My hopes were for nothing. The night was cold and wet and so the morning continues. The outer tent is wet from the out- and inside but fortunately the inner tent stayed relatively dry. As I cannot expect better weather I pack in the wet tent and leave the camping site in monotonous drizzle. The motivation to continue in these conditions doesn't really rise. So I check the map. How far can it be to my brother's place? Well... short enough to reach it today but surely not so short that I could be there in the early afternoon. Thus perfect. After having called my brother it becomes even better as especially today he began his work somewhat earlier and could be at home approximately at the right time. And for tomorrow he's even going to take a day off.He managed to get my motivation up again and with the perspective of a dry place for bike, tent and (last but not least) cyclist it's much easier to continue. I pass Coburg and get angry about cycling paths that begin friendly next to the road but end in a step hill with bad surface and with the task to get on the road again at a confusing place within a village. So I'm quite happy when I find the cycling route along the river Wilde Rodach. Obviously it is possible to follow this route without any big trouble. Even the road signs are clear and when the rain becomes less and less and even a tailwind supports my cycling my mood is up again.
I meet a racing cyclist who fights to keep up with me and then starts talking. After he heard where I want to go to he describes the route to me and tells me that this is already "drüben", "over there" thus. This is a reference to the fact that the village Posseck is already in the former German Democratic Republic, Eastern Germany thus. He adds that the people there don't like to hear that anymore and I tell him that I can understand that. I know, he didn't mean harm, but anyway... 18 years after the reunification it is odd to find people still having some borders in their minds.I reach the town Hof and enjoy the impossibility to use their cycling paths by ignoring them. At least these paths seem to be so bad that even car drivers don't care about me not taking them. After asking only one guy which was the best way to escape the town into the direction of Regnitzlosau I find the way without any problems. The only bad thing: I didn't care about supermarkets which I notice when I pass the city limit of Hof. But I'm not in the mood of returning into the valley of the river Saale where the town is situated and rely on other smaller towns having a supermarket or a shop at least. Until Regnitzlosau this is false hope. But in that town by asking a woman I find a supermarket that I wouldn't have recognised as one. And I'm there 5 minutes before closing. So absolutely perfect. Then I continue to Posseck which works without any trouble. I see places where I've been years ago for the last time as other relatives live in this region, too. And then I pass the border between Bavaria and Saxony where there is also a monument for having been the border between Germany and Germany. From there it's still around 2 kilometres - if not less.
And so I reach my brothers house where I can put some stuff for drying, wash clothes and do other things that become possible with the "luxury" of a flat and a day of rest.