Day 12 – Thursday 19 July 2012

Höxter – Rinteln

Campsite

Erholungsgebiet Doktor-See, Am Doktorsee 8, 31737 Rinteln, www.doktorsee.de

Notes

When I set out from the campsite I found the Weser cycle path and wound along it until Holzminden, where I crossed the bridge into the town and lost the path. Crossing back over the bridge I found it again and followed it for a kilometer or two and then my GPS trace shows that I took to the road again, why, I am not sure. I followed the road by the side of the river to Bodenwerder where I had arranged to meet Liz for lunch. I overshot the old town centre and circled round to it after a bit of puzzled mapreading. I recall sheltering under a large umbrella eating lunch in the square at an Italian restaurant.

After lunch I didn’t go back to the road but crossed the town bridge over the Weser and found the cycle path. It wound alongside the river past gardens and small campsites, taking sudden right-angle turns round these leisure facilities. We had agreed to have coffee and cake in Hamelin. By the time I arrived it had turned to rain and I was past caring. I received a text message from Liz saying she was at the tourist information centre, but I was in the old town square and simply couldn’t face hunting round for the information centre in the wet. I sent Liz a message that I would ride on to Rinteln. The rain eased a little and in the event I felt a bit of a wimp. I left the Weser cycle path and headed west along quiet roads south of the river following my GPS device.

The Doktor-See campsite was quite full and we were pitched cheek by jowl with other families, but the facilities were good and the showers hot and free. We were pitched near a strange family and had quite a bit of fun people-watching their antics. This was the last day I would be supported by Liz, as she was driving to Braunschweig to see Eva and Jürgen the following day and we would not meet up again until I arrived on Sylt.