Wake up at 7. I know that I will start the day from the climb, all routes into and out of Michelstadt cross hills. I am on road B47 and it is not so steep, but my I do not move very fast. My not very well warmed up knees hurt a bit. Have to stop every 3-4 kilometers. It is warm, no clouds. I go in the direction of Reichelsheim, which is ~40 km almost directly south of Frankfurt. And you can see that in the sky - at one point I counted 6 planes at the same time cruising at different altitudes.

I climb a mountain (371m). Downhill was great - 6 km via serpentine through the forest. I still have hope that mountains are behind my back.

Another town, another climb but shorter.

I stop in Lindenfels and have huge omelette for lunch. It is already noon and I have done only 30 km through the mountains.

When I look at the houses here in Hessen, they seem to be nicer, more colourful. It is more fun to cross this part of Germany. However I already am getting fed up with Germany and things start to annoy me i.e. Ruhe Tag, or when you buy cigarettes, they sell only packages of 19 for €3,20. If you buy them in the machine you pay €3 but for 18 only.

Another climb to 400m. I am getting close to Rhine, I will cross it today.

finally flat for a while... I am getting close to Rhine. This is huge milestone, and I have been dreaming about it for days. I was saying to myself that once I cross Rhine, the worst is behind me and that with every kilometer I am closer to finish.

I turn right here towards Darmstadt.

At 15:10 I reach Gernsheim by Rhine! Last kilometres were really flat, I was often turning my head looking at the stuff I had to go through. You immediately get so much more power, and you feel more confident.

When I got there it was like oooffff. I made it so far, there is no way I can fail now. Had a rest there, and was watching the river.

The traffic was amazing, comapring to Danube it was 20 times more ships every few minutes in both directions. You have to be really carefull there.

In Gernsheim there is no bridge to my surprise, well there was one but long time ago, I saw only the remains of it. So I am crossing the Rhine by ferry (€2.00).

had to wait few minutes, but not long. I was thinking how busy this spot must be during rush hour.

So I am in new bundesland - Rhineland-Palatinate :-)

On the other side landscape changes immediately, vineyards, so far flat and you can push the bike till 21-23 km/h; was happy to ride fast for a while. Vineyards, vineyards everywhere.

At one stage I was on a busy road (dual carriageway) going straight an flat and on both sides vast vineyards. It was getting hot plus the traffic. Did not like the place. Reminded me of Bavaria.

Unfortunately those vineyards tend to be hilly so still had to go up and down, up and down.

I get to Gau Odernheim. I sit in a local bar/restaurant under huge umbrella. Drinking beer I start to talk to natives. I know there is no way to find camping here so I am trying to find out if I can set up my tent in somebody's garden or yard. Tough. Also I realize that my German is getting better :-) I exchanged stories from my trip and tried to get the feeling as what is ahead of me. And learnt bad news. My initial route would cross Ardens and it would be very unpleasant route. In 70 km I would hit Soonwald forests, where German Robin Hood used to live, then mountains. There was no way I could cover the distance to Belgium in 2 days.

I end up in a private room for €30, and funny thing, guy who was running this only place in the town was actually its mayor (Burgermesiter).

This afternoon I passed 900km. So far the total is 908km!

Distance: 90.92 km
Average speed: 17.10 km/h