Hier gibt es keinen Campingplatz!

Hier gibt es keinen Campingplatz! - August 31

I woke up confused, not sure where I was. But then I remembered I was on the 2nd floor of the guesthouse at my host family in Eskilstrup! I went downstairs at about 8:30 and met my host Tage, who said he'd already let the geese out :( but suggested we have breakfast soon. We had a wonderful breakfast with his family in their little greenhouse, where they had grapes, squash and eggplants growing! Breakfast was delicious, and I even learned how to slice cheese using a special Danish cheese slicer. After putting in a new tube in my front tire that was flat again, I said farewell to my host family and headed across Falster to Guldborg, taking the road south through Saksköping and Maribo towards Rödby. In Maribo I got a bit lost, it seems like no matter how attentive one is, sometimes there just isn't any sign for the bike route so if you keep going on the bike path you end up somewhere completely different. Luckily I could estimate where I had to go so I cut across town and rejoined the route soon enough. The last 10km into Rödbyhavn went on a narrow dirt path lined by trees, a very soothing and beautiful last bit of cycling in Denmark. Getting on the ferry was a breeze, it was a much larger ferry than either the one in Iceland or the one to Helsingör. I strapped down my bike so it wouldn't move during the voyage and headed upstairs to the sun deck. It was very very windy outside, so I took some photos but headed down and treated myself to a hot dog and an ice-cream! I checked for maps at the information booth, and the lady there was very eager to help me so she suggested I go further south than I had planned, assuring me that I'd make it to Lensahn before sunset and that there would be camp sites there also. So I got off the ferry well rested and with lots of optimism, excited to start cycling in Germany! The island of Fehmarn where I arrived is absolutely stunning. The cycling took me past fields and along tree lined bike paths, into the town of Burg. An incredibly picturesque little town with lots of historic buildings, and this weekend I happened to roll in on a giant motorcycle festival happening in town! It made me laugh as I walked my bike past all the motorcycles lined up. Lots of people were dressed up, my favourite was an old man with a giant moustache who had built a model of the Fehmarn sound bridge on his helmet and had American flags all over his motorcycle. As I continued south I rode along the coast and watched the wind and kite surfers enjoying the strong wind that was slowing me down. At least someone was enjoying it! The bridge across to the mainland wasn't very long but the wind was very very strong making the windsock point straight out and nearly blowing me off my bike a few times. The sun was slowly dropping so I tried to hurry and decided not to take the turn to Sütel where I had intended to stay, but to continue on as the people on the ferry had suggested. I rode through Heiligenhafen and into Oldenburg asking there if there were any campsites, but no, none there. So by this time the sun had set and I had to turn on all my lights and bike carefully through the dark towards Lensahn. Once there I took several roads around town looking for campsites listed on my map, but none were to be found. I stopped at a pizzeria to ask for help, but they were really busy so it took about 15 minutes for someone to help me and they only said 'nope, no campsites here, but there are plenty in Neustadt'. So it was about 9:30pm and Neustadt was another 15km away, so I tried to stop at a bread and breakfast instead but nobody was there either! I had no choice but to continue on. I rode through the dark with the stars shining brightly above me making for a really beautiful but tricky ride, and finally arrived at Neustadt and found the campsite at 11pm. The reception was closed so I just found a spot amongst all the campers and set up my tent on the rock hard ground. I had a quick bite to eat, some dark German bread with cheese, a banana and some Ritter Sport chocolate! Quickly brushed my teeth and was in my tent by 12:15, finally falling asleep at about 1am… what a day!

A typical Danish church not far from Guldborg

Wildflowers along route 88

The last ten kilometres of Danish cycling were all like this!

It was windy leaving Denmark!

 The MC rally I stumbled upon in Burg

It was windy also on the bridge from Fehmarn! (Note the windsock!)

Moin Moin! - September 01

The tent was hot from the morning sun when I woke up, and people were bustling around the campsite when I got up. At the reception they greeted me with a friendly "Moin!" , the north German version of Guten Morgen! I settled up and they gave me a map of Schleswig-Holstein which ended up being quite useful in picking out the villages I had to pass through on my way to Hamburg. The route was quite straight forward, I didn't go down the "Bäderstrasse" to Lübeck but instead headed west from Pönitz through Bad Segeberg. I was still impressed by the bike paths, all along the main roads there were really nice and safe bike paths, with a reasonable amount of weekend traffic of both people just out on a weekend ride to more serious racing cyclists speeding along. As the day progressed it got gloomier and greyer, but the rain held off. About 10km from Norderstedt I turned off the main road according to the directions I had gotten off of google maps, and I went along some really pleasant country roads by some wonderfully manure smelling cow farms. Having passed through Wilstedt I suddenly faced a roadblock, and was surprised to be in the middle of the bike course for a triathlon! I watched for a while and cheered people on, they seemed happy to see me because there were hardly any other spectators around at least in that area. Having crossed the course I was in Norderstedt and after only a little while found my way to the apartment of my next host Marc from warmshowers.org. He was a very friendly young single guy who was very active in the local cycling community but was struggling to find enough time off of work to go on his own proper tour. We went out to the local döner place and I had a 'Jumbo' Döner which was delicious, the way German döner often is. Marc took me on a short tour of Norderstedt on the way back home and told me some history, about how the town was comprised of four villages that had all joined together after the war, and showed me some of the older buildings and their special style typical of the region. We had a nice conversation that evening, but I found him to be a little bit too pessimistic about most topics. Perhaps it is a German trait to be a bit negative, and therefore they always strive to improve? In any case, I was happy to be sleeping in a comfortable pull-out couch bed with a real mattress, and although it had been an easy day today, I still felt the previous nights long ride and was happy to get some rest!

I had to take refuge under a bridge from a quick rain shower

The landscapes of Northern Germany that accompanied me towards Hamburg

Triathlon in Germany!

A sexy Ford Ka in Norderstedt ;)