Distance: 111 km
Elevation: 1.085 m
I started my day with a swim in the lake and was critically accompanied and observed by a family of swans.
After a nice breakfast with a great view, I slowly packed up and got onto the road again. On the way, I had a chat with my wife and we made some plans for my return on the next weekend. I am really ready to go home now. Almost there …
The first half of the day led me through huge treeless crop fields and windmill parks. I had a solid tailwind climbing up the hilly roads and it became really hot fast.
After a decent lunch in Gotha, which still needs a lot of civil and construction work in order to look as nice as it could, the landscape changed and I was following smalls valleys and went through forests again.
In the afternoon, I had to do a solid climb over 20 km, partially on gravel roads, as I was leaving the valley of the river Ilm. It was intense but ended in a 20km downhill road towards Bad Blankenburg 🙂
Halfway down the hill, the road was blocked but there was no way that I would climb all the way up again. So I just went through the construction site. One of many advantages of riding a bike – not much can stop you!
I arrived at the tiny campsite directly by the river together with two other young cyclists, Maggi and Tilmann. It was there first tour together and we started chatting. Eventually, we ate dinner together and talked a lot about zis, cycling, personal growth and life in general. A very nice and fun evening.
