I was fortunate enough to be able to use a few days off work to take another short jaunt to continental Europe and looked at a map to see where might be nice. A friend had recommended the Harz mountains and they looked nice enough to me so I set off in that direction.

The Hull ferry is an underrated mode of transport from the UK to continental Europe. I love it. OK, OK it has been described as Butlins on the sea.. which isn’t too unfair, but there’s something comforting and exciting about riding the bike into the guts of the ship and strapping it down. Then walking up the stairs to dump your stuff in the tiny cabins before heading out for a cold pint. The beer is cheap and the view can be amazing. Gliding down the Humber has its attractions.

I decided to blast across the Netherlands – is there anything worth stopping for for a biker? – and found my little off-grid campsite in the woods. Not much happening here but I was able to throw my tent down by the river and cook up a warming meal on my little stove. The roads leading into and out of the site were lovely little windy things and put a smile on my face every time.

I decided my next stop would be Kassel and again I was lucky to find a lovely riverside location. It was very early season – April – so there was no problem getting a spot. The site was walking distance from town but you didn’t feel that you were in a city, perfect really. I decided to have a mooch in and to try to find anywhere nice or interesting for a pint, unfortunately I didn’t find anywhere worth reporting but it was nice walking through the lovely park to and from town.

The following day I took a look at the Hercules monument – an impressive construction originally dating from around 1700. As an anti-religious person I never bother with churches to me they are nothing more edifices that highlight the ignorance of humans at one point in our history (and still now to a lesser degree). I always wonder how many poor people died or were maimed in these constructions to an imaginary (and apparently insecure) ethereal being. But Hercules stands tall and must have been quite a site to see when the water cascades were flowing.

Next stop was another lovely campsite on the edge of Goslar. I took a bus into town and mooched around the lovely medieval centre. I found a little pub with frosted windows and I’m always a bit cautious when entering the unknown but I have a rule for myself that will never turnaround and walk back out of a pub one I’ve entered you’ve just got to pull your shoulders back pump your chest out and suck it up right!? On this occasion that was easier said than done. The pub was jam packed and stoney silent when I walked in. I couldn’t at first figure out why the pub was so busy. It was a small place with every seat taken and not even any space to stand at the bar. I smiled broadly (another insecurity hiding tip when entering a new place) and excused myself to the bar and ordered a big beer. After a few seconds the chatter resumed and a guy stepped up behind me and started throwing darts at the board I hadn’t seen. It seems I’d walked in at just the moment when two very competitive darts teams were about to get started. This gave the pub a strange feel because everyone in there was there for the darts, either playing or watching. So as a player stepped up to the oche, just about everyone in the pub was focussed on his throw, with appropriate praise and disappointed gasps. I decided to do the same. The first pint had gone down rather too quickly but I decided to remain and have a couple more, eagerly watching the darts. I noticed someway through this that I was the only one on the “big” beers. Not the massive litre steins, but a bit bigger than a pint. Eventually there was a pause in the darts so I excused myself through the crowd and made my escape. Later on in the evening I passed a few guys in the square that I recognised from the darts and smiled at them, they enthusiastically smiled back and made the “drinky drinky” sign to me saying something in German followed by “…English”. Good to see I’m keeping the flag flying high for the Brits abroad.

I took a look at what other sites might be worth looking at in the region and came accross a bit of WWII history. One of the dams hit in the famous (or infamous) dam busters raid – the Mohne dam – wasn’t too far so I decided to have a look. I know this is something of a celebrated achievement in England, as a result of the very popular film, but looking back it seems little more than feel-good, jingoistic, back-slapping propaganda to me. You only have to remember the name of the squadron’s dog to recall that these were different, and sometimes not very pleasant, times. I think about the 1600 civilians (mostly Russian POWs) who died a terrible death in what would be regarded as a war crime today. But even in militaristic terms it can’t really be viewed honestly as a success. There was a huge loss of aircraft and allied lives for very limited results, the dam was repaired quickly and disrupted production in the affected industrial factories by a matter of weeks.

In a more happier happenchance I came across probably the most bizarre concert anyone is ever likely to see. This became the highlight of the whole trip for me. I have for a while admired the work of John Cage, the avant garde composer from the 70s who has in his works challenged our conceptions of what music actually is. Some bright spark in Germany has decided to perform one of his works – “As slow as possible” – following the composer’s instructions as faithfully as possible. As a result we now have a hand made pipe organ continually playing the piece in an abandoned church in Halberstadt. Each note of the composition is played for several years. It started in 2001 and is due to be completed in 2650. Presumably that’s if humanity does not destroy the planet first or aliens decide that the planet has suffered too long with us parasites on it. There are Germans who intend to see the whole performance by making sure that at least one of their offspring attends… and so on…. what a lovely idea.