750 km - Pit stop at the emergency room

Km on the clock: 750

It was still raining the next morning but the weather forecast predicted sunshine for that day. The guest house manager said to me: Just wait for a bit. The sun will come out soon for sure. So I took my time at the breakfast buffet.

It was around 11 am when the rain stopped so I put the panniers on my bike and started cycling in direction north. The terrain was pretty hilly. Every hill was another challenge. Cycling during sunshine  was a great feeling after pedaling through permanent rain and surviving Doomsday the previous days.

I arrived the city Eschwege in the early afternoon and was wondering that so many people were dressed like hippies or were wearing rubber boots. My first instinct was that it might be a thing or temporary fashion in this town. The closer I came to the city center the more I heard loud music and started to realize that it is not a thing. The Open Flair Festival was taking place that weekend. So I pushed my bike through a crowd of drunk people wobbling over the streets. I grabbed a drink and enjoyed the festival atmosphere for a while.

I followed the trail alongside the river Werra when I left Eschwege. The river is surrounded by hills and woods. The castle ruin Hanstein on top of one of these hills make the whole valley flair perfect. The partly muddy trail was lined with blackberry bushes which literally forced me to nibble from them. I can highly recommend to cycle the Werratal-Cycling trail.

That night I finally got to use my tent again. I set up my night camp behind a corn field right at the river Leine just a few kilometers outside of the city Göttingen. I realized that I cycled about 90 kilometers that day which was my personal best and then got some good sleep.

While packing my stuff the next morning a farmer with his tractor appeared to cut the lawn around the corn field. I was a bit afraid that he would chase me away but instead was only waving at me to say hello. I was not sure if wild camping is also not allowed in Lower Saxony like in Bavaria. Relieved not to get in any trouble I headed into Göttingen.

I spent some time in Göttingen got a coffee and later a Döner kebab for lunch. I think I have never seen a city with so many kebab places before. I passed a spot where literally five kebab restaurants were right next to each other. All their advertising were saying that they have the best kebab in town. I decided for the restaurant which offered the most space to park my bicycle. I cannot tell if this place served the best kebab in town but I was satisfied with the result.

It was the first time that I had a mental down. I was actually surprised, the last day just went great for me and ended with a personal best. It was really hard to keep moving if your mind is not in the right place. I caught myself a few times thinking: Just give up and go home. The next train station is coming soon for sure. At the same time I thought: Giving up is not an option.

Apart from my personal mind games I realized that there was something wrong with my left hand. The left part of it felt numb and I was unable to compress my pinky and ring finger with the rest of my hand. A bit scared that I probably close to an apoplexy or heart attack I kept cycling to the city Hildesheim. I just did not want to camp somewhere in the wilderness that night just in case it was something really serious. Although the weather was perfect for camping. So I ended up in a hotel in the city center of Hildesheim that night. Staying at a hotel gave me the security that the ambulance would at least find me if I was about to die. That would be for sure way more difficult if I would have camped somewhere outside.

Well, I did not die that night. I went to the emergency room for a medical check the next morning. After a few electro shock tests and a computer tomography it turned out that a nerve in my left elbow was incarcerated from putting too much pressure on it. The doctor gave me two options for the regeneration. Either to put the left arm into a cast or take some strong pills three times a day and make sure that my cycling position is straight all the time from now on. I chose the pills. I thought: I made it so far so I will not give up cause of some stupid injury yet. I had no idea that it would become that difficult to cycle in the same position for the next days.

Emergency room

After some sightseeing in the historic city center of Hildesheim I made my way further up north to the city Celle. By the way, Hildesheim is beautiful. It is one of the places that I would definitely visit again. I went through several small towns in the eastern suburbs of Hanover and made it to the city Celle that day. I luckily arrived at a hostel right before a thunderstorm came up. Making it to Celle that day also meant that I cycled 750 kilometers in total. The same thought that I had after 500 kilometers came up to my mind: From now on it is only going downhill.

At Hildesheim market place

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