Update: Tue 23:45

Tuesday, 11 October

With a final page of my detailed map (stored rather poorly in my head) I rumbled up the E40 and took the first turn off onto the 7. This went very well until not long after when the all too familiar crossings out appeared.

Almost every time I've been on a road in Germany that is not the E40 somewhere there have been crossings out on the signs meaning you can't go that way because of roadworks. It's a pretty good system -- I don't think we do it in the UK we just let people carry on until they get a diversion much closer to the action. You, if you know the roads, can make your own decision about how to make you way round the obstacle.

Of course, if you're not familiar with German small towns you carry on until you get the diversion signs. Except that no-one seemed to think that anyone would actually want to be travelling along the 7 for the sake of travelling along the 7 so I drove and drove and in the end fell off the tarmac into the roadworks in some small town.

OK, back up to the last set of diversions to towns I've never seen mentioned before and pick one. An hour later I managed to get back on the E40 only a few km from where I'd left it. Not good business. I came off again on the 7 and again there were crossings out and roadworks but this time I managed to spot a town name on the original 7 signs before the diversions started and could then follow the diversions to Weimar (no mention of the 7).

The 7 became the 4 which seemed quite promising until I started to worry that Magdeburg didn't seem right. It wasn't. Unlike in the UK where the M4 follows the same general direction as the A4 (and vice versa!!) the A4 (motorway) and 4 cross almost at right angles and seem to bear little relation.

To heck with this, I worked my way back down and just took the pain of the A4 (E40). Dull, buffeting (flags not in shreds are straight out today) but straight and true. Of course, via the A7 (no relation to the 7) the E40 follows the A5 which heads off towards Frankfurt. Good stuff. Except it turns out that the E40 stops following the A5 not long after it started following it but nothing tells you. So once I'd realised that I headed up back up the A45 which is initially labelled (correctly) as the E41 even though it is the E40 as well.

Anyway, then it started to drizzle and the sun went down. The hotel announced on the motorway (very rare) was fully booked and she recommended going into Seigen which I did though I could barely see a thing with either a drizzle covered visor or drizzle in my eyes. They are quite good about putting up signs for hotels and even "hotel routes" but they are best seen in daylight with no rain. I followed the first pair I saw to the one gasthouse (full) and then to here which isn't cheap and has an expensive (though quite nice) restaurant.

Currently at lat/long: n50 52.024 e7 59.895

Berghotel Johanneshoefe, Siegen, Germany