Where's Bertie? He's still in the Stellplatz in Leichlingen
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine until late afternoon. 13 degrees overnight, rising to 20 this afternoon. Feels like we've returned to summer.
Just as I was about to head out for my run this morning, I quickly checked to see the 'how busy by time of day' profile for the laundrette on Google Maps, and that was when I discovered that the laundrette isn't open on a Sunday. On the one hand, why had this not occurred to me as a possibility, in a country where shops are closed, noise is prohibited and the hanging out of laundry is frowned upon on a Sunday? On the other hand, laundrettes don't require an on-site staff presence and when else are people who work all week going to get their washing done (clearly using a UK mentality with that question, given how town-centre shops here are closed for most of the weekend)?
Deferring further consideration of the issue until later, out I headed, not for two laps of the 'Fruit Route' as originally intended, but to do a 15km route I'd plotted that took in the first half of the fruit route before extending it into a much bigger circuit. Save for one short section alongside a noisy road, it was truly lovely. Mick would have enjoyed it. His calf would not, with three remarkably steep uphill sections (on the plus side, the related downs were long and runnable). Glad I hadn't opted to do it the other way around, as the ascent/descent profile in that direction would have involved much more walking.
No photos to illustrate the loveliness, I'm afraid (there was woodland, riverside and open field tracks). My phone has recently decided that it can't have three Apps running in the background, and thus if I take a photo whilst I have navigation, a podcast and Live Tracking running, then it will stop one of the other Apps (seemingly choosing at random). It has taken it upon itself to change my settings before in the interests of saving battery, but on this occasion I've not been able to track down the errant setting. As it happens, the Garmin server went down about 7km in, so Live Tracking (the thing that allows Mick to see where I am*) stopped working anyway.
Whilst I was out Mick walked along the river, and we arrived back at Bertie at almost the same time, whereupon I contemplated options: move on to our next stop as planned and find a different laundrette, or stay here and launder tomorrow. The latter won for being far the more convenient option.
The extra night caused us to feel obliged to go and spend a few more pennies locally, so we headed out after lunch for ice creams. There are two Eis Cafés in town, one in the main square, one just across the road, and both were positively bustling with people. It partially answers our question as to what people do with themselves on a Sunday: they go for a walk/run/ride, and/or they go out for ice cream.
My Bitter Schokolade was huge and very rich
Sitting on a bench in the square in the warm sunshine made me awfully soporific, but Mick eventually managed to chivvy me back into action to walk the long way around (via a riverside walk) back to Bertie.
(*A few weeks ago I encountered Wanking Man in a forest. My mind obviously slid over the possibility that Wanking Man could also turn out to be Sexual Assault Man, but at least I had the comfort that if my track did stop moving in the forest, Mick would be able to see where I was. I got back from that run to find that Live Tracking had failed on that occasion too - almost certainly because I'd taken a photo earlier on causing my phone to close the Garmin App.)
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine until late afternoon. 13 degrees overnight, rising to 20 this afternoon. Feels like we've returned to summer.
Just as I was about to head out for my run this morning, I quickly checked to see the 'how busy by time of day' profile for the laundrette on Google Maps, and that was when I discovered that the laundrette isn't open on a Sunday. On the one hand, why had this not occurred to me as a possibility, in a country where shops are closed, noise is prohibited and the hanging out of laundry is frowned upon on a Sunday? On the other hand, laundrettes don't require an on-site staff presence and when else are people who work all week going to get their washing done (clearly using a UK mentality with that question, given how town-centre shops here are closed for most of the weekend)?
Deferring further consideration of the issue until later, out I headed, not for two laps of the 'Fruit Route' as originally intended, but to do a 15km route I'd plotted that took in the first half of the fruit route before extending it into a much bigger circuit. Save for one short section alongside a noisy road, it was truly lovely. Mick would have enjoyed it. His calf would not, with three remarkably steep uphill sections (on the plus side, the related downs were long and runnable). Glad I hadn't opted to do it the other way around, as the ascent/descent profile in that direction would have involved much more walking.
No photos to illustrate the loveliness, I'm afraid (there was woodland, riverside and open field tracks). My phone has recently decided that it can't have three Apps running in the background, and thus if I take a photo whilst I have navigation, a podcast and Live Tracking running, then it will stop one of the other Apps (seemingly choosing at random). It has taken it upon itself to change my settings before in the interests of saving battery, but on this occasion I've not been able to track down the errant setting. As it happens, the Garmin server went down about 7km in, so Live Tracking (the thing that allows Mick to see where I am*) stopped working anyway.
Whilst I was out Mick walked along the river, and we arrived back at Bertie at almost the same time, whereupon I contemplated options: move on to our next stop as planned and find a different laundrette, or stay here and launder tomorrow. The latter won for being far the more convenient option.
The extra night caused us to feel obliged to go and spend a few more pennies locally, so we headed out after lunch for ice creams. There are two Eis Cafés in town, one in the main square, one just across the road, and both were positively bustling with people. It partially answers our question as to what people do with themselves on a Sunday: they go for a walk/run/ride, and/or they go out for ice cream.
Sitting on a bench in the square in the warm sunshine made me awfully soporific, but Mick eventually managed to chivvy me back into action to walk the long way around (via a riverside walk) back to Bertie.
(*A few weeks ago I encountered Wanking Man in a forest. My mind obviously slid over the possibility that Wanking Man could also turn out to be Sexual Assault Man, but at least I had the comfort that if my track did stop moving in the forest, Mick would be able to see where I was. I got back from that run to find that Live Tracking had failed on that occasion too - almost certainly because I'd taken a photo earlier on causing my phone to close the Garmin App.)
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