Finally got away from Starbucks last night at 8.20pm and
began what was supposed to be a relatively short 5km ride out to a campground
the tourist info office had told us about. But let’s face it, on this trip,
following directions, whether it’s in English or another language, hasn’t
always led us to said destination. Last
night we were given directions to the Bremen campground, but you would have
thought that within a couple of kms radius of that camp, you might have seen a
sign or two. But no, we were 300m from
the camp before we found the first sign for the camp, by which time it was
9pm. This route included a trip through
the university, which includes numerous signpostings for various campuses,
which made our final destination even more difficult to find. Upon arrival at said camp, it was more like
the Colditz facility, however in this case it was keeping us out with no way in
past the locked driveway and pedestrian gates and six foot high fences. We had also been told by Information that
there was another camp in the area and began a hunt for that. We had three very helpful people stop and ask
if they could help us for which we were very grateful. Fifteen minutes later we stumbled upon the
second camp which was a very lavish looking affair, charging lavish prices, but
the reception was closed. So we cycled
in through the pedestrian gate to go look at the toilet and shower block and
discovered you needed a swipe card to use them.
There was no way we were going to pay above the odds for facilities we
couldn’t even use so we thought we’d head out of town and look for a free
camp. We judged our direction by the sun
going down in the west and lucked out with a northerly exit route on a quiet
road over the top of the busy motorway.
There were wide empty spaces and a canal to cycle alongside and a few
other people cycling along on what was now a very beautiful evening. Passed through a couple of villages along
very quiet roads or cycle lanes and even spotted a wild deer in a field. Unfortunately, there was always one house, or
dog walker, or cyclist about and we could not find a quiet pitch for the
tent. Since we left the lavish campground,
we had both donned our rain jackets to protect us from the cold, but our feet
and hands were freezing anyway. Came to
Lilienthal, which we thought was a village, but it was actually a big town and
seemed to go on forever. At least it was
deserted and we had no traffic to negotiate.
On we continued and deviated off onto a small canal path. Great riding surface and we flew along, but
still nowhere to pitch the tent. The sun
had dipped below the horizon now but there was still enough light to see where
we were going and to spot the odd wild deer in the fields as we passed. Eyed up one field and there were some night
fishermen at the canal and no cover to hide behind so we pressed on. Came to a side track and took it and at last
found a patch at the corner of a field where we finally pitched tent while we
could still see what we were doing at 10.30pm.
Ate sandwiches for dinner and had a coffee to warm us up and then
snuggled down for the night at 11.30pm after doing 100km.
Awoke this morning to the sight of a young deer in the corn
field next to our field and a clear blue sky at 5.30am. Had breakfast and packed away the soaked tent
(just from condensation, it hadn’t rained at all), and were on the road by
7am. Last night’s navigating out of
Bremen with no map had been bang on so we decided to keep navigating by the sun
whenever we were in doubt, but otherwise followed the village names we had
jotted down. Most of the roads this
morning were flat, straight and with a cycle path running at the side through
small bits of forest and farmland.
Stopped after 20km at Breddorf to have a cup of tea by the roadside and
a jam buttie. Took this opportunity to
dry the tent off as the sun was shining with a nice breeze blowing. The only dampener on our impromptu tea party
was the uninvited guests in the form of giant German ants everywhere. Pete took them on in his own personal crusade
to kill off as many of these annoying creatures as he could while
simultaneously making the sandwiches. Passed through quite a few hamlets today and
the odd village. The riding was pretty
boring, but we made good progress, having done 50km by midday when we arrived
at Bremervorde. This was a larger town,
not too pretty but it did have a McDonalds.
However, since arriving in Germany, we have had problems logging onto
the Maccas wifi network as you need to have a phone that they will send a code
to. But of course we don’t have a phone
so can’t get the code sent to us. It is
very frustrating especially when compared with the ease of wifi access in
Holland and Belgium. And to top it off,
you don’t find this out until you’ve ordered your food and then realise they
seem to have the same lousy system as every German McDonalds.
To say we were disappointed was an understatement, but as
the French say ‘c’est la vie……whereas the Germans would probably say ‘toughen
shittenhausen’. On our way out we took shelter from the now persistent rain, in
a supermarkets underground carpark. This however was a bit different. Don’t ask
me why, but it had insulation on the ceiling. It made it not only very peaceful,
but extremely quiet. We couldn’t stay there all afternoon though, so during a
lull, we pedalled off, heading north.
Decided that the afternoon session would just be a slow slog
and we would be in camp tonight by 5.30pm.
Took some main roads with cycle
tracks [mostly good ] and some minor roads without.
 |
| bikes parked up outside the supermarket |
The scenery was forest and farmland and the roads were long
and straight. Through Elm, Esdorf, Oldendorf, Berwig, Grosenwoerden by-passed
Hull [funny, I thought that was in England…….see they’re trying to steal our
towns now ! ] Hadn’t realised how much ground we were eating up and by the time
we reached Wichausen [the place we are catching a ferry, for a 25 minute ride ]
it was 6pm.
This afternoon we had fared very well. We’d been like those
storm chasers, only in reverse. Managing to stay dry was no mean feat today,
with huge black clouds all day and only occasional sunshine, which was warm
when it was out, but otherwise it was pretty cold. About 14°C we reckon. As per bloody usual, we
reached our destination to discover that the campsite we wanted was 6 km back
the way we had just come. When we’d
reached the major intersection on our way in, no signs for camping suggesting
we turn right, so naturally we headed left into the main town. After 104km, the last thing you want to be
doing is going back in the direction you’ve just come from. Hence we were a little miffed. The only reason we found out there was a
campground was a small typewritten leaflet pinned to the info board with a
little bit at the bottom of it saying Kamping Krautsand. No little black triangle tent sign
anywhere. It looked old and outdated so
when we turned around, we weren’t even sure there would be a campground. But if there was one thing we learned from
last night, if there’s a campground, or even the hint of a campground within
10km at the end of the day, detour to it.
As it was, our ride culminated at a very pleasant looking campground,
complete with café, bar and restaurant and two very nice ladies in the
reception cum shop, who welcomed us even though they couldn’t speak
English. Pitched tent under threat of
cloudburst, got all the gear inside and went for two very welcome showers. Had a delicious meal cooked by Julia’s fair
hands and washed it all down with apple and custard pie which we’d bought from
the ladies in reception, and a steaming cup of coffee. Updated the blog but both looking forward to
a full night’s sleep tonight.
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