gluing the plank halves into twelve 16' planks.

10-29 Did another few planks. Not enough room on the shop table to do all them at once.

10-31 Ditto

11-1 Sanded the planks. Stitched the two garboard planks together with copper wire every 5". Assembled and glued the four frames and bulkheads.

11-2 Stitched the rest of the starboard side planks, sanded the frames, ordered more copper wire.

11-3 Stitched port planks, drew bow planks together and stitched them to form a stem.

11-4 Stitched the port side of the transom, rounded the edges of the two foot braces with the router.

11-5 Stitched the rest of the transom, rounded rowing seat pieces, rounded frames and bulkheads, rounded breast hook and quarter knees.

11-6 Fitted and glued the breast hook and quarter knees.

11-7 Removed screws from above- that's all I did.

11-8 Stitched the frames and bulkheads in place.

11-9 Turned the boat over, tightened the stitches along the keel and the next two planks on each side.

11-10 Tightened the wires on all the rest of the plank seams, frames, bulkheads, and stem. There are over 400 stitched wire connections, and a somewhat smaller number of holes in my fingers, hands and arms.

11-11 Day off.

11-12 There is no provision in the plans for a bow fitting. I really need to have a sturdy fitting midway up the stem to which I can secure the winch cable and use my rollers to get the boat up from the beach to a cradle ashore. And there is no solid stem to fix hardware to. The solution I devised is to cut a slot in the planks at the stem, insert a stainless steel tang, 1/8" x 1", the inside end of which I twisted 90 degrees to lie flat and be bolted to the forward seat. The seat will be fiberglassed in permanently, so it will be a secure anchor for the bow tang. Today I fashioned the tang and cut the slot.

11-13 Turned the boat bottom up on two carefully levelled and parallel saw horses to keep it in the right shape to glue the seams together. Glued the keel seam and one plank on each side.

11-14 Glued the rest of the planks together, being carefull to do a neater job than yesterday, when I left myself with a lot of sanding to do.

Boatbuilding pt. 3

The two midship frames are wired in. Likewise the bulkhead frames which will support the bow and stern seats. The breasthook in the bow, and the quarter knees,  are screwed and glued in place. It doesn't show in the picture, but I have put a thick fillet of epoxy in the bow to take the place of a solid stem, and a similar fillet between the sides and the transom.

So far the project is straightforward. The instructions are B+ clear, and all the precut pieces fit precisely. No great skill required, but I would never attempt such a complex hull shape except through a kit like this. 

Boatbuilding Pt. 2

  Although the boat's design is called "Chester Yawl", that does not  imply a yawl sailing rig, or any sailing rig at all. The word yawl, especially on the Chesapeake, can also mean a general utility boat.

I have made good progress. Each of 12 pre-cut planks came in two pieces which mated in a jigsaw puzzle pattern. I just needed to glue and clamp  them, which took about three days. Then boatbuilding could start in earnest. I stitched the planks all together with copper wire about every 5" along each joining edge. As usual, I got the hang of that just about when the task was done. After all the planks were together, the assembly looked more like a tamale than a boat, but when I pulled the bow ends of the planks together and stitched them, I could see a hint of what the result might be.

Building a new boat, a Chester Yawl

In 1996 I Built a 16' rowing boat, a Gloucester Light Dory, which the designer, Phil Bolger, said was his ticket into heaven. It was a joy to row and own, but since then, Bolger has gone to heaven. And last spring the dory did, too.

I have been looking for a new rowing boat to build, and this time around I have two new specs on my wish list: The boat needs to sit level in the water ("trim") with me rowing and my favorite 116# passenger seated in the stern. And if possible, the boat should accommodate our 3 1/2 h.p. outboard as an alternative to always using it for rowing. I settled on a traditional whitehall style 15' boat which I can get as a kit from Chesapeake Light Craft. Check it out at www.clcboats.com

To prepare the "boatyard" patio as a site to build the boat, I moved a fence in the front yard, cleared a space for our boat trailer, put down a paver pad for the trailer, and rehabilitated the patio by replacing broken concrete pavers and turning over all the pavers so the 60-odd year old weathered sides were down.  A lot of work, done while it was still full-on summer weather.

I bought a 16'x12' canopy  with sides and ends, and erected it in the boatyard, to provide shade, shelter, and protection for the boat, tools, and the builder.  S calls it the "little white house".

The kit arrived 10-22, and I started building as soon as the canopy was up.

Although the design is traditional, the materials and building methods are throughly modern. The boat is to be built by stitching together plywood planks with copper wire, adding a few internal frames, and then holding it all together with fiberglass and epoxy.

Through end of trip, 8-30-18

Our final day of cycle touring took us as far as Bramsche, in northern Germany. From there we packed up the bike and took a train to Copenhagen. Four trains, actually. Travelling by air is easy with our two bike cases, 50# each, and two sports bag carry-ons, given adequate connection time.  You can catch a train most anywhere in Europe, and the stations are in the city or town centers. But otherwise train travel is more difficult. Most train stations have stairs to climb or descend. With heavy bags that's a workout. Boarding a train is a scramble to quickly find the right car, hoist our bags aboard, find a place to stash the bags, and find our assigned seats. We learned not to buy first class tickets because there is a better than even chance we'll never get to the right seats. Flying has its own challenges, but in the future we'll fly if practicable.

We spent an overnight in Copenhagen. Throughout the trip we treated ouselves to good hotels, but in Copenhagen they are crazy expensive- 300 to 500 euros for 3-star places that would cost 100-150 elsewhere.  So we were at bare-bones but centrally located Hotel Loeven. The next morning was free so we spent it at Tivoli Garden, the old and famous garden/amusement park in the center of the city. Very low key and enjoyable. People stroll the gardens and relax at cafes more than rush to the rides. Some of the rides are scary to see from the ground, especially knowing that some of them are old.

In the afternoon we picked up a rental car only a block from the hotel and drove to Sweden in the rain over a long causeway. Three hours of driving got us to a B&B.

The next morning was spent at Karlskrona, which has been a Swedish navy base and town since the 17th century. They still build submarines and warships there. We spent a long while at the excellent maritime museum featuring ship models as much as 400 years old, a 70's-era submarine powered by Stirling engines (somehow they operate without the need for air), a fleet of 30' open sailing/rowing longboats which we saw getting underway, and a shed which the navy used for winter storage of ships' boats since the 1700's. They have a collection of longboats, gigs, sloop-boats and dinghies built 1820-1900. There's more there, but we ran out of time.

In 1981 Karlskrona had its 15 minutes of fame when a Russian submarine, probing Swedish defense capability, ran aground and was stuck. The Swedes wouldn't let them go and I remember it as a top news story. In the end they settled it at the highest diplomatic level.

Two hours of driving got us to the island of Oland for our week-long tandem bike rally.  At the previous two international rallies we'd shared houses or cabins with our Canadian and American friends, Rob and Nancy, and Graham and Edie. This time we were late signing up so we had a small, small, cabin to ourselves. I reassembled the bike and got ready to ride.

This was our third International Tandem Rally, so we knew to expect a loosely organized event put on by and mainly for the Tandem Club in England. No set starting times for rides, so you either find someone to ride with or ride alone. This time they outdid themselves with lack of organization: no ride maps. We do have a Garmin GPS and they sent out .gpx files for various routes, but not until we were touring in Europe with no way to download them. In short, we came 6000 miles to ride at an event without no guidance  when or where or with whom to ride. Riding alone wasn't an option even if we wanted to, which we didn't. Luckily, we were able to tag along with Rob and Graham et uxoribus or with our Aussie friends John and Rosemarie Gilpin, and rode all six days of the rally. Despite the rally's shortcomings we managed to have fun, and it was very good to see old friends again.

The dry summer and the heat wave are in the past. For the rally week it was in the 50's and 60's, more cloudy than not. Rain was forecast for two of the days, but not enough fell to keep us from riding.

Oland is a long, narrow, flat island with a bridge to the mainland. A few patches of forest, spots of tillable land, but otherwise pastures and barren land. Miles and miles of stone walls, about half of which are skillfully built dry walls of dressed stone and the other half ancient loose walls of stones and boulders dragged out of fields. They represent a lot of work over many centuries. The island has been inhabited for over 1000 years. We saw a runestone with what we were told is a bardic poem carved on it. At another place there was a Viking graveyard with stones arranged in the shape of a ship. Oland is sparsely populated and on most of the island there is no place to stop and get food or drink. In the late 1800's half the population emigrated to America. There are hundreds of small windmills. A couple of small fishing villages, but there aren't many fish in the Baltic.

On one of the rally days we took a ferry across to the mainland town of Kalmar to do a ride in that area. While there we had the tourist info office book us what we thought was going to be a B&B for the Saturday night after the rally ended. Turned out to be a youth hostel. They were proud to offer us their primo room: even had its own bathroom. But it was even smaller than our little cabin on Oland and had bunk beds. We survived.

We spent that Saturday afternoon at Kalmar, seeing their castle which saw plenty of action in the many wars between Denmark and Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries. We also went to a museum with an abundance artifacts from a Swedish warship which sank in the 1600's and still lies on the bottom, near Oland. The wreck wasn't located until the 1970's and archaeologists are still diving and recovering artifacts every summer.

In general, Swedes do not go to church, and those who do are not Catholic. But we found a small Catholic church in Kalmar with a lively congregation which packed the small building. The priest read the gospel in English as well as Swedish. They had good music, too, led by a young lady on a violin. All told we found churches on 9 of the 10 Sundays on the trip. We try to do that when we travel. Besides the usual reasons for going to church, it gives us a peek at the local people and culture.

After church on Sunday, we drove most of the way back to Copenhagen, staying at a farm B&B outside the town of Ystad. I've been reading a Swedish murder mystery- in translation of course- set in Ystad. In the book the detective takes his would-be sweetie out to see the sights including a medieval castle and a Viking graveyard. So Monday that's what we did, too. Both of them are very interesting places. The detective did not win the girl's heart, but luckily I won my girl's, some time ago.

Monday afternoon in Copenhagen we turned in the rental car. Tuesday we took a city tour. Yes, we saw the Little Mermaid, and the famous/notorious Christiana commune. We were to see the changing of the guards at the Queen's palace; it coincided with the arrival of French Pres. Macron on a state visit, and the crowd was immense, so we didn't see much of that except a line of horses in special regalia. After the tour we visited the national art museum. A few wonderful pieces and a fair quantity of pretty good stuff. Tuesday we planned to take an afternoon cruise on a sailing ship, but found out their season was over two weeks ago. Instead, we sent the morning at the 17th-century King's Palace. Overwhelming collection of royal trinkets of jewels, gold and silver, as well as magnificent pieces of bronze, wood, amber and ivory. More impressive than any treasury we've seen, including the Hapsburg palace in Vienna, the Tower of London, or the Chinese royal palace collection in Taipei. How do kings get so overwhelmingly wealthy in societies where most everyone else is poor? Could say the same for church weath, too. A marvel what people put up with, sometimes. We also visited the Queen's palace, a boring museum of recent royal family doings. Finally, we took an excellent one-hour boat ride around the harbor and canals.

Copenhagen is an appealing city. The core  is small and a large proportion of the people are on bikes. Not as much a bicycle city as Amsterdam, but close. Even so, the traffic is heavy. The combination of bike lanes everywhere and a compact city center make cycling practical (maybe not in winter, I don't know). In the U.S. the attraction of bicycles and even mass transit is limited by the way cities have grown: all spread out.

So now we're flying home. Nine countries, ten weeks. Many miles on our bike, maybe 2000, in nearly every imaginable conditions. The bike served us well- no major mechanical problems, and few minor ones. We saw and did so much that was new, interesting and fun that it all jumbles together in memory. We talk about incidents and can't recall where they happened. Glad I kept the blog. Our bodies held up pretty well. It will be good to get home, but we'll miss the travelling. And the desserts.

P.S.: The trip home was almost as demanding as any of the cycling. We flew from Copenhagen and changed planes in Brussels with just enough time to make the connection on a run. Then at Chicago we had one hour to walk about a mile, clear immigration, claim our checked bags (the two bike cases), go through customs, recheck the bags, take a shuttle bus several miles to another terminal, go through security, and hike to our gate. We made it just as they were closing the plane's door. I offered to bet Sandy our bags weren't on board, but she correctly declined. The bike cases were delivered to the house the next morning. Note to self- arriving in U.S. with a connecting flight home, insist on three hours connection time.

Wed. 8-15 to Bramsche

The last day of this bike tour- half day, really. Bramsche is a good short ride and it has a train station so we can go to Copenhagen tomorrow.

Before leaving, we met an interesting man from Cameroon, now living in Munster. He and his German wife are finishing a 4-day bike tour with their 10- and 12-year old kids. Nice kids with excellent English.

The day started cloudy and in the low 60's; we wore arm warmers for the whole ride. Our route was almost entirely rural, with rolling hills and woodland.

Saw one curious thing today: two wind-power turbines facing the opposite direction, both turning. The wind was light. Never seen that before.

In the town of Bramsche we checked out the train station and schedule and rode to our hotel, 1 km away.  Almost walking distance with our rolling suitcases, but not quite. We'll take a taxi in the morning. A simple but good hotel room on the ground floor with a terrace I used to disassemble the bike and pack it for travelling.

It's a funny feeling after two months on the road to be done with the bike tour. This has been a very good tour. We both have the sense we can't do this forever, but weren't physically challenged. We got a good feel for parts of Germany, Austria and Hungary, with bits of other countries. Lots of good food. Between that and beer, Germans tend to roundness, for good reason.

On to the next adventure, a tandem bike rally in Sweden next week. I don't expect much bloggable news before we fly home 8-31, but if I'm wrong I'll post it.

Tue. 8-14 to Tecklenburg

Rained hard while we ate breakfast, but only dripping as we rode out of Munster. Very cool and damp. Again on a Google-prescribed route, we rode for a long way along a canal. The path was smooth gravel but muddy, so we and the bike got splattered generously. Around noon we started to get a misty drizzle but we avoided it at a conveniently located gasthof where we lunched on one more pork schnitzel. This one was different, with pears and cheese. After a few more km we reached the outskirts of Tecklenburg and got a reminder of what "burg" means: castle. They didn't build castles on the low spots. Not a mountaintop, actually, just a medium sized steep hill. We struggled to the top to a surprise- our hotel is in a quaint old tourist-popular small town built beside the site of the old castle, now a large manor house. An interesting spot and a good hotel, marred only by an extra slow internet connection. Tomorrow will have a fast downhill start!

Tecklenburg pic

One of the more crooked half-timbered 16th century buildings in Tecklenburg.

Monday, 8-13 to Munster

In a light rain, we rode into town to breakfast at a cafe. By the time we were finished it was chilly enough to wear rain jackets, but no rain.

Today we tried something new. Instead of following the convoluted EuroVelo route, we just plugged in our destination on Google Maps for a cycling route and followed that. We all have our stories about crazy directions from Google, but I think they are getting better, and today's directions were fine. It put us on bike paths alongside secondary highways, country lanes, and pedestrian/bike streets in the towns. A very pleasant three hour ride, with no further rain, and the distance was just what Google said. Munster is a good sized working city, with more bikes than anywhere we've seen except the Netherlands (and China in the 90's), but we didn't see much of it because the weather worsened, and we stayed close to our hotel.

A word about highway advertising signs in the European countries we've ridden through on this trip: none. Makes for a different landscape.

Sunday 8-12 to Offen

Our plan for the day was a 4 hour ride to the town of Olfen. For the first time ever, we booked an Air B&B: right place, right price.

Our chief initial concern was we might be too early for a 2 p.m. check-in time, but after a short distance we got our first flat tire: one of the trailer tires was so worn it was punctured by some small thing we never did find. So I replaced both trailer tires with the new ones we've been carrying. Mounting the 12" tires, it is difficult because to stretch the little things to get them onto the rims. I mounted the first one OK, but managed to put a hole in the tube of the second one, and had to start over. The whole process took nearly an hour, so we weren't so worried about being too early.

We had a good lunch stop at a big and popular biergarten, but as we continued it became obvious I'd underestimated the day's distance. Following the EuroVelo route there is no way to accurately measure the distance prospectively, and the designers of the route were more concerned about keeping us away from busy roads- any roads, actually- than about getting us to point B. And at one point we had to disassemble our rig andd haul it up a short but steep dirt slope to get back on the right route. After five hours we still had a good way to go. Then with only 8 km to go we ran into a bridge out. On the bike we can get around a lot of construction blockages, but there was no arguing with this one. As we were scratching our heads for a workaround, we met up with a scruffy man on foot who led us back to a signboard with a local map. His English was nil but he made a great effort to show us what roads to take to another bridge. After it finally dawned on me what he was suggesting, we thanked him and went on our way.

An hour later we were finally at our destination, but the day's challenges weren't over. It seems I'd booked the Air B&B room for next Sunday. But the hosts took pity on us and let us stay. A very nice apartment, actually. And a lot better than our fallback, which was none. Don't know where we'd have laid our heads. We always joke about sleeping under a bridge, but never have come so close.

We rode the bike a short distance into the center of town and were enjoying a pizza when who should come by but the man who helped us back at the bridge. We bought him a drink and a pizza. Turns out he is homeless, but my German wasn't good enough to understand much more than that. Didn't even find out how he got to Olfen himself. It was good to be able to repay him something for his kindness.

Not our favorite day. We don't really have a destination now. We're just heading NE until after Wednesday. Wherever we are, we'll take a train from there. We're determined to make the last few days on the road easy ones.

Saturday, 8-11 to Schermbeck

A cool day. Never above about 70F, and S even wore arm warmers all morning.

Milestone: we crossed the Rhine for the last time (at least this trip) and struck out to the east on a new Eurovelo route.

Unlike yesterday, our ride was mostly in the country, and a lot of it was on small country roads instead of bike paths. We hope that continues. Pleasureable riding and we make a bit better time.

The only significant towns we passed through are ones you never heard of: Rhineburg, Wesel, and the one where we're staying, Schermbeck. We rolled in here about 2 p.m., had lunch in a local bakery/cafe which made us good sandwiches, and found that our little hotel was locked and dark. We killed time by going down to the parish church to see what their Mass schedule was, and by the time we returned the hotel was open for the afternoon. After our regular routine of shower, wash out bike clothes, and a nap, we walked down to the church for their vigil service and then back to our hotel/restaurant for dinner. The specialty of the place is potatoes, but don't laugh. We had a fine dinner of calves liver, mushroom cream sauce, salad, and 4 kinds of potatoes. Life is good.

Early on I was worried about the degree of wear on the trailer's tires, at least until I found and bought a couple of spares to hold in reserve. The tires have lasted this far but the left one is finally showing fabric through the tread. Don't know if they will last these final few days, but if not we'll be glad we've hauled the spares all along.

Fri., 8-10 to Kamp-Lintfort

We crossed the Rhine back and forth Friday, and until we crossed to the west side for the final time the ride was all urban. Dusseldorf is a big city, and it blends into Duisburg. We've gotten pretty good at riding in cities. For one thing, all the main streets have bike lanes or bike paths. Small streets are easy riding. There are few stop signs in the cities, but lots of stop lights, including lights for bikes. German cyclists almost all wait for green lights, even when it is obviously safe to proceed. We do the same, out of respect for their compliant custom, but it makes for slow going. And our tandem has a lot of momentum to overcome every time we make a fresh start. So be it.

Friday's ride had every imaginable road condition. City bike lane, gravel dike, cinder track alongside railroad (unrideable), an overgrown bike path 6" wide, country road with no lane, rural path beside a highway, and our favorite: road with painted bike lane.

Our hotel is a 3-star in the pretty modern town of Kamp-Lintfort, quite a way off our route, but the only place available at the right distance. Actually, I'd underestimated the distance today, as usual. We were aiming for four hours on the bike but actually did five.

If I did not have the app which shows our position and a GPS track of the route, there is no chance we could have done today's ride with just the text directions in our guidebook for the Rhine route. We'd have been constantly lost. As it was, we got off-route several times, but were able to quickly correct.

We are getting down to it: next Thursday we need to take a train to Copenhagen. Meanwhile, we'll continue our leisurely tour in that direction.

The weather has changed dramatically. Instead of mid-90's, today was in the 70's. S even wore arm warmers until noon.

Thur. 8-9 to Dusseldorf

Been lax on the blog; not very much to report, but I did make notes.

We're moving into northern Germany, past the romantic Rhine scene with all the castles. We're now in the region which explains our negative balance of trade.

I told S we were approaching the industrial center of Leverkusen. She made a face, so henceforth we have replaced the word industrial with cultural. Nevertheless, we later passed a sign for an industriekultur area. Can't win.

Thursday's route was mostly urban, through the industrial areas of Cologne/Koln, Leverkusen, and Dusseldorf. Just one cornfield that day. Riding on the east side of the Rhine. Few touring cyclists. Just for once, we reached our destination, a fine boutique hotel in a not-so-fine area of the big city of Dusseldorf, sooner than I'd estimated. After a shower and rest, we went out to find that there'd been a surprise rain shower. But it was only still dripping rain and we walked a couple of blocks to buy S a replacement for her lost sunglasses. Then on to a bike shop which had neither of the items on our wish list: black handlebar tape, and maybe cycling shoes for D. Dinner at a nearby brewery/restaurant. I made the mistake of asking the waiter for his recommendation for a beer, assuming they have many creations like American brew pubs do. Turns out, they have one beer, unchanged since 1838. Good, too.

Dutch boat?

Wed. 8-8 at Cologne

Our hotel is about 800 meters from the center of the old town, so we rode the bike to our first destination, Cologne's fine art museum. Not too large, but an excellent collection of European art. In particular, they have some great items from the late middle ages. After lunch and a bit longer at that museum we rode a few blocks to another of Cologne's landmarks, the Gross St. Martin church, built before 1200 and therefore a different style from most medieval cathedrals. We were there only a half hour, but that was long enough for someone to steal from the bike the bracket to hold my cell phone while riding. Not an expensive item, but I depend heavily on the phone for navigating on our route and it would be a pain in the neck to have to carry the phone in my pocket. Fortunately, I was able to find a bike shop which referred me to a more distant bike shop which did have one such bracket in stock. A happy ending to a sad story. I had stripped everything else off the bike. Never occurred to me someone would know what the phone bracket was, much less want to take it. Sadder but wiser now.

Another thing we learned today is to wear bike shorts even for short outings.

There was rain early this morning and it never got hot today. I hope the heat wave has broken.

Monday 8-6 to Porz

Today's route finally took us across the the east side of the Rhine in order to bypass the urban area of Bonn. An uneventful but enjoyable ride before the heat of the day, mostly along the riverside. We've moved beyond the most picturesque part of the Rhine into the more densely settled and more industrial north. Still pleasant, though. At one point when we stopped to double check our route an aggressively helpful German man  insisted that we continue along the river when our directions clearly indicated we needed to turn inland. Following our sister-in-law Sarah's dictum "Just say yes", we thanked him for his help and took a water break until he was out of sight, then continued on our correct way.

We stopped in a suburb of Cologne; could have continued to the city center but it would have been an extra hour of riding, and we aren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Our hotel is fine except no A/C and no fans. i.e., not so fine. We survived, and had a good dinner in a Biergarten.

The general scene all along the Rhine has been people getting out and enjoying themselves. Each town has a promenade along the river and a dock for the many small tour boats. There are many campgrounds with people in small travel trailers seemingly installed for the summer. Lots of cafes and gelato. Eating out means eating outdoors.

There is much more marine traffic on the Rhine than on the Danube. Big motorized barges carrying bulk cargo or sometimes oil are almost always in sight. They are mostly manned by families. On one we saw an above-ground pool on the after deck. There seems to be a protocol that sometimes the ships pass starboard-to-starboard; I haven't figured it out. The river is currently low, but even so it flows fast.

Tuesday 8-7 to Cologne

It was forecast to be the hottest day in several years, perhaps 97F. We responded by making it a very short ride into the city of Cologne and checking into an air conditioned hotel, even if it was an unromantic Marriott.

We took a guided tour of the Cologne Cathedral, which we thoroughly enjoyed. There is a lot to see we wouldn't have noticed without the guide. The church is named after St.Peter but the theme throughout is the Three Magi Kings. They have a large golden shrine with relics brought back from the Holy Land by crusaders representing the three kings. Particularly emphasized by the Holy Roman Emperors to associate themselves with Christianity. The church was begun in the 1200's, uncompleted in the 1500's when $ ran out. In the 19th century, after German unification, the Kaiser sponsored its completion as a matter of national pride, using the rediscovered original plans on parchment. For a time it was the world's tallest building.

I must mention the bees. Ever since we arrived in Europe we've been pestered by bees in great numbers while we ate outdoors, which means about always. It was alarming at first, but they were more interested in our food and drink than in us, and we gradually got used to them and brushed them away as we would flies. But today I drank one. I spit it out, along with a mouthful of lemonade, causing quite a stir. And at dinner this evening, while chatting about Donald Trump with a German sharing our table, he was stung on the arm. He said that the bees are a new thing this summer. We are being more vigilant about them now, and avoid insulting them.

Sunday, 8-5 to Remagen

Before starting up (north) further on the Rhine this morning, we backtracked a couple of miles to the town of St. Sebastian, which has a small old parish church of the same name. St. Sebastian is always pictured as a failed martyr, having been pierced non fatally by many arrows. Later he did succeed in attaining martyrdom, but the paintings and statues (including one in this church) are always of the arrows. Anyway, we went to Mass there. Before church we walked around the churchyard and saw a memorial to the town's war dead from the two world wars, including one man killed on D-day. It occurred to me that if someone you love is killed in a war, what side doesn't matter; it is an equal heartbreak.  The church service was a delight. The priest was very upbeat, sang the hymns with gusto, and greeted each attendee individually at the kiss of peace. The route today was again almost all right on the riverside. A clear sky and temperature max around 80. There was a stiff north wind, but that was a fair exchange for the mild temperature. We reached the town of Remagan, which was a famous site near the end of WW2. The Germans tried but failed to destroy the bridge as they retreated from advancing allied forces in March of 1945. It was the only bridge remaining across the Rhine, and allied (U.S. in this case) troops were able to cross the Rhine there for the first time, which shortened the war. Hitler personally ordered four officers shot who had failed to destroy the bridge. A week later the Germans targeted the bridge with one of their own V-2 rockets and the bridge finally collapsed. The picture shows the remnant of the west side of the bridge and the abutments on the other side of the river. There is a museum on the west side, where we were. A few more km and we reached our hotel. Unexpectedly it sits a few hundred feet up a hillside, but once there we had a great view (see pic. ) The other picture shows a spot on the trail with unrideable switchbacks ever 50'. The variations in the route are all you can imagine, and more.

8-4 to Kaltenegers

i.e. nowhere.

From Boppard our path followed right beside the Rhine past small towns, riverside houses and farms, with vineyards on the hillsides above. A few castles, but not as many as the stretch of the river we travelled yesterday. It was a short ride so we didn't start early, but the recent heat wave has let up a bit so the riding was enjoyable. We made our way into the city of Koblenz and after a good riverside lunch we went looking for a drugstore on a quest for remedies for aches and pains. That took us offroute and through the busy city, but there are enough pedestrian streets and bike lanes that navigating was easy. Note- Europe has a completely different set of drugs. A few miles further we reached our hotel. Explanation: we'd read up on the town of Aldernach, which sounds interesting and was the right distance for today's ride. But all our hotel inquiries came up negative- fully booked. So we opted for a few km shorter at this place. Turns out Aldernach is hosting the annual heavy metal festival billed as Death Fest. So sorry we missed that. Anyway, our hotel here overlooks the Rhine and is comfortable- and air conditioned. The restaurant portion of the hotel is closed for the day because of a wedding party, so I importunned them to make us a couple of sandwiches for this evening. Meanwhile, I rode to a grocery store and picked up some wine and a dessert. So we had a fine dinner on the balcony of our room, watching the wedding goings-on below. A good day.

8-2 to Boppard

Another hot day in the forecast, so we opted for a trip upriver (northward) on an excursion boat for 75 km to Boppard. The boat started just outside our hotel, and stopped many towns along the river. I called ahead for clearance to take our tandem on board, so we didn't have to disassemble it. We grabbed a shaded spot on the top deck and enjoyed the cruise past many castles, vineyards, and old towns. We passed the Lorelei rock and statue, honoring the legendary siren luring sailors to their death. There's even a required song for when you pass the spot (ck youtube). At Boppard, a pretty and small riverside town, our hotel was just across the street from the landing. But by then it was hot enough that we hunkered down in the weakly air-conditioned hotel and didn't see much of the town.

Castle on the Rhine

14th-century Marksburg castle up on the ridge in the background, supposedly has on display weapons, torture devices, and chastity belts. But as it was on the far side of the river, we did without.

8-1 to Mainz

Thanks to a morning shower and a cloudy day, the heat was much less of a problem. A varied route to ride: leaving Worms we followed the Rhine through the port area for a few km, then past many modest houses overlooking the river. Reputedly, these neighborhoods are favored for river ship captains to buy for retirement. Could do worse. Then we rode atop dikes and through fields. After a nasty 2 km stretch of rough and rutted rocky trail on one dike we reached Oppenheim (wonder if Robt. Oppenheimer's family came from there?), a pretty town where we stopped for coffee and chatted with a solo bike tourist from Brittany. Turns out he lives near Guarec, where we spent a week four years ago at an International Tandem Rally. Small world. The route turned away from the river for a while through beautiful vineyards. I took a postcard-scene pic for the blog but lost it somehow. Then back down to the river and a several km of good scenery but rough rocky path until the outskirts of Mainz. We reached an impasse on the trail (from construction and also some unspecified emergency on the river), but just then a German woman came to guide us along an alternative path around the problem. She winters near our home, on Anna Maria Island. Entering Mainz, we rode along the riverside promenade to our hotel. Quite a contrast to go in a few minutes from a hot, dusty, rocky trail to a 4-star hotel.
Before dinner we visited the Mainz Cathedral. Older than and very different from all the other cathedrals we've visited. Before they figured out how to support exterior walls from bulging out, buildings could be only so tall and windows had to be small. As a result, Romanesque churches like the Mainz Dom are dark and gloomy. If you go to visit one, take a flashlight. What we could see, we did enjoy.

We stayed two nights in Mainz, a city we actually did visit many years ago with Melissa and her family when Greg was stationed in Wiesbaden.

Thursday, Aug. 2. My mother's birthday. She'd have been 101:
After a fine breakfast at the hotel, we walked to the Gutenberg Museum. His invention was not moveable type or the printing press, though he improved on both, but the antimony alloy for quickly casting type which wouldn't fracture under the pressure of the press. He printed about 200 bibles, which sold for the equivalent of today's $300,000 each. But all of his ideas were stolen and he died poor. There are 131 Gutenberg Bibles still unaccounted for, not including the ones stolen by the USSR after WW2. We took a tram tour of Mainz and got off at St. Stephen's Church, on a hill above the city. What's special about it is the stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. I took pictures, but better you Google them. From the church we made our way to the Ancient Ships Museum. In the 1980's the excavation for a hotel (our hotel, as it happens) turned up the remains of five Roman ships which they could date from tree ring patterns to the years around 300 AD. The museum has their remains plus many models in the 10' range and two full-sized Roman ship replicas. Fascinating. Then as today, they used molds over and over to build similar ships.
Back to our hotel for a rest, and then downstairs to a supper of potato chips and wine by the riverside promenade. Getting on the hotel elevator a Frenchman learned we're from Florida and said earnestly that we have to change the Stand Your Ground law. Startling, but couldn't agree more.

Mainz cathedral and Roman ship

Tuesday, 7-31 to Worms

We are in a heat wave, and were determined not to do another long day today. We did a short run to the ancient small city of Worms.

On the way out of Ludwigshafen we passed miles of BASF chemical plants and office buildings, with secure fences and guarded gates. The rest of the ride was dikes, fields and forest paths to Worms and a small, modern hotel perched on the shore of the Rhine. We had a long lunch hour watching the ships pass close by, and an afternoon of resting, reading, and staying out of the sun.

Worms is the city where Martin Luther refused to recant his reformist ideas and was branded an outlaw by the church.

Tomorrow's ride to Mainz promises to be a hot one. We really can't complain about the weather, since until the last week it has been almost constantly sunny and not too warm. No good for the farmers, but good cycling weather. Unusual for this region: usually cooler and wetter.

Monday, 7-30 to Ludwigshafen

An interesting and fun day. We rode five hours in extreme heat to Ludwigshafen, near Mannheim, chosen because our niece Carol and her husband Brian could meet us there with only about an hour of driving. We had a good visit with them and they took us out to a good German dinner in a biergarten.

Ludwigshafen is a busy, gritty small city, but it is also kind of a company town. It is the corporate headquarters of BASF, the giant chemical company. It turned out BASF even owns and operates the excellent hotel we stayed at.

7-29 to Germersheim

A long hot ride today. It got up to about 95F, cloudless, and we were on the road for six hours. The route was pleasant but uneventful: dikes and fields. Late in the day we rode directly beside the Rhine for a while. Germersheim is a small and unremarkable city. Good hotel, but no A/C and not even any electric fans, so uncomfortable. Tomorrow will be better.

Wooden punts on the Sauer

7-28 To Seltz

We spent two nights at Strasbourg, and were glad we did. Yesterday, Friday, we took a boat ride on the canals which circle the city. Although it was cloudless and Florida-hot, we enjoyed the tour. It's a beautiful city and the audio they provided gave us a good feel for the city's convoluted history. For one thing, the city was part of Germany from 1870 untl 1918, and during that time it enjoyed a boom of commerce and building. Germany annexed Alsace again in 1940, but that was a different story. Alsace didn't take well to Nazificaiton. The problem wasn't the Germans, it was the Nazis.

After the boat ride I took the bike to look for a bike shop which could service the disk brakes. The first shop's mechanic spoke only French and could only contribute a referral to another shop. That one was larger and the owner was very helpful. He thought at first the brake pads were worn out, but after adjusting and fiddling, he had the brakes working fine and said the pads still had life in them.  I wish I was knowledgeable about disk brakes- about the only part of the bike I don't know how to handle.

Later on Friday we touched base with our dear niece Carol and tentatively arranged to meet up with her farther north in a few days.

Late in the afternoon we went to the nearby Museum of Beaux Arts, which has a fairly small but top-rate collection. They have two rooms of Italian Renaissance old masters, and much more.  Many of the paintings were marked that they were known to have been in such-and-such museum and appeared as if by magic in the Strasbourg museum when the dust settled after WW2. i.e. Nazi loot. Some of them are "in the process of being returned" to their original owners. High time, I'd say.

Strasbourg is a popular tourist city, but not to the degree as central Prague. And there were noticeably more people traveling with children. I need to mention the cathedral, Notre Dame de Strasbourg. We've seen a lot of cathedrals, but this one is special. Very large, heavily decorated with statues and architectural details from the high Gothic period of 1200-1400. But it's built of local sandstone, which is variegated with a range of  shades of red. Spectacular. I could sit and look at it a long while. And did.

We didn't plan ahead for this extended stretch of France in our trip, and Sandy hadn't made any effort to brush up on her French. She gets tongue-tied, but can undersand people remarkably well.

Before leaving Strasbourg Saturday morning we went to the nearby Cathedral in a light rain and attended Mass there, held in a small side chapel. It is a particular pleasure going to church in the places we visit, when we can.

We navigatied smoothly out of Strasbourg city, for a reason. I discovered and downloaded an app for all the network of Eurovelo cycling routes. I can see our position and the line representing our route. If we make a wrong turn we get quick feedback. I wish I'd started using the app a month ago.

Today was a five-hour ride up the Rhine valley, still in France. Late in the day we actually saw the Rhine, for the first time since we started this part of our trip. At the nowhere town of Seltz the owners of our simple but comfortable hotel were kind enough to give us a ride to a restaurant for dinner, 50' over the German border, but German speaking. After a good traditional Alsacian dinner, the restaurant owner drove us back.

Today's bits of rain and clouds today were a welcome relief from the extreme heat of the last two days. Under the circumstances, Sandy would prefer to stay only in hotels with air conditioning, but there are very few. As a fallback, a bottle of wine does wonders for morale.

Thursday, 7-26 to Strassbourg

After a couple of days in small towns, we headed for the city of Strassbourg.

A very hot day, but it started cool. We rode all the way along the Rhone au Rhin canal on a paved, shaded path. For the first half of the ride the canal was not operational, but later there were working locks. 1/4 mile ahead of each lock there was a rope hanging down in mid canal to pull and signal the lock. There are a handful of large canal boats permanently moored and fitted out as homes, but there were also several large canal boats underway which were restored as private yachts. We made our way without hassle into the city of Strassbourg to our hotel near the city center facing the eye-popping Strassbourg Cathedral: huge and ornate Gothic architecture, built 1100-1250 mainly.

A couple of years ago we had a conversation with a woman in Brittany who said her mother was from Strassbourg, born in France, moved to Germany, moved back to France, moved to Germany again, and moved back to France again. But always lived in the same house.

Wed. 7-25 to Marckolsheim

A pleasant but uneventful ride through villages and fields, then a long stretch beside an old canal. By 12:30 we reached our goal at Marckolsheim, a  small town, chosen because it was the right km of riding for the day. We killed time until we could check in. The hotel manager told us about a memorial and museum of the Maginot Line nearby, so we rode to see it. Attaching a couple of pictures. We figured out that the Maginot Line was not the folly it's made out to be. It was a line of fortresses which could lay down fearsome artillery and machinegun fire to hold back the Germans until mobile reinforcements could arrive. But in the event, the Germans invaded France through Belgium, and most of the French forces were redeployed from the Rhine to the north.  The Maginot Line was poorly armed, manned and supplied, so it didn't hold up for long. The place we visited was a large fortress with a museum inside. About 20 French died defending it. 10 days later, Hitler visited the place along with Gen. Keitel and Martin Bormann. The hotel manager related what his parents told of that time. The Germans brought in a new teacher and principal for the school, and took the old ones out and shot them. Later in the war they were required to billet a German radio crew upstairs in their house. They correctly assumed that Allied bombers would target the source of radio signals so they got out of the house during air raids. The house was blown away along with the Germans upstairs.

Stassbourg

Inside cathedral

Maginot Line remnant

Along Rhone au Rhin canal towpath

Hitler visiting Maginot Line

Jul. 27, 1940  10 days after battle, at Markolsheim.  Martin Bormann on left.

Tues. 7-24 at Basel/Huningue and to Blodelsheim

Monday was a rest day. Unpacked and built up the bike in the morning, walked to the village center, and relaxed.

Tuesday we were on the road again. An idyllic day of bike touring. Cool, clear and calm. Lazy pace, 3 hours of riding. Access to the Eurovelo route was only 200 meters from hotel, so little chance of getting lost there. A hard-packed towpath through woods along an old canal for a while, then a paved path village streets, and quiet roads through cornfields. Had to dodge major irrigation sprinklers several times. We stopped to watch a farmer gather sheep with the help of his dog. Never seen a dog having so much fun. We found the only hotel (Chez Pierre, if you believe) for many miles around at the little village of Blodelsheim. Super friendly people; I think we're the only guests.

We're in Alsace. It's France and the people speak only French, but the town names and local family names are all German. The region was back and forth between Germany and France for a long time, and was an early priority for Hitler.

Sun. 7-22 to Basel

We were up early to catch a train for Basel, Switzerland. There is no direct route from Prague, but we enjoyed that city tremendously and are glad we didn't miss it. The first leg of our trip was to Dresden, Germany, following the beautiful mountainous river valley of the Elbe. We shared a compartment with a family from the extreme northern tip of Norway, far above the Arctic Circle, near the border with Russia. They report there is a U.S. military installation there with a lot of new construction of a major upgrade to their radar surveillance capability. At Dresden (Almost all new since WW2, as the city was famously razed by an intense firestorm from bombing) we connected to a train to Frankfurt, and from there another train down to Basel. The trains were very comfortable, with meal and beverage service to our seats. Wine for Sandy and beer for me cheered up a long trip.

We'd booked ahead for a hotel in the suburbs of Basel, which turned out to be a modest but comfortable spot withing a couple hundred meters of the point where Switzerland, France and Germany meet. We're on the French side.

7-21 and 7-22 at Prague

We took a minibus tour of Prague on Friday. One family on the tour was Italian, so it was a combined tour with a bilingual guide. Turned out her English was unintelligible. I understood 10% of the English and almost that much of the Italian. But we saw a bunch of pretty buildings and there was a spectacular view of the city from the castle complex high on a hill.

Our hotel was excellent but our room was on the second floor overlooking the front door of the Hard Rock Cafe. The noise was such that we partied all night along with them, without the benefit of alcohol. We didn't sleep much, and at our request we were moved to a quieter room in anticipation of an even noisier Saturday night.

Saturday was a rest and chore day. We set out to find an optical shop to get Sandy's sunglasses fixed. On the way we found in the Old Town square that there was a parade of folkloric groups in town from all over Europe and Asia for a festival. In addition to the delightful troupes of dancers, musicians and singers, there was one group of men from Germany who all rang giant (5-gallon?) cowbells. Imagine the sound of 50 men beating on metal garbage cans with baseball bats, in unison. Oh- they were almost all smoking traditional crooked cigars. They could be heard all over the city. We coined the term folkloric terrorism. Onward with the sunglasses quest. They only need a screw in the hinge but the shop we found couldn't provide it, so she has a very becoming pair of new designer sunglasses. Eat your heart out, Walgreen's. We walked to the train station and booked tickets for a Sunday journey to Basel, which will be the starting point for the next leg of cycle touring. Then back to the hotel to catch up on the sleep we missed the night before. And we watched the exciting Alpe D'huez mountain stage of the Tour de France on TV. In the evening we went to Mass at a nearby church with a community of Dominican priests and brothers.

Thur. 7-19 to Prague

We spent three nights at Budapest, exploring the city by hop-on hop-off bus. Besides seeing the various capital city buildings, neighborhoods, parks and monuments, we got a good feel for the city's history. In short, they had a hard 70 years from 1918 to1989. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up after WW1 and Hungary lost most of its territory and Hungarian-speaking population. The economy collapsed from hyperinflation in the 20's, the Nazis took over even before WW2, the Russians installed a communist client government after WW2, and Russia crushed a rebellion in 1955. When they finally broke free in 1989, what once must have been beautiful city, was rundown after decades of neglect. Even now most of the buildings are dark with soot and have patches of crumbled masonry. They have a long way to go, but they are hard at work restoring old government and private buildings. There are lots of cafes, restaurants and pedestrian streets. A lively street scene, and a pleasant city to wander in. It may take a while, but we think Budapest will be a great city again.

We have plenty of time, so decided to visit Prague before heading back to western Europe, and we took a train here on Thursday. A comfortable and restful trip. The first part was along the Danube, and backtracked past the places we cycled through a few days ago. It was fun to see them from a different perspective. We crossed Slovakia (small towns, lots of wheat, corn and other fields) and southern Czech Republic (more farms but then low mountains and forests). Prague has a recent history not too different from Budapest's, but it is a different scene here: a similarly beautiful city, but much better maintained and much cleaner. And the word is out: there are many many tourists from all over the world here, especially around the old town square a couple of blocks from our hotel. It's a fun scene, but also a bit much.

Tues. 7-17 at Budapest

Yesterday we rode the last few hours of our Danube route to Budapest. We have a good hotel room in the center city, which will be our base for a few days of R&R. We'll rest up, clean and pack the bike, and see the sights. Then off on our next adventure, whatever we decide that is. Budapest was our primary goal. We had in the back of our minds to possibly continue south from here along the Danube, but have decided against it: the bike path route is fun but wearying, and we aren't keen on visiting Serbia, given their recent history.

Our first impression of Budapest is a big, busy, beautiful city. Lots of history.

Arriving at Budapest!

Sunday, 7-15 to Szentendre

We quickly checked out of our crummy hotel and headed to the middle of Estergom to look for breakfast. We bought apricots and sweet rolls at a Sunday market and ate them at a nearby cafe before hitting the road.

Today's ride was the best yet in Hungary. We were on a path right by the river for an hour, then crossed to the Slovak side by ferry. Waiting for the ferry we met a couple of cyclists from Belgium, Eddy and Inge Swaeb, and enjoyed sharing stories with them. They are a bit younger than we are, and we share the common interest of being active as long as our bodies allow it.

On the Slovak side of the river we spent about an hour on another beautiful bike path.  Many many local people out enjoying the Sunday, on bikes and picknicking along the river. Another ferry took us back to Hungary, and we bid farewell to Eddy and Inge who carried on toward Budapest on the Danube's northwest side.

Once across the river we had a good lunch and then another hour or so of riding got us to our stopping point of Szentendre. We'd booked a hotel to make sure we didn't get stuck in a dump like last night, and I made the mistake of using Google to get to the hotel. We were on busy streets unnecessarily. In Europe, Google's bike route feature is unavailable.

Our hotel features a spa so we soaked in the jacuzzi for a while before settling down to watch the World Cup final match between France and Croatia. We favored Croatia for some reason, but France whupped them.

After the game we walked the length of the nearby pedestrian street and stopped at an outdoor restaurant for a good Hungarian dinner and listened to a group of four gypsy musicians there playing lively music.

We should reach Budapest tomorrow, and plan to stay there a few days planning our next adventure.

Our route into Hungary has been very interesting. Not always picturesque or easy riding. Hungary is not a very prosperous country yet. Many old buildings in poor repair and not much new construction. The bike paths and the roads are sometimes in rough shape. But the people are friendly, the food is good, and everything is inexpensive. Their currency, the Florin, is equivalent to about 3 1/2 cents US, so the prices are large numbers. But by the time you move the decimal point left two places and divide by three, things cost less half what we'd expect at home. The Hungarin language is a problem. No hint what the signs mean and the town names are often unpronounceable. But menus tend to be multilingual, something not widely found in Germany or Austria.

Saturday, 7-15 to Estergom

As we left Komarom, people were lined up at the ornate town well filling jugs with water. Don't know whether the city water was doubtful; there is an ongoing environmental disaster nearby where there had been an aluminum plant in the bad old days. But we topped up our water bottles at the well to be on the safe side.

Today's route was away from the river and mostly on roads instead of bike paths. We made good time, making one stop at the little town of Sutto to look at a small baroque church. Had a good conversation with the woman who volunteers to keep up the interior of the church. She said it was a lot of work, but... touched her heart. Other than that we stayed in the saddle for the four hour route, and reached Estergom by lunchtime, tired. There are only two hotels in Estergom. The good one was full. The other, the Rugby Club Hotel, has a catchy name, but the catch is that it really is a rugby club facility and the rooms are there to give beds to visiting teams. Clean, but sadly lacking. Most important, there was no hot water. We went off to see the town and left them to work on the hot water.

Estergom was Hungary's first capital, and when the king moved to Buda about the year 1000 the church took over his castle. The cathedral there has been the church center of Hungary since then, and has been rebuilt many times. The most recent version is an immense basilica built in the mid-1800's. Since it is built where a fortress once stood, it is on the high ground and it was quite a hike up many steps to reach the basilica. Turned out they were to have a 6 p.m. Mass so we killed time and stayed for that. There were only a handful of worshipers and we all sat in the dignitary seats in the choir area.

At the foot of the hill below the basilica we were the only diners in a mom-and-pop restaurant, but we got an excellent dinner of tender pork with a mild hungarian gravy. We have been in several restaurants with few customers. I don't know how they survive.

Back at the Rugby Club, still no hot water. We went to bed grubby and disgruntled.

Cardinal Mindszenty's tomb

Look him up if you don't remember him. National hero in Hungary.

Fri. 7-13 the "road" to Komarom

We were faced with the choice of a path in "very poor condition" and several km on a busy main highway with no bike lane and many semis. We chose the path, and boy was it in poor condition. Beyond unrideable, it was in places impassible. The picture shows a spot where the deep muddy pool with rocks the size of bowling balls extended to the woods on both sides. Sandy helped the man in the background pull his bike through the woods. I dragged the bike and trailer through the pit, with the help of a young man who came along on a motorcycle. There was a long series of spots like this. In the end, though, we made it through, and the fact that we were on the "path" by choice helped maintain our spirits. One for the record book.

Fri. 7-13 National Stud Farm at Babolna

Halfway through today's ride we stopped at the Hungarian National Stud farm at Babolna, built in 1789 to breed horses for the Austro-Hungarian army. They breed Arabian thoroughbreds descended from a horse named Shagyra imported from Syria in 1822. We happened to arrive at the time a tour was starting so we got to visit the grounds, the stallions (some as much as 25 years old), the riding school building, and carriage  museum. There's an imperial guesthouse, now a hotel.  It was booked up, but we ended up later at a very comfortable and very inexpensive penzio (small hotel) at Komarom, on the Danube. A sister city across the river in Slovakia was a no-go for the people here from 1918 when the Austro-Hungarian empire was broken up until 1991 when a bridge bombed in WW2 was rebuilt. On the way from Babolna to Komarom we found the world's worst bike path- see today's other post.

At day's end, we happened to meet a man named Jeff from California riding another Bike Friday, but not a tandem. We'd heard about him from other riders, and he about us, but we hadn't connected before. By the way, he was the first other American rider we've met since we started this trip almost a month ago.

Thur. 7-12 to Gyor

A cool, sunny day with a light tailwind.

The route today was away from the Danube, alongside a country road with occasional small towns. The countryside was farmland, very large fields of corn, wheat, hay and sunflowers. They used to be collective farms, but were privatized after the communist period. Good riding, except that the bike path planners forgot that as trees grow their roots do. Many speed bumps. Not an exciting route, but better than yesterday's long stretch on a dike.

We reached the 130,000 pop. city of Gyor by lunchtime, found a hotel, rested up, and took a long walk around town. We visited the national art collection currently housed at an Esterhazy palace, and visited the basilica where we saw the gold-encrusted skull of St. Ladislaz from the 11th century, a national icon with a long history of being plundered, lost, stolen, and burned, each time being redone more elaborately than before.

July 11 to Mosonmagyarovar

We left Bratislava in a very light rain and about 65 degrees. The route followed a flood dike inland through a lot of nothing. Sandy commented we might as well be riding a stationary bike and staying dry.

We soon added rain jackets, then rain pants.

As we passed into Hungary it started to rain harder. That's not the Hungarians' fault, but anyway Sandy started to get chilled. We eventually reached a town with a restaurant, and we stopped to warm up, dry out a little, and share a pizza.

At our goal town of Mosonmagyarovar the rain stopped.  We checked in to a $70 (w/ breakfast) 4-star hotel, cleaned up and rested, then took a walk around town. A distinctly sleepy small city, notable for a crazy number of dental clinics. Turns out, the Austrians come here for dental care because it's much cheaper.

After an excellent dinner we settled down to watch England vs. Croatia in the soccer World Cup semi finals. I don't know anything about tactics, but after watching a lot of World Cup matches at least I can enjoy watching the game well played. The team that passes most skillfully generally wins.

Blog note

When I open the blog site to add a post, I often see a number representing an unopened item. I wonder if those are comments someone has posted.

Using the blog app, I can not see comments anyone has posted. If anyone is reading my posts and wants to comment, please text me a 1-727-465-8025. If you are not reading my blog posts at all, please ignore this message!

Tues. July 10 to Bratislava

After a short ride this morning we crossed the old Iron Curtain border into Slovakia, now an EU and even NATO member. We crossed the Danube to the capital city of Bratislava and left our bags at our hotel in the old town area and went to explore the city. We took a tram tour up to the castle above the city, with a narration which gave us a basic orientation.

Bratislava was a crumbling backwater during the communist era, but seems to have come a long way in the 20-plus years of independence. There are still a lot of rundown old buildings but a lot of building and reconstruction going on. Most notable is the amazing number of sidewalk cafes, bars and restaurants. There's a long tree-lined pedestrian mall in the middle of the old city and other pedestrian side streets. An attractive and appealing central city, but there are also great expanses of drab Soviet-era apartment blocks on the opposite side of the Danube.

After a few weeks in Germany and Austria, I am pretty comfortable in German within the range of my needs and interests, but that language useless right over the border here in Slovakia. After WW2 the majority German-speaking population was brutally expelled. So, no Jews and no Germans. Not even many Czechs. Slovak is a slavic language, written in the Roman alphabet, for all the good that does us.

Hainburg fortifications, Iron Curtain

Hainburg was the easternmost outpost of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries. Still has full 2 km city walls and towers, but the Turks stormed the city in about 1680 and slaughtered all 8000 residents. About 6000 population now.

This gate at the Austrian-Slovak border was heavily guarded during the Soviet era, but now is permanently open.

Mon. 7-9 to Bad Deutsch- Altenburg

A day of contrasts.

We navigated through and out of Vienna without a hitch, thanks to our guidebook, maps, Google Maps, and the help of strangers.

We rode through a huge and beautiful city park, probably a former hunting preserve of the emperors.

We rode the length of Donau Insel, a man-made narrow island in the middle of a canal stretching east from Vienna. Notable on the Insel was its popularity with nudists. It was a clear sunny day, so there were a lot of people out showing what a life of schnitzel and strudel can do. It left us feeling much better about our own bodies.

What we expected to be a long, straight stretch of nothing along the Danube flood dike turned out to be otherwise. The path turned unexpectedly inland and led us to an outdoor cafe, a welcome lunch stop. But we found that the regular bike path was closed for ? and we were directed to a long and difficult detour. First, we rode back to the Danube where we took a bicycle ferry across the river, which dumped us onto a gravel beach. "Just like D-Day, eh?", quipped the ferry captain. Looking to make a beachhead, we dragged the bike inland to a road not intended for wheeled vehicles, leading across a marsh and then up several steep switchbacks to a town above the river. We were ready to call it a day, but there was no zimmer frei or other accommodation. So we followed the detour signs along rough gravel paths across endless farm fields. We were running out of water and getting tired. We finally came on a ruined Roman arch in the middle of nowhere, and while we rested several other riders came and decided it was a good place for a break. Their complaints gave us comfort.

We rode on into a more settled area, and finally came on a cafe/hotel where we could get a room. Showers, cold drinks and a decent supper did wonders for our attitude.

Today was the first in Austria where the bike path was not paved. They saved the worst for last. We're only 13 km from Austria's border with Slovakia.