Day Six - German disco party time!

When we arrived at the campsite last night it had all the bases covered for what you might think is needed for a TMAAT bingo full house….on site shop which is actually open, cold beers, sandy beach and a choice of restaurant or snack bar. But….and it’s a big one ….all of Germany seems to be here, in what after all is basically a disused quarry that has bean filled with water and turned into a “destination. Barbie Girl (or equivalent is blaring out at a million decibels everywhere, there are screaming children and drunken youths (yes I used the word youths!) and all in all this is a campsite that does not a happy TMAAT make. To be fair at 2100 precisely there is an “Achtung achtung” message over a tannoy which I assume was advising non campers to sod off home and within 5 mins they all had done exactly (presumably just following orders?) and peace descended.

Given yesterday’s absolutely monster 99 miles compounded by intense heat we decide to try and leave even earlier tomorrow in an attempt to beat the suffering. We have slightly less miles planned today, a paltry 86, but the forecast is for even hotter. Is that even possible ….turns out yes, yes it is!

I am sure I say something similar on at least one day of each trip we have ever done but today is off the scale, insanely hard. Right from the off the heat is completely stifling and energy sapping. We make some decent progress initially before we pause for a McDonalds breakfast around 1000am (I am not proud!). After that it gets hotter and hotter and harder and harder. We pause increasingly frequently (first every hour, then every 10 miles and then every 5 miles) to find some shade, top up water bottles and re-apply sunblock. To be clear this is hotter than when we cycled to Morocco and that was craziness. …this is indescribable.

The river Main, which broadly we are following today, meanders around a lot, and I mean sometimes up to 20 miles away from our ideal straight route. When planning the route I thought it best to shorten the journey by straight lining some of these meanders but that of course means hills! Let me be super clear when you are at the very limit of what you can endure, and the heat is absolutely unbearable and all you want to do is curl up in an icy bath with a cold beer, hills are not what you need. I am still not sure how we made it but the last 20 miles are the hardest and most hurtful miles I have ever done.

We did do them though and we have made it to our campsite south of Wurzburg. It’s not at all clear what we are going to do tomorrow.

Ps - nice end to the day for all involved when a women made it clear I had not in fact locked the shower door as well as I thought ….cue much screaming….: She was quite shocked too!