Martin on the moto: Böhm and Bach

Monday. The only time I had to don waterproofs on the trip was down to some heavy thunderstorms on Monday morning, striking just as I left the campsite but clearing up quickly. By the time I reached Lüneburg it was cloudy but dry, and by the late afternoon when I reached Leipzig it was sunny and 40 degrees - not as pleasant as last year's Turkish/Greek weather, though, due to the high humidity.

Much is made of Bach's 250 mile walk to see Buxtehude in Lübeck in 1705, but five years earlier, Bach had travelled (presumably also on foot) to Lüneberg, aged 15, where he spent two years at the choir school at St Michael's. Lüneburg is only 60 miles short of Lübeck. I visited all three churches in the town, and got to hear the organ in the Johanneskirche, another Schnitger but with modern additions, where Georg Böhm was organist during Bach's time there. There's no evidence that they had contact, but surely Bach would have at least heard him play, if not actually receive lessons.

Next I headed south, cross country, towards Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz range, and, for many years out of bounds to walkers from the West as it lay just across the border into East Germany. I tried to visit a nearby town, Wernigerode, recommended by last night's camping owner, but after several attempts couldn't find my way past some closed roads into the historic centre of the town, despite getting 'help' from the satnav. Originally I was aiming towards Arnstadt, the small town in Thuringia from where Bach had started his journey, but decided to head further east first: time was running short and I wanted to fit in Leipzig if possible, so it made more sense to take in the more easterly town and visit Arnstadt on the way home.

Motorways took me the last 80 or so miles into Leipzig. The outskirts of the town are horrible and date from the old East Germany. The centre is better, though I still wouldn't describe it as picturesque. I'd visited once before, in 1993 on an Abbey choir tour, and much has been done to make it look better since then. But, despite its significance, I don't find the Thomaskirche inspiring. Bach spent the last 27 years of his life here - it was the best position he achieved but even then he was the third choice for the post of Kantor and was never paid properly. The nearby church of St Nicholas, where the St John Passion was premiered, is perhaps nicer on the eye, but the interior dates from 50 years after Bach's death.

It was hot and intensely humid, and, thinking that there would be more thunder I opted to spend the night in a hotel in Weimar, another Bach town about 70 miles to the south west. Nothing substantial remains of the court in which Bach served here, and he is not really a current feature on the town's tourist path, which is devoted to Goethe and Schiller, but I did snap a photo of a tower which was there in Bach's time, and the local church where Walther was organist. Bach composed a large portion of his organ music while in Weimar.

Riding into town I saw a sign to a camping and immediately above it, ironically, it a sign to Buchenwald - I was glad I'd booked the hotel!