Day 3: from Paderborn to Nörten-Hardenberg

At breakfast in the monastery we meet Christian, a friendly young man who is studying in Paderborn but lives in the guest wing of the Community of the Beatitudes because, as he says, he needs the prayer life in the monastery.

The Community of the Beatitudes dates back to two married couples who founded a community in 1973. In 2002 it was recognized by the Holy See as an association of the faithful under pontifical right, is now represented in more than 20 countries and is one of the new spiritual communities.

Locations in Germany are Uedem and Paderborn. Here they live in a former Poor Clares monastery, which was renovated and made available by the Paderborn diocese (since the renovation naturally required compliance with German fire protection regulations, this house is an El Dorado for naturally easy-to-open fire doors).

After Holy Mass in the morning and a warm farewell, we get on our bikes - and it starts to rain. Up until now, we could rely on such misfortunes happening at night. Well, this situation was to continue more or less strongly until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Rain jackets and leg protectors can be used to fend off most of it, but the weak point is the plastic bag used to cover the shoes, which at some point can no longer withstand the strain.

On the way, the suspicion arose that we had sung "Oh Lord, pour out streams of living water, oh Lord, upon us!" too often during the last Real Man men's weekend at Vogelsang Castle...

The crossing of the Teutoburg Forest formed the first part of the stage to Beverungen; from there upstream of the Weser to...

Beyond the Weser the weather improved, a new colour appeared in the sky:

On the further, hilly route through the Weserbergland, it became clear once again that paths that run across (if you go across, it's difficult) the mountains can be strenuous.

But at some point the last hill was overcome. The holiday apartment was booked, and nothing should stand in the way of a relaxing evening - unfortunately, however, the cleaning lady in this apartment had a migraine and had not come to work without an excuse - the apartment was definitely in a less than ideal condition, which was particularly reflected in the appearance of the bed linen; a condition that was viewed with great concern by some members of our travel group.

The landlady promised to do better, the cleaning lady had obviously gotten over her migraine, arrived and an hour and a half later the apartment was tidy.