Day 31: It's raining again

Whoever thought that it would never rain again on my tour after the sunny Friday was mistaken. I, for example... I rubbed my eyes in amazement when I saw people outside with umbrellas and jackets this morning. When I left (forgot to take a picture of the hostel again - so annoying), I decided against wearing a rain jacket, as it was only drizzling. We walked along the Weser River for a while and had a 'race' with a tourist boat. We would have won if my wife hadn't spotted the plum tree with branches blocking the way. A bag of fallen fruit was the result.
Then we turned onto the Emmer Cycle Path, a tip from a tourist. We can remember the name in completely different ways. While my wife thinks of the grain, I think of the beer from Plankstetten (see there...) going down my virtual throat. We passed the Schieder Reservoir, bypassed Bad Pyrmont, and entered North Rhine-Westphalia at the enchanting half-timbered town of Lügde. Unfortunately, it rained intermittently and we had to put on our rain jackets. We took them off again, and the sun warmed us during our break. Gradually uphill, but downhill at the end, we reached Horn for the next break (at a good distance from the first one, so I don't give the impression that I only take breaks...) in the spa garden. Let me just say special iced coffee. Strengthened by that, we continued uphill. At every sign, I had to debate with myself whether a detour to the Externsteine rocks is worth it, considering that Paderborn, the destination of today's tour, is still quite a distance away. At a parking lot, I won against myself: the 2 km detour will definitely be worth it. And I was proven right. There was a lot of hustle and bustle, the weather was just about to rain, and there was an entrance fee for the ascent - which I didn't have enough time for. So I took a photo and moved on.
The road ascends gently, and pedaling is fun. We're on the road, but the traffic is light. We made a - as it will later turn out - tactical mistake when we turned onto the bike path. Shortly after, we were showered heavily. We took refuge in the entrance of a house and still got wet. Since we couldn't stand there forever, we continued despite the rain, getting even wetter. The path goes downhill, but I wouldn't call it a 'path' anymore. The water rushes down, we struggle to stay on course, getting jolted around, and I stopped caring about having dry feet a long time ago. There's only one ray of hope: Paderborn is only 12 km away. Then we reach a road, and we'll stay on it!
Once again soaking wet, I reach the ibis hotel in Paderborn with the pleasurable feeling of booking cheaper with booking.com than directly, because I called ahead... A warm shower saves the evening after 90 km and nearly 600 meters of elevation gain, even though people are walking around outside in T-shirts again.