Waking up after a great sleep in Wuppertal was an excellent way to start Day 7 and in addition to that my mobile phone was working again - sort of. It now turned off on a whim, but I could use it sometimes. Leaving Wuppertal I took the B7 to Mettmann and then straight into Dusseldorf. I am not going to pull any punches here, this region has to be the ugliest of my whole trip and Dusseldorf is not very bicycle friendly. I didn't spend anytime exploring this industrial capital due to the aforementioned reasons and the rain. I kept riding on through Neuss, Buttgen and Korschenbroich on the L381 due to a recommendation of an elderly German fellow who quite honestly I couldn't understand at all. I really lost my way after this due to leaving my planned route to Mönchen-Gladbach, which I promised myself I would never do again. I ended up in the middle of nowhere around a city called Juchen.Here, in Juchen, I tried desperately to find an even shorter short-cut and got lost even further and spent a good ten minutes screaming my head of in a field of mud beside some railroad tracks. I, again, promised myself I would never do that again. After reaching Erkelenz I was back on track using the B57 to Alsdorf, which is quite a charming little city. From here it was through the winding roads into the hills to Aachen, a beautiful little tourist city nestled in the mountains just on the east side of the mountains bordering Belgium. I spent some time here eating and ensuring I would have a place to stay in Liege if I pushed on through couch surfing.
I left Aachen on the N3 and climbed out of the last German town I would see. The motivation to grind up the steep hills of Aachen, even in the rain was not difficult as the thought of seeing the border gave me all the energy I needed. I climbed toward Henri-Chapelle and when I saw the EU stars welcoming me into Belgium I was overwhelmed with enthusiasm as Germany was finally behind me, and the difficult days navigating through the Nordrhein were a thing of the past.
From here it was all downhill a fast and tricky descent into Liege for a fixed gear considering how the Belgians keep their roads, which are full of holes at best. The descent into Liege is spectacular besides the road conditions with narrow winding streets and tall apartments which give the city an intimate feel that needs to be experienced on bicycle to fully appreciate.
I spent the night couch surfing with an excellent host where there was a warm shower and great food. With Germany behind me, the canals of Belgium ahead and my Phone working spuratically, things began to look up.Total time on the bike: ~ 8 hours
Total time from departure to arrival: ~ 9 hours
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