It started to snow heavily in Leipzig and surrounding before I left. But when I continued my trip, the temperature rises distinctly above zero degrees. It was Sunday morning when I made my way out of Leipzig, like in Berlin or Dresden, the city center was deserted on this day. Quickly I left the city and cycled through countryside in direction of Wittenberg. One place keeps in my memory, called Bad Schmiedeberg, because there is a large rehab center and most of the people in the village using walkind aid. At “Dubener Heide”, 30 km before Wittenberg, I camped in the forest close to a field. In the middle of the night I woke up because it was stormy outside, I thought the world will ends (just missed a thunderstorm).
Change of direction – From Dresden to Leipzig
Originally I wanted to go from Dresden to Prague and further. My mind wanted to go there, but not my body. Steffka talked into me and mentioned it would be better if I’m not doing such a big trip. Because I have to focus on cycling a lot, during the day I’m sleeping often and on little hills I have to push. On 23.11. I followed the river Elbe, but the other way towards Leipzig. One day before it started to snow. This was a new challenge for me, I never did a bike trip before in winter. After “Meissen” I left the cycle path by the Elbe and took smaller cycle ways and country roads. The landscape became hilly. I did 60 km and found a god spot next to a field to camp, nobody came along here. It was -1°C in the night. Fortunately I bought a new sleeping bag in Dresden (the old one was broke and only warm till +10°C). This time it wasn’t cold in the night.
On the road again – From Berlin to Dresden
After I got seriously sick in Japan and when I couldn’t walk anymore, I thought I could never do a bike trip again. But I had big luck. After a three months break (and hospital and rehab) I felt fit enough to travel again. My first destination was Dresden, I planed three days of bike riding for this place. Three and a half year ago, at the beginning of my trip, I cycled to Dresden already. This time I took another way, because I wanted to see the “Spreewald” (it’s a large forest where the river Spree runs through) and the “Lausitz”.
Flight back to Berlin and hospitalization
I spent one month in Taiwan in the hope to recover. The complete August. It was raining nearly everyday and two typhoons hit the island. I slept everyday from 12 to 12 and two hours in the afternoon. Unfortunately I didn’t get better. I preferred to lie down. As soon as I stand up I felt dizzy. In the middle of August I went to a doctor and a few days later I was for three days in the Fengyuan hospital. A neurologist examined me because of my gait abnormality. He examined only life-threatening things like tumor or cancer. I got into the tube (MRI) two times. But the doc didn’t found anything life-threatening so he suggest I should go back to Germany for more research.
Tokorozawa (Tokyo Metropolitan Area)
On the 19.07. I arrived at Kenta’s home. I wanted to stay for one week and then continue to Hokkaido. That was my plan, but it changed. At the beginning everything was normal. I had conversations with Kenta. Unfortunately he is very busy with his work. He is selling climbing stuff for a big company. He is a passionate climber and he uses every free day he has to go climbing. He went to the USA for three years to learn proper English. In two and a half years he cycled 48.000 km from Japan to South Africa (I cycled 28.000 km). In between he did a 4 month work&travel in Australia. I admire his strength and discipline. He is 5 years older than me. I like his attitude how to consume food. He eats only healthy, from time to time he appreciate a beer, but this is the Japanese drinking culture. He didn’t understand why eat everyday chocolate and ready to eat meals.