May 6, 2025
Day 78: Seltz to Speyer
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The Rhine forms the border between France and Germany, until it doesn't. Just by heading north from Seltz we would enter Germany, without having to do anything fancy, like taking a ferry across the river. It meant that when we stopped at a bakery not far from Seltz, it was likely my last French bakery. Because this bakery also had the enigmatic "Boulanger/Banette" signage, I took the opportunity to ask what this was all about. The answer was that the "Banette" recipes and flour only applied to the baguettes on offer. The other baking in the shop presumably used lower quality flour and/or the Kleinmann's own recipes. Ok, got it.
The theme of stuff not working properly in France extended from the elevator at the Vauban dam in Strasbourg, to the door code system and the internet at Hotel des Bois, and to the debit card machine at the bakery:
Of course one should not denounce a whole country based on only four failures, but just watch me!
Our route quite quickly took us to very nice bike paths through forests, that often featured really large and tall trees. These paths and forests made up a very large part of the ride today. It was pleasant cycling, but not much there to report in a blog.
Something bloggable did pop up in the form of Hans Beekmans, from Netherlands. Hans was intrigued by the Santiago de Compostella sticker on the front of Dodie's handlebar bag, because he too had made that journey. But this time Hans had started from Andermatt, near the source of the Rhine, and he was following the river home. Hans had wanted to actually stand at the source of the Rhine (near Andermatt), but he reported the area too clogged with snow for him to get there (on foot). Because Hans' wife is not a cyclist, she was driving their campervan and waiting for him each day, providing a mobile hotel. That's an admirable amount of patience on her part.
Hans records his trips on a site called Polar Steps. We exchanged the links to Cycleblaze and to Polar Steps, and also email addresses. On parting ways with Hans, I remarked to Dodie about how less that 1% of these exchanges on the trail lead to any further contact. But I might be wrong about Hans (and his wife, Petra). Skipping ahead in this story by about 80 km and many hours, we had reached Speyer, and were swanning down the main walking street, with me looking for my first German bakery. Suddenly a man erupted front the opposite sidewalk and jumped in front of my bike. It was Hans! It seems Hans must have discussed his Grampies encounter with Petra, showing the selfie he had taken of the three of us. It was Petra that recognized us in the street. So here we were with two encounters in one day. Chances are high that we will arrange a meetup, when next we pass through Netherlands!
*** Flash, just in *** that selfie that Hans took:
We carried on, down the Rhine, sometimes by the river and sometimes by the dike, but without any further incidents to report. Except for this: in France absolutely everyone, cyclist, pedestrian, or bystander, had a "bonjour" for everyone else. But in Germany? Nothing. Nichts, not even a nod or an eye contact. Strange!
I was looking for other comparisons of France and Germany, and got one near Worth am Rhein, in the form of a giant home improvement store. Yes, we have seen this is France, with Monsieur Bricolage, but this German thing just seemed so much more of a Home Depot clone. Actually, while Baumarkt does have the spirit and the shade of orange paint, there is another one, Obi, that is the most faithful copy.
My claim that the Germans won't talk to us (or to each other) was blown up in Worth as we passed a large city truck bearing a mower or some other kind of equipment. I vaguely registered the truck and the equipment as we passed, mainly noting that is was stationary, and triggering a mental alert to watch for it suddenly moving forward or starting up its machinery.
We ourselves stopped, some distance beyond the truck, as Dodie consulted the GPS, because our next turn was not obvious. This triggered the truck driver to leave his vehicle and walk all the way down to us, and with no language in common, he found out where we were going and directed us correctly on the way.
As we proceeded down the Rhine, we passed quite a few huts like the one shown below. We thought maybe they were something one could rent, but we couldn't imagine how one would get the key or organize payment. I finally figured out that these buildings were to house staff that might need to be keeping watch for breaches in the dike. I got my brilliant insight when I spotted one with a sign that translated something like "dike watch house", duh.
The route seemed to deliberately bypass any and all towns, but we did pass through one, somewhere. It looked like the scene below - solid and plain.
When we drew close to Speyer, there was none of the car dealership, hair dresser stuff, and there was no ring of five story apartment buildings. There was the refinery shown below, and then bing! we were in Speyer.
The first thing of note that we saw in Speyer was the very large museum of technology. You can't miss it, because they have a Boeing 747-200 mounted on top of one of their buildings.
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Next up was the Speyer Cathedral. The door was open and Dodie felt a visit was in order. But I claimed to be tired, after just 86 km on the road, and we gave it a miss. When shortly thereafter we encountered Hans, he claimed this was a "must see". Ok. Maybe tomorrow.
For now, we know that the cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Mary, patron saint of Speyer ("Patrona Spirensis") and St. Stephen is generally known as the Kaiserdom zu Speyer (Imperial Cathedral of Speyer). Pope Pius XI raised Speyer Cathedral to the rank of a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925. The thing was started in 1030 and maybe completed around the end of the century.
A little further down the street is a striking statue depicting a pilgrim on the "Camino", a "Jacobspilger" as they call him here.
We next encountered the classic outdoor restaurant seating, and since this is Germany, we expected the people to be drinking beer. Yup!
I took the next shot because of the Goldener Hirsch (Golden Stag) on the left hand side. I just generally like Goldener Hirsch's.
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Our hotel, the Alt Speyer, does not disappoint - featuring the folded duvets that we prefer so much to French tightly tucked in sheets. The internet also works without fuss, and the bikes are in a very nearby garage. Just saying.
Tomorrow we have the chore of finding a post office. The reason - for the first time this tour we walked off with a key - the bike garage key of Hotel des Bois. That may crimp our style a bit in blasting them for their various failings. For their part, if they already thought we were idiots, we proved it today!
p.s. No new birds for 2025 today, but there were some geese types we have seen before:
Today's ride: 86 km (53 miles)
Total: 2,665 km (1,655 miles)
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