Ep 14 / Germany / to Karlsruhe

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[Music] so good morning welcome back to the river Ryan as you can see the floor is wet it’s been raining again all night no surprise there really and I’m just waiting for this little shower to go over then it should be the last one for a little while according to the weather radar then we can make our way I heading to a little town near C’s R where I have a hotel room booked for this evening so I’m in no rush I can get there at any time in the evening obviously and uh well rain decided to come down a bit heavier GL I was waiting under here yeah so I have a hotel room booked for this evening we get there when we get there it’s about 44 miles don’t know what that is in kilm be over 70 km [Music] anyhow first things first we have to go about 6 km to another Ferry always exciting to get on a ferry in the morning so that’s down the river and that’s up the river there really isn’t much of a view I’m afraid sorry I’m under this sort of Boardwalk Place there’s a restaurant up there which is obviously closed this time of the morning right I will probably we get back with you at the Perry quite a fast flowing little Channel really funel the river through this this B he’s going to do a pouette in the middle of the river [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so that’s this morning’s Ferry done for anybody who’s interested they uh seem to have a standard cost of €50 for a cyclist now just going to go around the corner where I believe there’s a little according to the map and get some breakfast actually breakfast no that should be lunch it’s going to be one of those days I can’t can’t even think what time it is must be getting on for Midday now so it looks like we’re cycling along the bank again today but if I see something that’s worthwhile pointing the camera at I certainly will but we’re also dodging showers so as and when oh there’s something you don’t see every day before you ask no idea some sort of Museum tempting bit early though so we’re through spay or spay spay guess where we are now back on the bank woohoo [Music] so I’m just on my way around Gan and come across this Railway Bridge thought I might as well point the camera at it there anything else and that’s the r at gine shine GMA shine shine oh there it is GMA shine looks like it might rain again anytime soon so I’m going to make a move I’m now on this lovely smooth cyclopath for the next 2 and A2 miles oh it’s lovely and after germine we’re back on the bank going to miss this Bank not as you can see it’s been raining again not a lot more I can say about rain is there at this point it’s wet and it falls on me so whilst we’re biking along here I thought I’d just like to introduce everybody to a new member of the team Sayo Sid everyone Sid Sayo now Sid’s a bit shy come on poke your head out you know you want to give him a minute he’ll come out of his shell imagine when he goes home to his wife and kids tonight tells him might happen they’ll be like shut up next you’ll be telling us there’s a in abductions not that I think Sid’s going to be going on for his wife and kids I’ve taken him about the equivalent of a million miles away it looks like he’s about to fall off action the things you do to entertain yourself when you’re going along the bank oh Sid Sid where have you gone oh I miss you Sid I swear I’m cracking up with this bank so the thought did just strike me that I should have called him Wilson then when he fell off I could have done my best impression and Wilson Wilson I’m sorry Wilson anyone know the movie first one in the comments doesn’t win a prize I’ve got 11 miles to go I have no idea what the time is I’m guessing it’s about halfast 3 maybe even 4:00 I wonder if it’s 11 miles of this bank at this stage it wouldn’t surprise me I’m even fed up with seeing mistletoe everywhere I look is mistletoe it was a novelty yesterday now it’s like on every single tree I look at was it yesterday or the day before yesterday who knows they all blur into one the days of the bank oh well get back to you in a bit well the news is I’ve stopped with approximately 10 and 1 half miles to go I think oh I wish I had my le reading glass now 11 miles to go I’ve stopped with 11 miles to go for a short break but I’m also taking some painkillers because my knee is hurting my left knee which is a shame it’s done all right the last two days but I’ve done what up to now 10 oh what does that make it about 115 mil 115 mil in the last 3 days I guess it’s taking its toll it’s too much really oh and it still keeps drizzling all the time it’s not proper rain it’s just spots not enough to put the waterproofs on but enough to be a nuisance thank goodness it’s flat the rest of the way so it just struck me even though this is going to be a bit out of sink I’m going to be in a hotel later and probably the best place to show you these bags is when I’m out and about and they’re on the trike and fully loaded so here we go then these are the or Le recumbent Piers that I’m using on this tour they’re obviously a lot different to the roll top ones that I’ve been using before I’ve had these about a year but this is the first time I’ve used them properly I’ve been using them as day bags up until now so let’s have a closer look on the outside we’ve got these two big Buckles at the front then on each end we have one of these small buckles this handle here the smaller thinner handle is to raise and lower the clips these are the normal all Le clips that hold the bag onto the frame then there’s a stronger more robust carry handle here I wouldn’t want to pick the uh full weight of the bag up on that little thin strap so they’ve given us a bigger as I say more robust handle here to carry the bag around with us we got these rather pathetic little elastic strapped there’s so much give in this elastic I would trust it to hold anything to be honest I don’t really know what they think I’m going to use that for maybe a map I don’t know but yeah not impressed with that it’s really really is look you can see it’s it’s a pathetic piece of elastic I could change it I suppose and put a decent piece of elastic on there but I’m not going to bother I haven’t been using it now I don’t suppose I’m ever going to small non-waterproof zip top pocket on there just for keeping little bits and Bobs in there I keep a couple of straps in there just in case it’s also got some poppers on the top here I guess that could be for a map holder of some description there’s one down here up site under the seat there’s another one there it excuse the dirt and dust on these um but I just wanted to show you how they’re held onto the rack it’s the same usual system that or Le use we’ve got these little clasps that go onto the top of the rack and then a hook down at the bottom that holds the bottom of the bag in against the trun nothing peculiar there at all so with the bag back on the track I’ll show you how the insides look so there’s nothing really special about the inside of these just move my coat out of the way coats can’t get it there we go so inside the bag we have three straps and one two and three and they hold the bag upright on the TR if I undo them you see it just drops down then we can open it up and you see everything that’s inside my bag which this one’s got the tent in it there’s the tent down the bottom there take that camera out of the way before it falls on the floor which brings me to the big problem with these bags is that as you see when I open up the straps it just Falls forward and when the bag’s really full everything falls out on the floor in fact that’s my biggest problem with these bags there’s no compartments there’s no pockets there’s no Zips there’s nothing inside just literally one big empty bag you throw your stuff in it uh and then use those three straps to do it up but as soon as you undo those three straps boom and it’s very difficult when you’re on tour to sort through all that stuff if you need something during the day you got to bury your head right inside the bag to find what you’re looking for not good I would have preferred something with pockets the old roll top Piers that I had had an internal pocket in each of them so second gripe with these is as you’ve just seen seven straps to get inside a bag four on the outside three on the inside the old roll top Piers one strap literally just that one strap on the top in any case despite those couple of gripes would I buy them again yeah of course I would they not only look better on the trike but they’ve got that little extra bit of capacity on top of the other bags that I used to have not I want too much extra capacity cuz extra capacity equals extra weight but yeah what I’ve got there is is just right I think yeah overall I’m happy with them and of course I’m still rolling with the side bag as well they’re too handy not to have I might just show you what I’ve got in them one day as well so that’s a look at my recumbent penas I think that’s enough for today and I’ll speak to you again tomorrow taada [Music]