Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle.

Not a great deal to report on for cycling day 48. After having spotted the town of Syke just to the south east of Bremen on my map the previous evening, I sat down on the steps of a church in the first village I came to and drew a long dotted line between where I was – Venne – and where I wanted to be – Syke. I then cycled as close to the line as I could. I was helped somewhat by the majority of the journey being along one straight road – route 51 – which did, on the flip side, make it an uneventful cycle. I did, however, enjoy knocking off the miles (or rather the kilometres); there are days when that’s the best thing to do. The route was as flat as a vena schnitzel and the wind was kind of in my direction which helped somewhat as did the good quality off road cycle paths just a few metres from route 51. I focussed my mind upon the excitement of visiting Syke – see the previous post – and cycled… 

From Syke to Bremen was around 25 km and I followed a path suggested by Google via the IKEA brewery [are you sure?!] through the centre of the city to the northern suburbs where, quite late in the day after 120 km in the saddle and a good look around Syke, I arrived at the campsite. Rob Watkins posted a comment on here a few days ago saying that he had chosen not to use the campsite as it was located next to two motorways but I couldn’t hear much noise, certainly nothing to compare with the roar of traffic from the bridge next to the site back in Cologne, so I checked in despite the relatively high €16.50 cost. In addition to the pitch fee of €12 per night, I seem to be paying €4.50 per night for a ‘zelt bis 3 Personen’ – a tent with (isn’t that ‘mit’?) 3 people. I’ve only just noticed this. Can I be bothered to argue the toss? No. It would only save me €6. Then again, perhaps I should… They also insisted on a €25 deposit for the card allowing entry to the wash block. When I return to redeem my deposit I’ll casually mention that, despite appearances, I am one person not three. 

A nice English couple from Buckinghamshire close by on the free camping area – he’s a retired archaeologist and she’s a retired social worker – entertained me for a while as I drank some of their wine (to my shame I’ve forgotten their names already, or can I blame the wine?). They were good company before I made my excuses, sloped back to my own tent next ‘door’ and cooked up some food while catching up on the latest goings on of country folk. (Some of you will understand that. It isn’t a sexual euphemism by the way. Linda Snell would be horrified at the thought!). I slept well. There endeth cycling day 48 and my average is back above 75 km/day, 75.1 to be exact.