A friendly chat in Albania leads to a homestay in Germany

I go out for coffees this morning. We have coffee and breakfast with Gesa before she leaves. It’s been great catching up, and fun being tourists together. We say our goodbyes. Next time we hope to see Gesa in Australia!

Don’t need to check out until 11am. So try to catch up on some blog. It’s still cool when we leave so Kim has her bike pants on, leggings over the top, t-shirt, long sleeve top over that, then her cycling jersey and her rain jacket on top. Hope it’s a short cold snap!

On the way into town we cross a bridge with a fish ladder below. This one looks like it is probably used by fish rather than people bathing, like we saw in Freiburg.

Back into the city to cross the bridge to get a good view of Düsseldorf. It’s an interesting city...nice small old town...not as stunning as others we have seen this trip, but was a nice place to hang out yesterday. Get a nice view of the city from the across the river.

We follow the Rhine and are met by head winds. The first 25km is nice cycling on top of a dyke. River on one side fields and villages on the other.

That’s ok until we reach the industrial parts and it’s smelly! Lucky that doesn’t last long.

At 32kms we stop in a small village square of Uerdingen and make our lunch. We then nip into a local cafe for a coffee to warm up. Even I am feeling the cold today and looking forward to a hot shower at the end of the ride.

From the last 20km we head north west off the Rhine toward Rheinberg. It's mostly along cycleway beside secondary highway. Easy, low stress riding.

Arrive at Christian's office at around 4pm. He sent Kim photos and instructions on how we can let ourselves in. Amazing! We met Christian and Nicole for about 30 minutes in a restaurant in Albania, they have followed our blog the whole way and are now opening their office/home to us. The basement of his office building has a bathroom and bedroom. Upstairs there's a little kitchen. Just like a 1 bedroom apartment. They have left us a bowl of fruit, box of chocolates, local bitters, local cola and sparkling water. So very thoughtful!

We shower, wash our clothes, blog and nap. Christian arrives at 8pm on the dot to pick us up for dinner. He has been at the soccer final today. It’s a lovely reunion with handshakes and hugs! It’s all a little surreal but we are all beaming. Chat away about what been happening since we met in June and in no time we arrive at the old town square.

Nicole and the kids meet us and them we walk to a Spanish restaurant. It’s way past the kids bedtime but they do a good job staying awake until nearly 10pm. We are so absorbed in catching up that we forget to take any photos. Suffice to say that the tapas are great, and the company and conversation are excellent.

Sunday 24 - Rheinberg - rest day

Christian picks us up at 8:30am and drives us to his house for breakfast. Yetti and Thies (the kids) are at the breakfast table when we arrive. It’s a yummy spread of cheeses, hams, breads, fruit salad, boiled eggs, orange juice and coffee.

Afterwards the kids want to show us their room and toys. So sweet. Last night Christian and Nicola suggested we go to Landschaftspark in Duisburg. So we get in 2 cars to head over there. It takes about 30min to get there.

Landschaftspark is a former steel works that has been converted into an adventure park.

There are climbing walls, high ropes, skating, scuba diving in a massive waste tank - now filled with clean water and containing a submerged, car, plane and boat.

Cycle paths through the surrounding forest, and of course there are the dozens of flights of stairs up to top of the steel works. They have concerts and festivals there too. While we are there it is hosted the finish of a charity 5km running event. Also parts of the new Hunger games prequel was filmed here.

The climb up is a bit freaky as the stairs are grates you can see through. I get a few waves of vertigo, and as we get up high Kim is holding tight onto the handrail. She may not have made it to the top if Yetti who is 3 and 1/2 year old was not practically running up.

Sadly, Nicole and the kids have to go to their nieces for a birthday party. So we say our goodbyes to them. Christian is going to an European NFL game so he takes us into Duisburg to catch a train back to Rheinberg. On the way we meet up with his friends going to the footy at a "hole in the wall" takeaway for a currywurst and chips. They have already heard about our trip but want to know our itinerary in a bit more detail.

Christian's friends continue to the game and Christian takes us to the train station. The next train is not for 40 minutes to he takes us for a walk in Duisburg. It's a Sunday so everything should be shut, but there must be a special event on as everything is open, and the place is heaving.

Finally get on the train. Hopefully Christian is not late for the football. He assured us he should be there with plenty of time.

Walk back to the Christian's office to blog, rest and cook dinner. It's been a great day.

Stats

Days cycled - 116
Rest days - 57
Distance cycled - 55.2km (5768.4km)
Ascent - 420m (Total 50620m)
Descent - 450m (Total 50590m)
Money Spent - $175 + $41 AUD (Total $19881 AUD)