Stage 127: From Wiesbaden to Speyer

On July 20th, I continued my bike trip with lighter luggage. A few winter clothes could stay at home, and the bulky winter sleeping bag was replaced by my thin summer sleeping bag. Then I took the lighter gas stove instead of the gasoline stove and I could save the big black bag on the rear wheel. Speaking of the rear wheel: during a small inspection in Wiesbaden, I noticed that three spokes already had small cracks in the rim. After 10,000 kilometers with heavy luggage, that's probably fine. I decided to continue anyway, because what could go wrong in Europe? I'm sure I can find a replacement if necessary (or so I thought).

The plan was to go on a small round trip through southern Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy, preferably with some Mediterranean coast, but I deliberately didn't make any fixed plans. I started heading south with the best weather. With a few exceptions, I simply followed the Rhine, which was my first big bike tour in 2017 (in the opposite direction). With a bit of nostalgia in my luggage, I rode through Worms, unfortunately also through the suburbs of Ludwigshafen, until shortly before Speyer. It started with beautiful sunshine, but in the evening a thunderstorm rolled in. Does this always happen on the first day of such a tour? I found a nice little campsite north of Speyer, connected to a farm. There I could spend the first night very cheaply.