The day started out well, with an early start. We were cruising along the Saar bike path when there was a huge bang. Kris’s outer tire had blown out and was completely irreparable. We were around 8 km from Merzig, the next large town. So Kris began to walk.

     

I rode on a few kilometres to Fremersdorf to check if we could buy a tire in that small town. I asked at a garage – the people there were very sweet and concerned but also confirmed that there was no place to buy bike tires in that town.

We decided that Kris would go ahead to Merzig with my bike, about 5km, and I would stay on the bike path pushing his bike. This worked out well, as I was almost at the bike path turn off to Merzig when I saw Kris coming back along the bridge with a tire. Kris replaced the tire on the bike path and we returned to the nearby Kaufland store where he had bought the tire.

The store is huge and sells everything, including food. We were overheated by this time, so we bought some ice cream and juice to cool down and get our energy up. Then also some pastries. We decided to buy and carry another tire with us, in case his other tire does the same thing!

It was after 1pm by the time we hit the road again and very hot. However this was the most scenic part of the ride, and we did get a bit of shade from time to time. The river narrowed and there were steep rocky cliffs alongside it in places.

       

At one point the path climbed up alongside the river to this cute little chapel.

             

We also rode past a huge quarry alongside the river.

We stopped at Saarburg and found a hotel near the river. It is a very picturesque town, with a castle up on the hill. This is the view just outside our hotel.

We didn’t pay the extra 10EUR for a river view, so our room faces the road. However, at least the afternoon sun was not shining in our windows. 

The weather began to change just as we reached the town with a strong wind coming up. Later on there were some brief showers and distant thunder claps.

We were both exhausted after the long hot day, and fell asleep early in the evening.