A Budvar In Flensburg
A tall Radler in Kappeln
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Thanks Stefan
For our biggest donor so far - stating that we could only spend it on beer... I think we still have a couple beers left on your tab. Thanks for that.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Damp to Denmark
Fall held back for just a little longer. A pretty stiff wind blew as we wound our way north along the Ostsee Radweg, sometimes the wind was with us, but most of the time it was at our side or at some diagonal - not helping, not as bad as a head wind. The east coast of northern Germany is beautiful. Even though Damp had a couple of strange high-rises, perhaps hotels built in the 80s, the attraction of the waterfront is not diminished. Hundreds of sailboats dotted the horizon. Maybe thousands.
It is fair to mention here that bicycle touring has some benefits over other forms of travel. We haven't mentioned this at all, mostly because it is so obvious to us. But perhaps you can think of these things throughout this and all future posts; when riding through a country on a bicycle, you are often taken by tourist interest points as well as to vistas and long stretches of beautiful seaside, forest, or man-made dyke that are not accessible by car. Some places are fantastic partly because there is no sound of traffic, no smell of exhaust. Of course, you can walk many of these places, but cover much less ground over a longer period of time. Some places we have found ourselves in would take a day to walk to. (This is by no means a criticism of walking. Walking is awesome, too, just different).
We followed the path in that photo above for a few kilometers, then wound through the town of Damp, and came out the other side to again follow along the seaside, just above the beaches, sharing the path with families, dog walkers, runners, and other people on bikes. We stopped for lunch along the path where it went by a campsite, and there was a picnic table. Our view?
We watched a lone seagull catch and eat crabs near one of these jetties.
As you can see, it continued to be sunny and clear, and the rains of just a week ago were almost forgotten. The coast is interrupted again by a fjord, so once again we found ourselves heading west along sheltered paths, up and down rolling hills, and once we hit the fjord itself it was in and out of view as we wound back and forth through unexpected forests. The path surface was constantly changing. My only forest shot is blurry, sadly, as I was more focused on making it through the muddy patches in the road. But we post it anyway.
At one point, we evened out with the fjord. It looked like this:
Somewhere during this afternoon, when we had decided to push on to one more campsite while the sun was out and the wind died down, Joshua had his first spill. We were riding along a narrow path with grass on either side, but the grass was tall and the path was uneven. Joshua and I were both riding in the grass because it was a little smoother. All of a sudden, Joshua was rolling on the ground, arms and legs in the air. He had turned to go back onto the path and his rear wheel had slipped out from under him. He survived. I made him walk it off, make sure he wasn't still in shock and injured without feeling it yet, like he did when I took a spill. We both had some Rescue Remedy, just for fun. But I didn't even need to bandaid him.
We camped at Camping Steinberghaff, another very friendly campsite, this time the woman who greeted us spoke excellent English and was curious about our trip. There was even a place to have dinner in the tent camping area.
In the morning we started up again fairly early, with the sun shining once again, and the wind blowing a little bit harder. Still nothing daunting, but we were already starting to get sick of the sound of wind. And it was crisp out. Fall was on its way. The previous night had been our coldest. We had started to see ripening apples and pears, an exciting new treat for us. This was the best apple I had ever tasted.
It wasn't too far to get to Flensburg, the border city with Denmark. However the last 12km we followed the bike route through a huge park or national forest of some kind, and it was hilly with a dirt and rock path surface. We were expecting to be in town quickly, 12km could have taken 25 minutes, but it ended up being slow going and technical riding. We even had to push our bikes up a very steep ramp that was hard for someone without a fully loaded bicycle to use. With all our weight, it was very challenging. In Flensburg, we sat at a quayside cafe that was entirely outdoor, with a sandy floor and little beach shelters. We saw a few people eat big ice creams and then pass out in their beach seats, sheltered from the wind and warmed by the sun. Afterwards, we got some groceries and crossed into Denmark.
The first stretch included more pushing up hills, this time on very gravelly roads. Luckily, we were very close to the campsite, and what a campsite! Apparently the campsites in Denmark are some of the best in Europe and Scandinavia. This one was recently renovated. The bathrooms, including showers, were heated. No more drafty showers! There was a fancy kitchen, with many, many burners, ovens, and spaces to cook and eat.
And the wind. The wind picked up overnight, and in the morning, when I took the stakes out of the rain fly, the whole tent tried to wander away. It really looked like rain, too, but even though we were both fooled into thinking it would rain, the rain never came.
But oh the wind! We rolled into Aabenraa with hopes of a quiet place to escape to. We found a cafe, but didn't want to leave the bikes outside alone, so we almost got lattes in our laps during the big gusts. Rolling racks of clothing tried to wander down the street, away from store fronts. Not exactly hospitable.
We battled some pretty harsh wind as well as harsh roads on our first full day in Denmark. The southernmost part of national route 3, the Hærvejen route, seemed to contain the full 20% of non-paved roads. And they were recently gravelled, some of the worst surfaces yet. In really big gusts, the wind actually made me lose what little traction I had on the gravel and I fought to keep the bike upright. When we arrived in Vojens at the campsite, we opted to pay a little more for a cabin, just to get a break from the wind and sleep well after a rough day. The campsite had a warm bathroom, and a kitchen where we happily had a cozy dinner. Danish campsites also often offer cabins. These were kind of irresistible.
Towards the end of the day, we had run into a woman touring on her own. Naturally, she was Dutch. She said she was doing a practice ride for what she hoped would be two years on the road, starting next year. She was very excited to hear about our trip, and gave us a cheer when we told her we had sold all our things and moved out, with very few plans for the future. Her optimism and enthusiasm helped get us through the last hour or two, and she told us that after about 50 more km, the landscape gets more interesting and beautiful, which gave us something to look forward to. If only we had been heading in the same direction - it would have been a lot of fun to ride with her.
It is fair to mention here that bicycle touring has some benefits over other forms of travel. We haven't mentioned this at all, mostly because it is so obvious to us. But perhaps you can think of these things throughout this and all future posts; when riding through a country on a bicycle, you are often taken by tourist interest points as well as to vistas and long stretches of beautiful seaside, forest, or man-made dyke that are not accessible by car. Some places are fantastic partly because there is no sound of traffic, no smell of exhaust. Of course, you can walk many of these places, but cover much less ground over a longer period of time. Some places we have found ourselves in would take a day to walk to. (This is by no means a criticism of walking. Walking is awesome, too, just different).
We followed the path in that photo above for a few kilometers, then wound through the town of Damp, and came out the other side to again follow along the seaside, just above the beaches, sharing the path with families, dog walkers, runners, and other people on bikes. We stopped for lunch along the path where it went by a campsite, and there was a picnic table. Our view?
We watched a lone seagull catch and eat crabs near one of these jetties.
As you can see, it continued to be sunny and clear, and the rains of just a week ago were almost forgotten. The coast is interrupted again by a fjord, so once again we found ourselves heading west along sheltered paths, up and down rolling hills, and once we hit the fjord itself it was in and out of view as we wound back and forth through unexpected forests. The path surface was constantly changing. My only forest shot is blurry, sadly, as I was more focused on making it through the muddy patches in the road. But we post it anyway.
At one point, we evened out with the fjord. It looked like this:
We rode up a little rise
And emerged onto the top of a small dyke, complete with small bike path
Sometimes, the path was covered with kelp
Somewhere during this afternoon, when we had decided to push on to one more campsite while the sun was out and the wind died down, Joshua had his first spill. We were riding along a narrow path with grass on either side, but the grass was tall and the path was uneven. Joshua and I were both riding in the grass because it was a little smoother. All of a sudden, Joshua was rolling on the ground, arms and legs in the air. He had turned to go back onto the path and his rear wheel had slipped out from under him. He survived. I made him walk it off, make sure he wasn't still in shock and injured without feeling it yet, like he did when I took a spill. We both had some Rescue Remedy, just for fun. But I didn't even need to bandaid him.
We camped at Camping Steinberghaff, another very friendly campsite, this time the woman who greeted us spoke excellent English and was curious about our trip. There was even a place to have dinner in the tent camping area.
In the morning we started up again fairly early, with the sun shining once again, and the wind blowing a little bit harder. Still nothing daunting, but we were already starting to get sick of the sound of wind. And it was crisp out. Fall was on its way. The previous night had been our coldest. We had started to see ripening apples and pears, an exciting new treat for us. This was the best apple I had ever tasted.
It wasn't too far to get to Flensburg, the border city with Denmark. However the last 12km we followed the bike route through a huge park or national forest of some kind, and it was hilly with a dirt and rock path surface. We were expecting to be in town quickly, 12km could have taken 25 minutes, but it ended up being slow going and technical riding. We even had to push our bikes up a very steep ramp that was hard for someone without a fully loaded bicycle to use. With all our weight, it was very challenging. In Flensburg, we sat at a quayside cafe that was entirely outdoor, with a sandy floor and little beach shelters. We saw a few people eat big ice creams and then pass out in their beach seats, sheltered from the wind and warmed by the sun. Afterwards, we got some groceries and crossed into Denmark.
The first stretch included more pushing up hills, this time on very gravelly roads. Luckily, we were very close to the campsite, and what a campsite! Apparently the campsites in Denmark are some of the best in Europe and Scandinavia. This one was recently renovated. The bathrooms, including showers, were heated. No more drafty showers! There was a fancy kitchen, with many, many burners, ovens, and spaces to cook and eat.
And the wind. The wind picked up overnight, and in the morning, when I took the stakes out of the rain fly, the whole tent tried to wander away. It really looked like rain, too, but even though we were both fooled into thinking it would rain, the rain never came.
But oh the wind! We rolled into Aabenraa with hopes of a quiet place to escape to. We found a cafe, but didn't want to leave the bikes outside alone, so we almost got lattes in our laps during the big gusts. Rolling racks of clothing tried to wander down the street, away from store fronts. Not exactly hospitable.
We can follow the 3 almost all the way to Hirtshals, if we want to
We battled some pretty harsh wind as well as harsh roads on our first full day in Denmark. The southernmost part of national route 3, the Hærvejen route, seemed to contain the full 20% of non-paved roads. And they were recently gravelled, some of the worst surfaces yet. In really big gusts, the wind actually made me lose what little traction I had on the gravel and I fought to keep the bike upright. When we arrived in Vojens at the campsite, we opted to pay a little more for a cabin, just to get a break from the wind and sleep well after a rough day. The campsite had a warm bathroom, and a kitchen where we happily had a cozy dinner. Danish campsites also often offer cabins. These were kind of irresistible.
Towards the end of the day, we had run into a woman touring on her own. Naturally, she was Dutch. She said she was doing a practice ride for what she hoped would be two years on the road, starting next year. She was very excited to hear about our trip, and gave us a cheer when we told her we had sold all our things and moved out, with very few plans for the future. Her optimism and enthusiasm helped get us through the last hour or two, and she told us that after about 50 more km, the landscape gets more interesting and beautiful, which gave us something to look forward to. If only we had been heading in the same direction - it would have been a lot of fun to ride with her.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Baltic Vacation
The day starting with the Cuxhaven ferry put us into Brunsbuttel, where another canal starts and crosses a huge stretch of land - the Nord-Ostsee Canal. This canal goes from the North Sea to the East Sea, and some of the biggest boats we have seen bring their cargo through Germany, avoiding the trip all the way around Denmark. The East Sea is what the Germans call it - you may know it as the Baltic Sea.
In Brunsbuttel we stopped at an Eis Cafe, or ice cream shop, so Joshua could fix his tire, which had a hole needing a dollar bill fix. Those RiBMo tires are awesome, but very difficult to remove from the wheel.
Canals are usually a pretty straight shot from point A to point B. The Nord-Ostsee Canal goes from Brunsbuttel to Kiel, Germany. We didn't really want to go to Kiel, we wanted to go to Hirtshals, Denmark, the far northern city where there is a ferry to Bergen, Norway, so we had to decide which way to go north. There is the North Sea Bike Route, which meanders its way along the western coast of northern Germany and then Denmark. We had seen the North Sea at the end of August, and we thought there was a good chance it would only get less hospitable as the days past. But rolling up the center of the country didn't sound like the best fun either. The North Sea route is considerably longer, and as the weather was getting colder and wetter, we wanted to see if we could hustle along a little.
In the end we compromised, or took a totally random option instead. We went across the Nord-Ostsee canal as far as Rendsburg, then headed north and east towards the Ostsee Bike Route, along the Baltic coast. We like the sea. But first, the Canal:
Shortly after this ferry, Joshua got his first flat! He found another nice big hole in his tire, which he fixed with another dollar bill. As he sat down to patch his tube, I went into town for supplies, and luckily found a grocery store not too far away. We left the canal just after Rendsburg, and headed northeast towards the Gross Wittensee, a big lake with a campground. As dusk settled we started following smaller and smaller paths, until we were on a single track between two fields, the grass as high as our pedals on either side. When we hit the lake, we saw many lovely looking summer cottages, probably empty for the winter. The campground was also right on the lake, which was beautiful - a nice place to go back to, maybe one day.
The next morning we made it to Eckernforde, a really nice, big town at the base of the fjord with cool beachy culture.
We liked Eckernforde so much that we stayed almost all afternoon, wandering along the pedestrian only street at the middle of town. Once back on our bikes, we saw the also lovely harbor area, and biked towards a storm.
Wait. What?
As we were leaving town, a black cloud started to gather ahead of us.
Ramona: Should we go back to a cafe or something and wait it out?
Joshua: Is that what you want to do?
Ramona: I mean, who bikes towards a storm?
Joshua: Do you want to stop?
That kind of conversation got us right to the edge of town and just as huge raindrops started to fall we stopped under a tree to put on some rain gear. We could see the lighter sky beyond the storm, it would just be a squall. But to go ahead would mean getting soaked.
We were stopped in front of a kind of industrial looking, fenced off set of buildings, with a guard at the gate. There was a little check in window near a pedestrian gate, with an awning that would shelter us, so we headed for that and left the bikes under the tree. The place turned out to be a military base of some kind, and one of the other people waiting was a man who worked there and was about to head home on his bike. Turns out, his job is to map and then destroy undetonated mines in the Baltic Sea, leftover from WWII. That was a more interesting rain storm than we were expecting.
Sure enough, it was over very quickly, and we headed back out after saying goodbye as our new friend rode off home. Blue skies ahead!
In Brunsbuttel we stopped at an Eis Cafe, or ice cream shop, so Joshua could fix his tire, which had a hole needing a dollar bill fix. Those RiBMo tires are awesome, but very difficult to remove from the wheel.
Canals are usually a pretty straight shot from point A to point B. The Nord-Ostsee Canal goes from Brunsbuttel to Kiel, Germany. We didn't really want to go to Kiel, we wanted to go to Hirtshals, Denmark, the far northern city where there is a ferry to Bergen, Norway, so we had to decide which way to go north. There is the North Sea Bike Route, which meanders its way along the western coast of northern Germany and then Denmark. We had seen the North Sea at the end of August, and we thought there was a good chance it would only get less hospitable as the days past. But rolling up the center of the country didn't sound like the best fun either. The North Sea route is considerably longer, and as the weather was getting colder and wetter, we wanted to see if we could hustle along a little.
In the end we compromised, or took a totally random option instead. We went across the Nord-Ostsee canal as far as Rendsburg, then headed north and east towards the Ostsee Bike Route, along the Baltic coast. We like the sea. But first, the Canal:
Really big, but deceptively small once the really, really big boats are coming through.
Can you tell what this boat is carrying?
Pretty nice bike route
We took some fun ferries across this, too. The ferries are pretty regularly spaced, and we found out that they are free!
This was a normal, straight across the canal, quick on-and-off ferry
This we will call the air ferry
Dangling from the railroad bridge above
Ahead you see the 'dock'
The next morning we made it to Eckernforde, a really nice, big town at the base of the fjord with cool beachy culture.
We liked Eckernforde so much that we stayed almost all afternoon, wandering along the pedestrian only street at the middle of town. Once back on our bikes, we saw the also lovely harbor area, and biked towards a storm.
Wait. What?
As we were leaving town, a black cloud started to gather ahead of us.
Ramona: Should we go back to a cafe or something and wait it out?
Joshua: Is that what you want to do?
Ramona: I mean, who bikes towards a storm?
Joshua: Do you want to stop?
That kind of conversation got us right to the edge of town and just as huge raindrops started to fall we stopped under a tree to put on some rain gear. We could see the lighter sky beyond the storm, it would just be a squall. But to go ahead would mean getting soaked.
We were stopped in front of a kind of industrial looking, fenced off set of buildings, with a guard at the gate. There was a little check in window near a pedestrian gate, with an awning that would shelter us, so we headed for that and left the bikes under the tree. The place turned out to be a military base of some kind, and one of the other people waiting was a man who worked there and was about to head home on his bike. Turns out, his job is to map and then destroy undetonated mines in the Baltic Sea, leftover from WWII. That was a more interesting rain storm than we were expecting.
Sure enough, it was over very quickly, and we headed back out after saying goodbye as our new friend rode off home. Blue skies ahead!
And the sun came out! Nice bike path, too
And holy crap it looks like fall!! Walnut trees are losing their leaves!?!!? Just seeing the browning leaves, I could almost smell the cool, wet smells of fall in the north east US; riding through the leaves made me feel like the start of a new school year and the excitement of changing seasons, oblique sunshine barely warming the air, but feeling so precious for the shorter days, getting shorter in the near future.
We already found ourselves attempting to stop earlier in the day. In Switzerland, we were riding until 7pm, sometimes later, because it stayed light until 9.30 or 10pm. Already, at the very end of August, we were finding ourselves eating dinner in the dark if we stopped after 6pm.
Our destination for that night: Waabs (you can see it under Damp). But we were also very excited to see what Damp was like.
Some nice bike route signs - see the little Ostsee Radweg sign? We followed that.
Damp!
Only a few km to go! We saw lots of horses, and the path rolled up and down soft hills. We arrived at a turnoff for Kleinwaabs (small Waabs) and saw that Grosswaabs (Big Waabs) was further down the road. Which Waabs were we looking for? We didn't see a Kleinwaabs on our map at first, but then we noticed Grosswaabs, which was not where we wanted to go - we had arrived! Waabs, Kleinwaabs, what's the difference?
We had a pick of two campsites in this Waabs, and we picked Camping Jordan. Our site:
Looking down from the campground on our second day
Fall didn't seem like it was falling so fast, all of a sudden. In fact, we couldn't think of any reason to hurry anymore. On our first morning, we decided that this was a really nice place to stop for a second night. Do some laundry, read books, go for walks along the rocky beach. Then on the following morning, we decided we still weren't ready to leave. We ended up staying three nights, enjoying a lovely Baltic Sea vacation.
Blackberries are ripening! And in Waabs, what grows wild in among the berries!? Hops!
Beach day
How to chill beer - the water wasn't actually cold enough
Some of the rocks are chalk, and some are iron colored
We built a little wall of rocks, to create a semi-protected pool
On the third day we watched a huge storm build up to the north.
The wind was blowing solidly east, and we knew that as long as the wind held, we wouldn't have to worry about rain. It blew east all day long. But as we were sitting at dinner in the pizzeria by the water, the wind changed. And quickly. By the time we were walking back up to our tent, the first drops were falling and the sky was very dark. The storm stayed to the north of us, so we didn't get a complete downpour drenching, and by the morning the storm had passed. But the wind continued to blow, and not in the direction we wanted to go.
We loved Camping Jordan. The owner was friendly and helpful. He didn't speak English, and I actually had a lot of fun trying to speak German with him. Each morning he would ask, 'Und heute?' or 'And today?' and I would respond 'Wir bleiben noch eine nacht!' or 'We're staying another night!' He always smiled happily, seemingly pleased that we liked his campsite enough to keep staying. It certainly wasn't the money, because it was very cheap to camp there. When we finally left I had the feeling we might return there again one day.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Map of Cuxhaven, DE to Hirtshals, Denmark and Bergen, Norway to Oystese, NO (Aug 31st-Sept 14th)
From Cuxhaven we took yet another ferry across the Elbe to Brunsbuttel, Germany, which is where the Nord-Ostsee Canal starts. The Ost See, or East Sea, is also known as the Baltic Sea. The Germans have built a canal the goes from the Elbe River across the northern part of Germany all the way to Kiel, on the Baltic. We took that awesome canal until just past Rendsburg, where we turned north and made it to a campsite at the Gross Wittensee where we stayed on August 31st (really nice lake). The next morning we rode to Eckernforde and then north along the Ostsee route, up the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, the northern-most state of Germany. On Sept 1st we made it to Waabs, where we ended up staying for a Baltic Sea vacation for 3 nights! Of course, as we were ready to leave again, it got windy, and not in the direction we wanted it to go. On Sept 4th we rode up to Steinbergholz and camped for one night, then on the 5th we made it to Denmark, camping just across the border at Kollund.
Then the wind started really beating us up. We rode north in Denmark as far as Vojens, then battled north again as far as Egtved, where we had a dreamy stay with new friends at their campsite after a really dreary and difficult day against wind and on gravely roads.
We got out again on the road on the 8th and started feeling the effects of blustery days again. Although we made it quite far in the morning, we realized that the we might just go crazy if we spent another 5 days to a week in that weather. Plus the forecast was for rain, and for the wind to turn south - just the opposite of what we needed at that point. So we made the decision to hop on a train in Jelling, and spare ourselves the wind crazies and any misery that we might possibly encounter.
From Jelling we actually had to go south on the train, to Vejle, and switch to another train that went straight north to Hjorring, where we promptly caught another train up to Hirtshals, our destination for the final ferry to Bergen, Norway. Of course, we didn't know the schedule for that ferry, and it turned out that the next time it went was two and a half days later! Crap! So we hung out in Hirtshals until the 12th, took the overnight ferry to Bergen, contemplated and planned for a ride over the mountains to Oystese, and then a nice cyclist told us that the biggest rains in a long while were scheduled for the following days.
We were more ready to arrive in the warm home of our friends than to spend a couple of days climbing huge mountains in the rain. So we took a bus! We arrived in Norheimsund, on Hardangerfjord, and surprised Anders at his work around 3pm. He stopped work immediately, grabbed his bike, and rode with us up to the house above Oystese. So on the morning of the 14th, Joshua's and my birthday, we woke up in the cozy house with a view of the fjord. Posts to come soon!
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Then the wind started really beating us up. We rode north in Denmark as far as Vojens, then battled north again as far as Egtved, where we had a dreamy stay with new friends at their campsite after a really dreary and difficult day against wind and on gravely roads.
We got out again on the road on the 8th and started feeling the effects of blustery days again. Although we made it quite far in the morning, we realized that the we might just go crazy if we spent another 5 days to a week in that weather. Plus the forecast was for rain, and for the wind to turn south - just the opposite of what we needed at that point. So we made the decision to hop on a train in Jelling, and spare ourselves the wind crazies and any misery that we might possibly encounter.
From Jelling we actually had to go south on the train, to Vejle, and switch to another train that went straight north to Hjorring, where we promptly caught another train up to Hirtshals, our destination for the final ferry to Bergen, Norway. Of course, we didn't know the schedule for that ferry, and it turned out that the next time it went was two and a half days later! Crap! So we hung out in Hirtshals until the 12th, took the overnight ferry to Bergen, contemplated and planned for a ride over the mountains to Oystese, and then a nice cyclist told us that the biggest rains in a long while were scheduled for the following days.
We were more ready to arrive in the warm home of our friends than to spend a couple of days climbing huge mountains in the rain. So we took a bus! We arrived in Norheimsund, on Hardangerfjord, and surprised Anders at his work around 3pm. He stopped work immediately, grabbed his bike, and rode with us up to the house above Oystese. So on the morning of the 14th, Joshua's and my birthday, we woke up in the cozy house with a view of the fjord. Posts to come soon!
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Sunday, August 29, 2010
More Ferries!?
That's right. The northern coast of Germany is where many of those small rivers we followed earlier in the summer meet the North Sea. They are too wide for bridges at that point. After crossing the Ems, we thought we'd take 2 days to cross the land between the Ems and the Jadebusen, a kind a huge inlet. Then we had another day of riding across a kind of non-peninsula to the massive mouth of the Weser River, the combination of the Fulda and Werra Rivers which we followed after leaving Kassel and heading north. We arrived in Bremerhaven and went due north along the North Sea, towards Cuxhaven, where we took another ferry to get across to Brunsbuttel. Ferry happy. Check out the map, it's hard to describe that northern Germany coast.
So, from Emden at the Ems River to Jadebusen, we had a pretty straight shot along the Ems-Jade Canal. Thank goodness we finally got some sun again! We started out on the Friesischer Heerweg, the axe and bicycle wheel path, which reminded us fondly of our work with the Bicycle Kitchen in LA, getting people on bikes and carving out a space for bicycle culture. Spare parts and battle-axes.
The Ems-Jade Canal is lovely and we find ourselves smiley and taking deep breaths.
Finally, we were looking at the fronts of windmills again, the wind blowing us towards Wilhelmshaven. We took a stop in the afternoon and thought we might even stay to camp, but it turned out to be late Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, nothing is open in small towns. If you're lucky a small bakery will be open in the morning, or even the grocery store, but by noon most every place is closed. And in many places, everything closes starting on Saturday afternoon. We were in a very small village. And we didn't have the supplies to stay there overnight without somewhere to eat. So we pushed on. We thought we would go to a campsite off the path, taking us out of our way quite a distance. But things were rolling so smoothly, and we still had the light and a good wind, that we ended up flying all the way to Wilhelmshaven in one day. It felt great, and we had decided to take advantage of as much good weather as we could, seeing as bad weather slowed us down so much.
But once in Wilhelmshaven, after 7pm on a Saturday night at the end of August, we realized we were in for another kind of problem. We first found the ferry terminal, and figured out that the ferry left at 9am the next morning. Lucky us. Then we looked around for a hotel. At the first hotel we stopped into, they were all sold out except for the 200€ per night suite. The guy was nice, they had a restaurant, and when I grimaced at the price he said I should check the other hotels along the row. Turned out, they were all full. Not a single room. We then went back into the center of town, hoping that it was just the hotels out on the strand that were booked. Of course, it would be nice to have a hotel within a few minutes of the ferry, but we'd just have to get up 15 minutes earlier and be sure to get to the ferry on time. Alas, no rooms. Anywhere. A woman on the street told us about another hotel that sounded like it was quite far away. We had no idea if there would be a room. It was starting to get dark and cold and we were getting hungry. What do you do?
Stay happy. We treated ourselves to a very, very expensive hotel room and delicious dinner to match. Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and call it, even if it hurts. They had a place downstairs, indoors for our bikes. Breakfast was included. We both took bubble baths and tried to appreciate our apartment-like hotel room as much as we could in the 24 hours we occupied it. But it still hurt a little, even if it was quiet good. And we did make the ferry in the morning.
So, from Emden at the Ems River to Jadebusen, we had a pretty straight shot along the Ems-Jade Canal. Thank goodness we finally got some sun again! We started out on the Friesischer Heerweg, the axe and bicycle wheel path, which reminded us fondly of our work with the Bicycle Kitchen in LA, getting people on bikes and carving out a space for bicycle culture. Spare parts and battle-axes.
Beautiful weather! Yes, it makes a difference...
The Ems-Jade Canal is lovely and we find ourselves smiley and taking deep breaths.
Finally, we were looking at the fronts of windmills again, the wind blowing us towards Wilhelmshaven. We took a stop in the afternoon and thought we might even stay to camp, but it turned out to be late Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, nothing is open in small towns. If you're lucky a small bakery will be open in the morning, or even the grocery store, but by noon most every place is closed. And in many places, everything closes starting on Saturday afternoon. We were in a very small village. And we didn't have the supplies to stay there overnight without somewhere to eat. So we pushed on. We thought we would go to a campsite off the path, taking us out of our way quite a distance. But things were rolling so smoothly, and we still had the light and a good wind, that we ended up flying all the way to Wilhelmshaven in one day. It felt great, and we had decided to take advantage of as much good weather as we could, seeing as bad weather slowed us down so much.
But once in Wilhelmshaven, after 7pm on a Saturday night at the end of August, we realized we were in for another kind of problem. We first found the ferry terminal, and figured out that the ferry left at 9am the next morning. Lucky us. Then we looked around for a hotel. At the first hotel we stopped into, they were all sold out except for the 200€ per night suite. The guy was nice, they had a restaurant, and when I grimaced at the price he said I should check the other hotels along the row. Turned out, they were all full. Not a single room. We then went back into the center of town, hoping that it was just the hotels out on the strand that were booked. Of course, it would be nice to have a hotel within a few minutes of the ferry, but we'd just have to get up 15 minutes earlier and be sure to get to the ferry on time. Alas, no rooms. Anywhere. A woman on the street told us about another hotel that sounded like it was quite far away. We had no idea if there would be a room. It was starting to get dark and cold and we were getting hungry. What do you do?
Stay happy. We treated ourselves to a very, very expensive hotel room and delicious dinner to match. Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and call it, even if it hurts. They had a place downstairs, indoors for our bikes. Breakfast was included. We both took bubble baths and tried to appreciate our apartment-like hotel room as much as we could in the 24 hours we occupied it. But it still hurt a little, even if it was quiet good. And we did make the ferry in the morning.
It turned out to be a ferry just for bike riders taking the International North Sea Bike Route
Oh good weather, we love you
All that day the wind was pretty good. It was big, and mostly behind us, although sometimes at our side. At least it wasn't raining.
Joshua's map view
Joshua's road view
Rolling into Blexen, for the ferry across to Bremerhaven, we saw a sign we recognized -
we were back on the Weser Radweg!
Ferry across the Weser
Not too shabby, but kinda crowded with pedestrians heading to the Bremerhaven Sail
In Bremerhaven we had a quick sandwich lunch in a park and then headed north. We had checked the ferry schedule from Cuxhaven to Brunsbuttel, and we knew that it only ran a couple of days per week. Our blast across the Ems-Jade Canal have given us a bit of an advantage, but we decided we'd best head north from Bremerhaven as far as we felt like going, to make sure we had plenty of time in Cuxhaven to check the schedule again and make sure what we saw online was real. Sometimes the information online is not as accurate as going up to a ticket booth (or calling in advance) - very important to know. With no phone we have learned to be flexible and early.
Just as we rolled out of Bremerhaven, an ominous cloud was moving towards the city. We have learned that the best thing to do when it's raining is either find a cafe and hide out for a while or just keep going - riding in the rain isn't all that bad when you have good gear, as long as the wind isn't against you, too. This thing coming towards us was a storm.
So we got prepped for a downpour
Both wearing the new booties from Rinia Fietsen
Somedays look more like this than you want them to. Bleak weather, downpour with a side wind, and huge industrial concrete desert. At least the gigantic warehouses protected us from the wind when we were beside them. We went by some of the biggest windmills yet, and closer than ever. They make an enormous sound, like a blender whipping butter in really slow motion, deep and swaying.
And then the weather let up. We found ourselves on the inland side of another dyke, this time hanging with cows. Cow shit is much bigger than sheep shit.
As we close in on a gate, the crap gets to be more and the cows are waiting for someone to feed them or take them home, perhaps. Joshua guided us through, clapping and yelling like a good farmer. The cows mostly moved out of the way. He did that at least three times, as we went through many gates. Below you see the awesome crap we had to ride through. Just what our bikes needed, a poop bath.
Since we had the time, and the energy, to go only as far north as we felt like going, we could explore a little. We checked out a road that went up onto the dyke, and then down along the North Sea.
That's not snow between the rocks, but some kind of human invention -
it looked like hardened toothpaste
It's not windy
I'm not singing little mermaid songs at the top of my lungs
The path promptly ended, into a sheep field.
Up the hill we hiked, after another couple on bikes who did the same as we had
No joke, pushing your bike up a dyke when the grass is wet
Oh, right, and we were back with the great German maps we had used before, and there were a lot of campsites along the North Sea Bike Route, so we had our pick of campsites.
Let's not camp here!
This place looks even worse!
We found a quiet site on the protected side of the dyke (I'm sure it's nice to stay on the North Sea side in the middle of summer, but isn't there a reason they build those dykes?). We arrived early enough to go to a restaurant that was warm and dry while it rained off and on out the window. We read our books and wrote postcards until an early evening dry spell when we went back to set up the tent and get ourselves into bed early.
The following day wasn't very long, and we arrived in Cuxhaven with plenty of time to check the ferry times. The next ferry was going to Brunsbuttel the following day at 11am. That was late enough for us to go back out of town to a campsite we had seen on the way in, where there was a big fancy bakery close enough to get fresh rolls for breakfast the next morning. We even did some laundry, and had a sunny enough afternoon for it to dry.
And the ferry to Brunsbuttel?
Lots of bikes - big boat - 2+ hours
we'll be okay
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