After these wonderful few days, I was really looking forward to getting back on the road again - refreshed, revitalised and with a tuned up bike to boot. My plan was to return to Ulm by train and cycle to a rather lovely sounding campsite in Leipheim. It was a sunny and hot Sunday and there had been a train strike, so wasn't sure what to expect. But I left with the most expertly packed panniers, so easy when you are dry and inside.
Getting to the train station was easy but getting a train was not. For the first time, I got into an angry altercation with a train guard, which I found a bit unsettling when you are being shouted at angrily in German and made me think of WW II movies. I missed the first train, so I took the second and took some pics of a rather large chimney with the word Dick down it, I'll never fully grow up when it comes to childish toilet humour.
Due to the strike, I had to stop off at a grim little town called Goppingen and then take a replacement bus to Ulm, but timings were not great and I decided to just cycle from there towards the campsite which was only 60LM away after all. Not a nice route, following a motorway all the way, but still preferable than hanging around and changing onto buses. I noticed a huge cross high on a hill, which I think was The Birkenkopf, an artificial hill built from the ruins and rubble from World War II.
After a couple of hours and some pretty intense climbs where I had to walk the bike, the clouds started getting ominously dark and accompanied with rumbles of thunder. I took refuge in a bus shelter and kept dry as a the rain hit, texting Alan to compare 'getting caught in the rain' stories. Memories of the awful day when I got caught out at Kaiserstuhl came to mind, which I did not want to repeat so I checked out local accommodation and found an OK sounding hotel and set off. It seemed like forever with threat of a massive downpour and I was a tad worried when I saw flashes of forked lightning in the distance and then the clouds lifted and the sunshine blasted through, dazzling and as bright as could be.
So I pushed on through to the campsite after all and got there just as the reception was closing, which would have meant me ending up with a free night accommodation I guess as I was going nowhere else that night.
The campsite had loads of amenities including a couple of lakes and a farm, which would have been great for a swim but at least there was a passable restaurant where I devoured some flat sausage and chips kind of thing washed down by beers.
Felt a bit lonely but nothing too bad and rang some friends back home. That night was a torrential downpour which did wake me up, and I loved it. Wow, nothing beats the sound of rain smashing into your canvas. Prior to this, I was so happy that the hole in the tent had been fixed as conditions were perfect for the mossies and I would have been ravaged alive.
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