3 July 2014 (warm, hazy, gentle breeze) 68km

In our own childish way we have decided that the German people have a strange fascination with the word ‘fahrt’. The fact that it does not remotely mean the same over here, means nothing to two kiwis, who after ‘a bit of a shit of a day’ yesterday decided we needed something to make fun of.

There are many varieties of ‘fahrt’ in play here. We have ‘ein fahrt’ which everyone knows is one fart. ‘We were surprised that anyone would say ‘gute fahrt’ and equally that folk would look longingly at someone when the term ‘leer fahrt’ was mentioned. Of course in some places you will see the phrase ‘ gute fahrt verboten’ although, if it is a good fart, shouldn’t we not only allow it, but also appreciate it ?

Awake at 6.30am and straight into breakfast. You are always hungry cycling, it’s one of the perks that goes with it, that you can gorge on anything. Ingrid and Klauss had a beautiful bathroom in there house which we were using for showers etc and this morning Julia actually decided after a couple of longer rides recently, she would soak in the bath before showering off.  She said later when we jumped on the bikes, it was the first time her quads hadn't groaned in protest at being made to cycle again.

As time moved on, we chatted with Ingrid about various things and invited them to come visit if ever they get an opportunity. Soon enough we were heading back into Itzehoe to hopefully resolve the tablet and lack of internet issue.  We were offered very good directions from a couple of helpful people who happened to speak English, luckily for us.  We’ve noticed that since crossing the Elbe yesterday, the percentage of people speaking English seems to have increased dramatically.  Whether that’s just coincidence, who knows?  But it has been noticeable.

Whilst Julia sorted the problem with her little mate she’d befriended yesterday, I did the shopping.

Stocked for the day, I arrived back to find her already there. Everything looked good. However, always the realist [ Ju would say pessimist ] I suggested we cycle a good couple of km’s from the store and try. We did and Bingo, so all is well for now.

I had told myself that today was going to flow and flow it did. Out of town heading for Oldendorf, Mehlbek and Vaale.  

Yay don't have to rely on Macca's or Starbucks anymore.
Food's better too and the coffee is hot!

This was beautiful riding with forest and farmland and the odd little hill.  Hardly any traffic, very quiet and we even saw a wild deer in a corn field.  On to Hochdonn where we saw another rare site…..a public toilet.  We spotted our first one of these just yesterday since arriving in Europe three weeks ago, so felt especially blessed to see another one just the day after.  Because they are so rare on the continent, people had obviously travelled many miles to see this rare sight as there was a constant flow in and out as people went in for a closer look.  We laughed to ourselves.  All this attention when they’re as common as muck in good ol’ NZ.  However, we couldn’t help ourselves and got caught up in the excitement and had to make use of them as well before enjoying a magnum each in the afternoon sunshine.  Hochdonn was where we began our epic ride up the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal.

Images of Nord-Ostsee-Kanal

This is a massive canal used for shipping purposes by container vessels, barges, tugs, oil carriers and cruise ships on their way up to Rendsburg and Kiel.  It’s flat, smooth, a nice breeze wafting our hair, well Ju’s anyway, a cyclist’s paradise.  We also spotted another wild deer here, much to Ju’s delight which she managed to photograph.

We cycled about 20km up this canal past Hohenhorn, Fischerhutte, then across on the ferry to Olenbuttel and then up to a campground at Brieholz on the banks of the Eider River.  Set up camp at a respectable time of 7pm.  Cooked tea, made coffee before writing the day’s blog and plotting our course for tomorrow.