June 2: Day 32, Osnabrück-Bremen
I'm now in the uncomfortable middle ground, too far north for croissants and too far south for Danishes. So the breakfast buffets are a little disappointing.
I'm eating quite a lot, including breakfast, and especially if it's a buffet. Today there was some good cereal (happiness!) but no pastries of any sort, and a bread roll with jam just isn't the same. Denmark and danishes aren't far away though...
The route out of Osnabrück was cyclepaths on the roads, but they were so good I didn't mind mixing with rush hour traffic. At the lights there was a small lane just for cyclists, and a traffic light just for us too. (I didn't get a good photo; it wasn't the time or place for careful camerawork so this rushed snap is all I have.)
There wasn't any wind this morning. Normally the headwind is there when I get going, but today it was still. It's a very nice feeling when the only headwind is the one from going fast! So I made good time this morning, and matched the Komoot estimate.
From left to right: Osnabrück electrical buses charging. A quiet cycle lane, sadly the cycle traffic light isn’t too visible. No headwind! A nice treelined section of the route.
No canals, rail trails, or anything like that today - the route was all backroads and paths beside the main road. It passed through towns only occasionally. At 1130 I passed a nice bakery so I thought I should get some lunch while the opportunity was there. I ended up eating it all over the next few kilometers. (Maybe I should have eaten more breakfast.) About 1300 I found myself in another town, opposite a bakery, and feeling a bit hungry ... so I went for a second lunch. Bakeries are a lot quicker and somewhat cheaper than restaurants, but maybe not if I have lunch at them twice!
The bike was running quite nicely today. A hum appeared but I did some snaking and it disappeared so it was probably the asphalt in the area. Once again, I'm very happy that there's no mechanical problems...
From left to right: Map of the drama. This path was the third and last option for getting past the roadworks. Me on the path.
The big drama for the day was a closed road in Goldenstedt. I was heading east along the main road. I could see that the road was closed because of roadworks and thought I could bypass them by going through a petrol station (that’s at 1). That worked, I was in the construction site and on the road, and there was another cyclist coming the other way! Unfortunately they were coming the other way because there was no way out on the North end (that’s 2). Escape the roadworks again, and try the next road along; it went beside a church and then into a graveyard. I rolled along respectfully, found there was no exit, and rolled back out just as respectfully (that’s 3). To the east was a lot of kilometers to the next turnoff, but there was another nearby road to the west (4). On the map it looked like a bit of singletrack - never a reliable option… But it turned out to be this path with very atmospheric trees, and got me past the blocked road and going again!
From left to right: stopping to refill drinks, note the windfarm in the background. The afternoon’s cyclepaths. More good graffiti art. A working wheel and (what I guess is) a working salmon run.
From left to right: Obviously a bit of effort went in to make this spool this happy. The view while crossing the Weser. And this is the first hotel which had steps, no more please.
Bremen’s cycle paths were above average, I got through the center city on paths completely separate from traffic! It was rush hour and there were a lot of stopped cars, but bike traffic was still flowing well … of course. My hotel is in the cheap outskirts but there was a good straight path so I was able to crank up into a high gear and go for it; I got tailed by someone and they said something nice in German when I turned off at the end.
Made good time today! It was estimated to be 7.5h and I took slightly more than 8, which is fine with me considering the delay in Goldenstedt. And the two lunches.
What I’m listening to: “Tombtorial” from the Crypt of the Necrodancer OST by Danny Baranowsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-KdDvwrDFA
Just listen to the whole soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ks82gn2BqU
“Crypt of the Necrodancer” is a game; it’s probably best described as a “dance-based dungeon crawling roguelite” but “dance based” is the only thing that really matters, and it means the soundtrack needs to be high-quality for the game to work. It’s so good that Nintendo funded development of a Zelda-themed spinoff - “Cadence of Hyrule”.
