Kijfwaard to Cologne

Friday October 28, 2010

My campsite for the night, near  Kijfwaardthe border of the Netherlands and Germany. The ferry (Veer de Bijland) is nearby, and crosses Millengen aan de Rijn-Pannerden, called the Hanzeroute.

Today was all about efficiency, and it was a long day on the bike, with few breaks, because my goal was to get to Cologne and stay there in a hostel.
The point I started at was right on the border of the Netherlands and Germany, so it wasn't long before I was riding over a bridge and I was in Germany. And I immediately noticed a deterioration in the quality of the bike path, it was so bumpy! "Ah, I miss the Netherlands already" I thought. I expected Germany to be good for cycling so hopefully it wasn't representative of the general condition of cycling infrastructure in Germany. And things did improve.
I was cycling alongside a river for much of the day, crossed a fair few bridges.

In between the rail bridge (Haus-Knipp-Bridge) and the road bridge (the A42-Bridge), both of which cross the Rhine, near Beeckerwerth, Germany.

Some of the areas I rode through were industrialised and quite ugly, around Duisburgh, other areas were pretty; most of the way was quite built up though.

A pleasant bike path alongside the Münchener Straße, in Düsseldorf-Himmelgeist, Germany.

I was determined to get to Cologne, and I eventually did at about 8:30 pm. It was a little further than I had expected at 183 km but I felt pretty good, and was happy I made it there.
One of the first sights I saw was this massive church, called Cologne Cathedral. It's the city's most famous monument, a gothic church started in 1248 and completed in 1880. It was amazing! So many intricate details were carved into it, and the lighting at night looked really cool. This photo certainly doesn't do it justice.

A poor photo of Cologne's famous Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom).

As usual, the first task was to find some Wi-Fi so I could look up hostels. This proved more difficult than expected, but eventually I found some, looked up some hostels and shortlisted a few. The first one I went to was full except for some expensive beds, so I went to another one called Pathpoint Cologne. It turned out to be quite a good hostel. It was probably the cleanest hostel I've ever stayed in, because it had only opened a few months ago in July. I was in an eight bed dorm but there was only one other guy in there, a slightly peculiar American guy.
It was after 10 pm so all the supermarkets were closed, and I hadn't had tea :( Luckily I had some cous cous and pasta sauce so I cooked that up in probably the best hostel kitchen I've used.
I didn't really talk to anyone at the hostel, mainly minded my own business again. To be honest I was pretty knackered, felt really tired. I got to sleep after 2 am.

My route for the day, from Kijfwaard in the Netherlands to Cologne in Germany.

My route so far from France to Germany.

Ride stats:
Distance: 183.19 km
Average: 19.1 km/h
Maximum: 36.9 km/h
Time: 9:32:58
Total ascent: 610 m
Total descent: 564 m