Homeless But Not Hopeless: 10/10/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 28

Thursday, 18 October 2012

10/10/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 28

Distance cycled: 64km from 15km from Saarbrücken to German French border 18km from Bitches (Ha!)
Average speed: 14.5km/h
Moving time: 4h24m
Total distance: 2589km
Border X'ings: 9
Money spent: €90 for new handlebar bag and waterproof shoe covers for when it gets cold and wet.

View 10oct12 in a larger map

At the point where I camped last night I knew I was 15km from Saarbrücken and away from the track on my GPS that I had to follow. I thought it would be easy enough to get back on this track but this posed more of an issue than I thought, I constantly found myself doing circles around blocks in residential areas unable to find any roads heading down the hill but finally I made it to Saarbrücken where I spent a good part of the early afternoon chatting to the owner of a sport shop; Mark let me charge some of my electrical's while I purchased and fitted a new handlebar bag I've been wanting for the last couple of weeks.
There was nothing wrong with my old one but I just wanted on me bigger so that I could fit my camera inside meaning I easier access to it, this one also has the added benefit of being waterproof too.
The sun was out and I still had 125km from here to get to Karlsruhe anytime after 4pm tomorrow, so I took my time. This was the idea in my head but thanks to google and it's walking trails through the very beautiful Mandelbachtal region I again, like this morning found myself having to backtrack because some trails were worse than appalling for cycling. Just as an example, try pushing a 50kg+ bicycle up a 8% grade on gravel without any grip on your shoes (cycling shoes). Not fun!
It was just a roller-coaster of a day where 'I' had to power the damn thing.
Now I am in France but only for a couple of kilometers before crossing back into Germany in the direction of Karlsruhe.
I can only hope that tomorrow is going to be less of a shitshow as it was today, 64km isn't so good.