Day 55 - Tubingen to Nurtingen - 46kms

With Kev's tyre showing a bulge and my brakes long gone we set aside the morning in Tubingen to get our bikes fixed. At our first bike shop we were dumbfounded when told it would take 4 days to repair both tyre and brakes - using a form of Australian vernacular we told the staff their attitude was crap and the Poms had it all over them in terms of bike servicing and customer friendliness - this was met with a shrug of Germanic indifference !

Kev tried to flag down a cyclist and in true Peter Sellers style only succeeded in getting a friendly wave back before finally a passerby directed us to bike shop no. 5 since my brakes had stopped working. We nearly fell over when the guy said he couldn't do the bikes immediately but could we come back in 1 1/2 hours - make it 2 we said generously before leaving to wander around the old town.

This beautiful area (the old town) had multiple storey buildings in typical German timber frame design going back 5-600 years complete with quaint market squares filled with stalls and outdoor dining a truly magnificent area

Lovely Tubingen

With bikes fixed and our gratitude shown we left Tubingen around 1pm. We'd no sooner got into stride when Kev felt an urgent need to find a toilet most likely after pilfering apples he'd picked on the ride the day before.

He made a desperate dash on bike to a nearby Bunnings like store riding his bike through the entrance! Struggling to keep up I had images of him riding down the aisles urgently yelling out "crapper" in German or even worse taking a line out of the crass film Jackass and just simply heading for the plumbing section!

He re-emmerged after a good spell looking much better so we headed off yet again this time getting lost almost straight away. After seeking plenty of advice we arrived after 10kms at the next town on the Neckar which had a remarkably similar bridge to the one we's just left - it then dawned upon us that we'd just completed a big loop the wrong way!

Take 3 and we were off again this time picking the correct path and riding 27-30kms an hour fully loaded on a magnificent flat surface with occassional views of the Neckar.

After a stylish lunch in the Aldi car park we rode on to Nurtringen a total of just 46 kms for
the day and that included the 10km loop when lost!

Kev came across a great find near the old town in a Best Western so with a good bed assured we ate out trying to eat Greek food from a German menu - somehow the food orders turned out ok.

A rest day is planned for tommorrow following hopefully a good nights sleep with current km tally showing 5318 kms for self and Kev about 2000 less not too bad for a couple of old
blokes!