25 years and 1,000km, rolling on to more adventure!

When we leave Remagen we’re only 4km short of 1,000km for this trip. We have some traditions – you would be well familiar with the end of day beer by now – and the 1,000km mark in any trip is a tradition. There must be a photo, it must include both of us and both of our bikes, and we are supposed to look jubilant. This is the first 1,000km celebration for our new bikes. We’d best make it good.

For the record, our 1,000km milestone happens very close to the 637km marker on the river – the markers measures the distance from the Bodensee (or Lake Constance for us English speakers). In reality, we are 1,000km from where we set off at Oberalppass just over three weeks ago. If we are not jumping for joy, it’s because we physically cannot.

The day is shaping up to be very, very hot and I’m thankful that we have the river beside us most of the way to temper the heat.

We stop at a little kiosk on the river for cold drinks and realise as we set off again that we’re already on the outskirts of Bonn. In no time we’re sitting at a small espresso shop, somewhere in the centre of Bonn, with more cold drinks and some cake to see us through the day. We have big plans for dinner tonight!

Just outside Bonn we’re diverted from the river as we go around a huge refinery. Huge! I suppose those riverboat tankers have to load up somewhere. I find the detour tough, simply because we are exposed to the heat, on sealed roads that are radiating heat. It’s quite a furnace. I can’t believe it when we see a road cycling group, a dozen or more, out training in this heat. Surely, surely you would change plans and go out earlier. Says me, out in the heat myself.

Luckily we get back to the river for most of the ride into Köln. I’m running out of water and what I have left is almost hot enough to make a cup of tea, so I start looking for somewhere to get a cold drink. I spy a kiosk near a mini golf place and eye off their fridge contents. I’ve been hankering a bitter lemon, and yes, the fridge has something that looks lemony. It turns out to be one of the flavoured beer drinks they favour in this county, however without the alcohol. Where I’d imagined a bitter lemon I could slam down fast like a Solo person, I instead had to sip this slightly beery-bitter lemon drink. Maybe that was better for me anyway.

But finally we reach Köln and the air conditioned apartment we’ll be staying in for two nights. Bless the concierge man there, who has already turned the aircon on for us. Our bikes will spend the two nights behind the reception desk, with a very special guard. (It’s OK, the foyer is air conditioned too!)

We chat with the concierge guy, Mazdak, for a short while, and as he takes us up to our room, telling him about our trip, and how we hit 1000km today. He is impressed, but is even more so impressed afterwards when he’s looking at our bikes and realises they don’t have a battery!

I’m impressed with him. We talk about the World Cup and he says he saw so many matches in Qatar last World Cup. I said, “You must be a big football fan then?” No, apparently. He is Iranian and was in Qatar to protest, mainly at the situation for women in Iran. He said we may have heard about the recent conflict in Iran. May have? You mean the conflict that has disrupted the world, caused unnecessary death, anguish and destruction, caused endless transport and freight disruptions and economic challenes? Yeah, may have heard of that.

This evening, for our fourth, and what is likely to be best, 25th anniversary celebration dinner (we’re doing five “nice” dinners, one for each five years we’ve been together), we eat at NeoBiota, hands down one of the most innovative restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. The head chef, Erik, also serves most of our meals. His flavours are big and bold. Each dish has a complexity of ingredients and preparation that is mind boggling, and one of their philosophies is to help control invasive species by eating them! (In fact, according to Erik, Neobiota means invasive species.) That includes a type of tree that is invasive in the area, and wild berry leaves, amongst a multitude of others that I just can’t remember. They are a veg-forward place where vegetaables “are not just an afterthought” and much of the produce is foraged or comes from their own gardens. Preservation is also key, and many ingredients are pickled, fermented or otherwise preserved for use all year round.

We have a six course dinner which extends out to about ten with all the little mini courses that are also served, and we also have the wine pairing, which brings out some interesting drinks. One of my favourites is the Italian dessert wine, a red, co-fermented with cherries, and is from Italty. Due to some of the weird European regulations they cannot import it directly from Italy, but have to go via France.

Even in our little restaurant garden oasis we can hear the sounds of world football blaring through the streets. As we leave the restaurant Germany is down 0-1, so the sounds are not happy. On our way home we stop at a likely looking bar with an outside TV and get chatting to a lovely local couple. I’m not a soccer person at all, but knowing a little about it, and showing some interest, is helping us connect with locals.

We watch the remainder of the match. Germany wins, 2-1, against Côte d’Ivoire. The funny thing is that the TV at the place across the road is some seconds ahead of “our” TV, and we hear the cheers from the last goal before we even see it.

Germany wins. Köln goes off.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 61.88km
• Climb: 66m
• Average speed: 16.5km/h
• Average temperature: 35C
• Moving time: 3:43:22
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today there was no beer! What? We had a few errands to do in Köln and then had to scamper to get to a very special dinner. Please excuse us – today’s beer is a German crément (who knew there was such a thing) in the garden setting of our divine restaurant, Neobiota in Köln.

Along the way today:

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