We end Day Three with a walk into the small town / village of Sturzelberg and find ourselves some birthday pizza (btw massive thank you to everyone for their best wishes….really appreciate it) and after a couple of cold beers (obvs!) we head back to camp for some much needed sleep.

For the second night on the trot sleep comes pretty easily and is uninterrupted until around 400am again for …yes you guessed it…and of course once one of us is up and about then the other is! There is no more proper sleep to be had until 630 when we actually manage to drag ourselves up and about.

Given we have only just managed to dry most of the things that got wet in yesterdays biblical and never ending rain, we are keen to keep as much as we can dry today and so we actually check the weather forecast which says rain again at 730. We hurry to get everything taken down and packed away and take shelter for breakfast (I actually think we set up in the summerhouse of one of the permanent residents but no one complained!) and at exactly 729 the first drops falls. It’s nothing like yesterday but it is that fine rain which soaks you right through.

As we head off we spy another (we have seen loads) rabbit, as happy as you like and clearly not phased by the weather. The first pedal is turned at exactly 0800 and we head off into the countryside. In fact this whole area is less countryside and more massive industrial estates, factories and chemical plants interspersed with bits of countryside. Despite that we are still really enjoying the whole experience and the fantastic cycle paths. They are not quite up to Dutch standards and the block paving they use everywhere, and which vibrates your eyes out of your sockets, can quite frankly do one but overall progress is safe and fast and that equals good.

We whizz through Cologne pausing only for a nanosecond to take a photo of the catherdal / abbey / church thingy and then carry on southwards down the Rhine valley.

I have barely made reference to the fact that I get to do these trips with the G.O.A.T and so thought it was time I shared a picture ….oh and completely by coincidence you see Marc to the right of the shot (I thank you!)

As we clear Cologne and Bonn we start to leave the Mad Max industrial wastelands behind and everything starts to perk up ….we see hills (hello old friend….its been a while) and castles (schloss’s maybe….although that’s surely that’s too many “s’s” for any word?) and bearded German men with big horns….insert your own joke here!. We stop to refuel from time to time and partake in supermarket lunch at a picnic table at the side of the cycle path around 1300.

Finally we drop into Koblenz and, because it was part of the pre tour briefing, we both understand that crossing the Rhine at Koblenz is vitally and basically life threateningly important. We have spent all day and the last 85 miles from Dusseldorf on the West side of the Rhine and the campsite we are aiming for is on the East side. It would be all too easy to whizz along the lovely cycle path admiring the world around us and without a care in the world blissfully unaware of the trap we have set for ourselves and then discover all too late that the campsite we are so desperate to reach is 600m the other side of the river with no way of getting to it without a 20 mile backtrack…...so we decide not to do that and we cross the river at Koblenz.

It’s been a longer than expected day (92 miles all in) and with 5 miles to go we pause for a cold beer again (this might be a new TMAAT thing!) stop at a supermarket to pick up supplies and then roll into the campsite around 1800….its been a long day on the back of three also very long days but hugely rewarding.