Which way is best?

A friend asked me today, if I was glad that I wasn't following the Rhine the other direction, towards Switzerland.  Oh my gosh, I can hardly even imagine going that way. I have a book on the Kindle about a guy who started out from Rotterdam, and rode the Rhine all the way up to the beginning at the Oberalpspass. I haven't read it yet, but I just can't imagine going from all this wonderful flat country to those mountains, and how sore your butt has got to be by then. Mine is sure enough already.

I have a short segment tomorrow. Only 32 km. But it goes through cities and zigzags around on suburban roads. 

I have so much trouble in the cities just trying to keep up with the names of streets and which way to turn. I can generally remember 2 or 3 (at best) names and turns. After that, I am just lost. I have to stop, pull out my guide book and read it again. 

At least out here, in the flat country, I can go for several kilometers without having to pull out the book. In cities, I may literally have to refer to the book twice in one block.

Here is a sample of text from the book. 

"Continue through village for 1km on Dorfstrasse and turn L opposite house 41 (Am Klapptor). Follow road R into Breitkamp and continue over main road (Krefelder Strasse). Turn immediately R (Am Heidberg), parallel with Krefelder Strasse and after 300 metres turn L into quiet lane. Turn R at next junction (Am Grünen Hang) and L after 250 metres (opposite Sandmüllersweg) onto gravel track between allotments L."

I often end up just taking the first part of the name of the street and watch for a sign that looks kinda like that. I'm always looking for the little signs that indicate that I'm on EuroVelo 15, but they aren't always obvious  and sometimes I do miss them. But I did pretty well with all of that today.

My biggest mistake was taking a ferry too soon and missing the town of Zons. So I took the ferry back across the river and rode into Zons, a Medieval town that has retained a lot of its old heritage. That village was recommended to me by Mike and Cori's friends that live over here in Germany.

On the road again. 

We import more than what we export. I wonder what does happen to all those shipping containers after they've been emptied.Are they just stacked up and stored like this?

While riding out of Koln I passed the Ford factory. No surprise to see a street named like this. 

The area between Koln and Dusseldorf is heavily industrialized, but you do still see some agricultural fields. 

Here's the wrong ferry. It's just a small passenger ferry, and we could hardly fit all the bicycles onto it. 

Zons in the distance. 

And up close. 

Today is Corpus Christi day.  It's a holiday in these parts of Germany, however, many of the storefronts in Zons were open and doing business. 

Zons even has a restored windmill. I paid €2 to take a tour of the windmill. It is amazing to see the structure inside and the mechanical workings of it. 

From the top floor you can look out a slatted window and get a real nice panorama of the city below. 

This is the line of people with bicycles getting on the correct ferry. I think there were 2 cars on the ferry. The cost for a person and a bicycle is €3. 

Modern looking bridge near Dusseldorf. 

Dusseldorf coming right up. 

I saw that you can buy tickets for this tower in Dusseldorf, i'm not sure if it's just a viewpoint or if there's a restaurant on top. I did see windows. 

I didn't get much sleep last night and I guess I'm more tired than usual. We'll see how tomorrow goes with all those streets to remember. I hope there are plenty of the little Eurovelo 15 signs pointing the way.