Another day where we really felt every muscle in our bodies and lacked any real oomph. Maybe it`s winter setting in, with the days being cooler (about 12C), wetter and shorter, or maybe it`s just all that cake. We`re sure we can feel every piece we ate over the past week! In any case, the last couple days have been tough. After a day and a half mostly on the flat, we got into a few hills towards this afternoon and it just about killed us. The scenery improved considerably though, leaving the industry of yesterday behind in favour of farms and tree-lined roads, where fall had turned the leaves shades of gold and brown. By 3pm, we realised we were unlikely to find a camping place and darkness was fast closing in on us. With the clocks having gone back an hour last weekend, darkness now comes about 6pm on a sunny day and even earlier when a few clouds are in the sky. We splurged on the first hotel we`d come across in a while, in a small town, which turned out to be a good idea given the rainy evening. We were also tipped off by the hotel owner that November 1 was a holiday, so we managed to get to the supermarket for enough food for the next day. We thought we also deserved a beer in the local pub after a hard day – can`t have this trip be all work and no play – so we toddled off to sample the local brews and watch one of the regulars buy shots for just about everyone around us. Beer quota filled for the day, we decided a pepperoni pizza was in order for supper. At only 5 euros for a large pizza, big enough for 2, it seemed a good deal. We got a shock though, as pepperoni in Germany appears not to mean meat, but rather whole, pickled green peppers! For a country famous for its meat, that was a bit of a shock. The pizza was good nonetheless, and soon afterwards we hit the sack for an early and hopefully sunny start on Wednesday.