I got up a little later than normal - tiredness is starting to set in! I was still away by half 7 though.

There was a lot of low cloud over the hills which gave everything a spooky feeling what with all the castles and stuff. At least the rain had passed and the sun was starting to poke through as I got going.

I sort of followed Eurovelo 15 but kept losing it - too busy looking around to notice the signs! I knew which towns I needed to go through though, so I followed a few local cycle routes which were very well signed. Cycling is very easy in Germany - paths everywhere and people generally give way to you when they're supposed to.

I had a bit of a navigation issue in Köln - the bridge where I was supposed to cross to the east side of the river was a motorway! Obviously I had to avoid that and did so by going around the Ford plant. It is vast! It's a city in itself!

Once out of Fordsville, I carried on unsure what route I was on, so just concentrated on town signs. As I mentioned yesterday, I am staying with Helen and Klaus tonight, so I had arranged to meet Helen at some point so she could lead me to their home near Kempen. In the end we agreed to meet in the town of Willich. We arrived about 5 minutes apart - me being slightly late after my Garmin tried to send me down a road where cycling was verboten.

It was very easy to find Helen as her velomobile is very distinctive as you'll see from the pics. We had an ice cream then set off. I struggled to keep up of course what with the huge aerodynamic advantage she had over me!

When we arrived it was my turn to have a go which was great fun! Very strange and I imagine it would take a bit of time to get used to.

So after showering and getting some washing on, we ordered a pizza. I went a bit mad, so have some left over for breakfast.

Once Klaus arrived home from a work trip, we sat around drinking tea and chatting - which is why this post is so late. Also why it's probably a bit disjointed - I am incredibly tired! My sofa awaits!

Tomorrow I head into The Netherlands. I found a campsite and Helen plotted me a decent route to get there. She also knocked one up for the following day to Hoek van Holland. My ferry home is on Saturday night. After the football - which I will watch somewhere in Holland.