Day 375 29th July
17 miles (around Leipzig) Average speed 9.1mph Top speed 78??
I woke at 9 feeling a bit fragile after my 3 am bedtime and extended my stay at the hostel as my bike wasn’t due to be ready until 2. I had brekkie of bread, pate and tea. I made my way to the bike shop and then discovered they hadn’t done any work as there were two cracks in the rear rim. So I paid for the parts I’d ordered and took the bike with me, as they wanted to charge me 550€ for two new wheels and the labour. I found another bike shop who offered me two wheels for 150€ but the rims were not a make I’d heard of so I said I’d return on Monday, but then went in search of more bike shop options. Unfortunately most close at 2pm on Saturday so it was a fruitless mission.
I was feeling down but after a call home to Ermintrude she cheered me up and gave me a lift and pointed out that I needed a rest anyway. I eventually ordered two new replacement wheels to be delivered to the hostel from Rose bikes in Germany. I went for a ride and immediately felt better about the situation, at least I could now explore the city by bike and not worry about the bike for a while. I returned to the hostel with a salad and hummus and sat chatting all night with Will from Panama, who has invited me to his paradise house whenever I want. He is a really good guy and we chatted about all sorts from footy to the troubles in Ireland. We retired to bed and I realised we’d been chatting for about 3 hours and it was now 11.30. I have two people in my room now but they both seem nice guys. One is German attending a swing dance workshop and the other is Austrian inter railing through Belgium, Holland and Germany.
Hostel 12.71 €