The first day without rain! Although tricked by Google Maps again, I had a most enjoyable ride from Bad Wilsnack down south to Rackwitz near Leipzig, where I finally boarded another train to avoid cycling though a pitch black city. Staying with Jan and Susan gave me much-needed energy after the rather devastating day on Tuesday, and the decision to avoid cycling through Berlin was a great one. I took the train back to where I finished on Tuesday night and cycled down south into a stiff headwind to Havelburg. After giving the tyres a much-needed boost of fresh air to 110dpi I gradually clocked mile by mile until finally taking a lunch break in Genthin, half-way through (I thought until then). After organising some television coverage I headed further towards Ziesar, only to find out that my route was closed and diverted, which added quite a few extra miles to the journey. As my feet get increasingly sore I took another rest lying in the afternoon sun for 5 minutes, as this was a much as I could spare. The feet thanked me for that and did not cramp again, and by accident I passed Brandenburg’s highest ‘mountain’ at 201m. From there the road took me to Roßlau and Dessau, the next place to chuck some food into my belly. In the afternoon I felt quite tired, so an iced coffee did wonders and filled me up for the next final kilometres, which were much longer than expected. From here it was another 70km to Leipzig, and it was almost 8pm. With an average past the 30km/h mark I flew past Wolfen, Bitterfeld and Delitzsch, but with my front lights broken it was a tough challenge. Coming into Rackwitz near Leipzig I made the decision not to chance the last 10km in the dark, and took the train to town, a very enjoyable journey indeed. I finally made it to my friend’s place at 11.30pm, so another long day in the saddle. But the sheer tought that I managed to crank more than 1200km in five days, which is an average of 240km per day, put a long big smile on my face in the shower while I was examining my impressive tan lines. And I cannot wait to enter Thuringia again today, and for a wee bit of a shorter day with ‘only’ 180km. Fingers crossed I am not going to get lost.