A few days on the Reitz Farm

July 7, 2018 to July 10, 2018

** Just a short mention of why we are so slow completing our journal. Since getting home to Canada, we have had a rough time getting Mary Ellen healthy. After many visits to our doctor since getting home, we have learned that Mary Ellen had been coping with pneumonia while touring in Italy and Austria and the recovery is slow going. Its hard to write a journal when one is sleeping!! But better days are here, and we are determined to get this thing done - so do hang in there with us!!.

Now back to the journal....

Everyday on the Reitz farm is an adventure, but today is special as we are going to visit the remains of a castle and climb its tower.

Georg is a passionate ham radio enthusiast and communicates fluently in morse code. His local club has been granted access to a medieval tower which is usually closed to the public. They will be participating in a "castle to castle" ham radio event which is happening around the world. In medieval times, communication was made from tower to tower with flags held in various positions. But, in present day, these clubs are taking this further with an attempt to contact other towers around the world with their ham radios. The objective is to reach as many as possible, and when they reach 100, they are awarded with a certificate. Cora, Clara, Barry and I will ride our bikes to ,the tower to check it out.

Georg's mom, Berte is seeing us off on our ride.

We have made it to the tower - you can see the antenna and tower for the ham radio at the top...plus Georg peeking over the side.

The view of the countryside and the remains of the castle is lovely from the tower.

Georg is happily making contact from atop the tower.

It is a hot day on top of the tower. Their makeshift shelter and set up is working very well. You can imagine that it takes commitment and passion to hike up the tower with all of the gear they need to make this happen.

Modern day presents a new kind of tower - wind turbines. Nonetheless, we can see, across the way, the remnants of another castle which makes us appreciate the visual method of communicate used in medieval times.

Clara, Mary Ellen and Cora enjoying the moment.

This photo shows Georg in his element - doing ham radio in a special place in his beloved region of Hessen.

We are heading home after our visit to the tower with Clara and Cora taking the lead.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 3,584 km (2,226 miles)

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