average 20kmph, max speed 48.5kmph
odometer reads 3164km
Waking up to the knock of the girls at my door, I roll out of bed and we head down to breakfast, where we make the most of the buffet and walk away with the pantry well-stocked for our journey. Its only on returning to the breakfast room for a last minute toilet stop, that Ali notices the sign strictly forbidding removal of "food or other items"...ah well, we think we've been fairly subtle this morning!! It's a sad sign of things to come though, as we soon realise the "bett & bike" concept that is widely publicised in this nation of cycle-tourers, does not encourage stealing from the breakfast table to support hungry cyclists....hmmmm....
We head off into blustery winds, and my knees are aching before we hit the bike path (which is on the doorstep of the gasthaus...). Still not accustomed to the German terrain, which can alternate between asphalt to gravel, to pavers to concrete, to sand to cobblestones in a matter of meters, we find ourselves pottering along at true cycletouring pace.... The cobblestones and sand become my worst nightmare - sand sees you grind to a halt on the loaded tourers whilst swerving dangerously into the path of the others, whilst cobblestones seem to clearly delineate the entry/exit to every small town we come across (at a regular distance of two km...). Bear in mind that these are no ordinary, neatly laid and maintained cobblestones but massive, coarsely hewn lumps of rock which are laid in any which manner so as to cleverly trap your wheel no matter how quickly or slowly you approach them.... I am finding this rocky terrain particularly distressing as, after one section of intense jolting, I find my entire right hand and forearm in spasm, the recently reattached nerve ending going into sensory overload.....
We are encountering cycle tourists around every turn (no more straight road, we are twisting and turning constantly so as to take in every tiny village possible)... Still having no luck with the German drivers either - Hazel comes to close calls with a convoy of tractors who seem to refuse to slow on taking a right angle corner, and is then accosted by a carload of "piggie" types...we are sure if they are exuberantly encouraging us, or perhaps just want to eat her....
We are making difficult headway into the wind but save ourselves 8km with a detour along road to the next town, only to become somewhat misdirected by the map of the 'radweg' which puts us at a different point to our actual location....we head off confidently, to realise that the compass is in completely the wrong direction and correct, using our Berlin-Kobenhavn map purchased in Rostock, to follow what we think is a small road in our intended direction.... somehow we find ourselves at a 'see' (lake) where we are directed to take the left fork of the road... this seems to lead directly into a wheatfield, and so we take the right fork.... litttle difference, and we find ourselves cycling through a field of knee high grasses waving in the breeze... finally back on asphalt and we join up eventually with the cycle route....
A roadside picnic in the sunshine, Ali (now often mistaken as our german tour leader) offers directions to a very confused German couple who seem to have left their hotel with no map or idea where they were headed, we cycle on skirting the national park. I seem to picked up a small gremlin, which has taken up residence somewhere in my back wheel, and is squealing with excitement with every turn of the wheel...perhaps it is time for a service....
Another detour (unsure as to why we persist in this manner, as our map clearly gives inaccurate depictions of roads vs. sand tracks) and we end up on said sand track with no clear idea where we will end up! Miraculously, we suddenly join up with the cycle route, and are ridiculously pleased when we realise we've saved another 6km!!
We have also turned and begun heading west, and for the first time any of us can remember we have a tail wind!!! We pass our first fellow under-30, female cycle tourists (Ali manages to restrain herself from taking a photo) and find ourselves nodding in empathy as all those cycletourists heading to Copenhagen battle on into the wind.... Stopping frequently for snacks, we finally roll into Wesenburg as the evening descends, and with lack of a better option pitch our tent for the first time in Germany. We take a spin into town on our unloaded bikes (fast, light and very wobbly!!) for a delicious shish kebab, before we squeeze into our little tent (refusing to pay the €5 extra to put up the second tent) for a much needed sleep, sheltered from the wind and rain by the towering pine forest....
obligatory coffee break in Krakow (unfortunately not the Polish Krakow, but smaller German version
where has our road gone?!
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