Well, it was s typical A&O Hostel breakfast: adequate; especially with a cheese roll each liberated for later. Exiting Koln was easy (past the cathedral and down to the river). There was then a long stretch of industrialisation, a huge container port, and a massive Ford car plant to negotiate before hitting open country again where we found a bench to consume our rolls. Then it was on to the ferry at Zons with a brief and unintended diversion down a dead-end that led to a gasthof coffee shop. Coffee drunk, we hit the magic little fortified town of Zons where, after a circuit, we found a table at an almost deserted restaurant beer garden. With beer and flammkuchen ordered (Anne went for a ridiculously sized fruit ice cream sundae thingy) the place suddenly filled to bursting with walkers and cyclists. From here we caught the ferry to the other side and cycled on to Düsseldorf which we entered over a suspension bridge with wide views of the tower and amazing waterfront. After checking in it was off for another city exploration and we have to say we like Düsseldorf! The altstadt was rebuilt like pre-war in the 50/60s and the waterfront area, where we ate and sampled the local Alt beer, has an amazing vibe. We watched fascinated as an African bottle collector checked the bins and relieved imbibers of their empties as they were finished, all under the watchful eyes of his self-important minder. We also noticed that the Rhine cruise ships are getting bigger as we go downstream. Will this continue into Netherlands or will they peter out? Tomorrow we are combining two stages to give us a decent distance to ride ... and also so we don't have to stop in Duisberg about which we can find nothing to excite us. Even Sir Arthur had it in for Duisberg: it was hit with 299 raids!
57.6 km; 15.8 kph avg; 3:38 moving time 190m ascent
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