Riding and Sightseeing!

Day ten of our stay in Germany, time to write a little on what has been happening.

Before I get to the riding part, I must say I am now a resident of the town of Senftenberg, in Brandenburg. It is very exciting and it is the first step to getting a Schengen Visa for the rest of the trip. I think I should place a red eagle on my black bike...

We have also done a fair bit of research on motorhomes and have been close to buying a couple. I think we will have one by the end of next week.

Now, riding has been great. The weather has been good, not much rain, but it has been very cold (for us). We leave for our rides after lunch with temperatures around 11° and return before the sunset when it cools down to 7° or so. That means, we don't remove any gear during the ride, we start and we finish wearing three or four layers...


Tuesday, March 6th: Senftenberg-Lichterfeld(F60)

We rode past the Eurospeedway in Lausitz and around this huge open-cut coal mine to get to the Lichterfeld F60, or the horizontal Eiffel Tower as they like to call it. I will have to check that when we get to Paris. Very impressive, nevertheless.


Time: 2h 14min
Dist: 53 km
Elev: 262 m
Temp: 9° C


Wednesday, March 7th: Senftenberg-Großräschen

Sandra decided to take me on a little easy ride and organised a bit of sight seeing. As a local, she knows a few of the unmarked spots, like the region´s castles, things that she knows I like.


Time: 2h 16min
Dist: 50 km
Elev: 125 m
Temp: 12-7° C


Friday, March 9th: Senftenberg-Hirschberg

A day to hit the hills, I was told. It wasn´t anything like Hutberg, this was gradually up for about 15 km, nice. Again, fields, forests and small villages, the area was beautiful. And, we got chased by two training TT guys who politely asked if they could join us on the ride. Join us? We must look like riders...

We spent a couple of very fun hours with Kai and Patrick, two members of the Bike Tech 24 cycling team, who were training for a couple of events at the end of March. They knew the area well making sure we rode a bit on the cobbles and got home before dark.

Time: 3h 1min
Dist: 83 km
Elev: 318 m
Temp: 11-7° C


We were off the bikes on Thursday because we need to inspect a motorhome which was stored half way up the autobahn to Berlin. we took advantage of it and headed to cultural center of Germany. Great afternoon, a nice lunch, a visit to Tacheles and the Spree... I need a couple of days and nights to explore this city.