Hannover

After a beautiful journey over the hills passing through woodlands changing into their autumnal colours I arrived in Hannover, where the local groups of BUND (the German branch of Friends of the Earth) and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (the German cyclists' club) had organised a joint press conference, which resulted in an article in the Hannoversche Allgemeiner Zeitung.

Afterwards I was taken by Heiko Schulze, head of the Hannover regional office of the ADFC, to the Raederwerk cycle shop http://www.raederwerk-gmbh.de, where they have a greater variety of bicycles and tricycles than I have seen anywhere else, and they build "Milan" velomobiles http:www.milan-velomobile.de ("built for high speed travelling over long distances"). The Milan is an all-weather vehicle (if it is raining, close the roof and you stay dry) - I only wish I could afford one (they start at 6,500 euros!).

In the evening BUND organised a birthday party, complete with cake, and gave me a large amount of chocolate as a birthday present (ideal for a quick transfusion of energy when long distance cycling), for my birthday is the next day (on Halloween!)