A race against time

We are on the last haul now. I actually saw a sign along the way today: the first sign indicating Cuxhaven as the end-point - over 200 kms to go!

Sometimes doing the blog, I have a micro-sleep and wake to find my finger pressed hard against the screen of my I-pad just pressing, pressing, pressing ... argh!

Tonight will be like that but worse - so I won’t even try, I am completely ‘done in’!; will finish this in the morning. I don’t know what the Internet password is and frankly don’t give a damn! I am sitting in bed with a cup of tea and some ALDI chocolate after a BIG meal out at a Greek (! - yes, ouzo shots again!!) restaurant and am MORE THAN ready for bed. 

To recap: this morning’s trains saved 93 kms and bypassed several ferry closures on this section of the route.

First was a train back to Stendal where we transferred yesterday - although this time we planned on being careful to not change platforms this time! 

It was ‘long gloves’ temperature this morning - lovely day but freeeezing!

We were at the station early - only 3 other people; one a cyclist. The train arrived early so we got on (and out of the cold), and organised our bikes with some level of decorum for once. There was no stationmaster so you have to buy your tickets from the machine on the train; even the 2 locals had trouble working it so thank goodness we had ours pre-purchased. 

We chatted with a lady from Potsdam who had never been to Tangermünde before. The conductor got off and had a smoke before departure.

A 50-minute transfer at Stendal. It was a pleasant wait in the sun while the MFs go for an explore.

The Germans sure love their bricks! Some of the buildings are just wonderful - intricate brickwork.

Unfortunately the loading of bikes at Stendal was NOT as graceful a procedure as one may have hoped; MF2 was slow off the mark and was lucky not to be left behind. Not helped by map on station indicating that the bike carriage would be located behind the driver’s van. No such luck. We were standing at the designated spot when the train arrived and then had to scoot rapidly to the other end of the train. ARGH!

At Wittenberge, the blessed lift wasn't working which meant we had to carry the bikes down the stairs - one bike between 2 people. Argh!!!

The port in Wittenberge is one of the most important ones on the river Elbe. There were some lovely buildings here. Very quiet. Sunday morning. One landmark is the clock tower which is supposed to be the biggest in Europe. Note: this is not the same Wittenberg we were at before; that one was Lutherstadt Wittenberg. This one has an ‘e’ on the end.

We left the town centre with some helpful instructions by a local guy on his bike. We rode along the dike by the river on some really crappy pavement (what are they thinking?!; you really have to focus and ride single-track between the ’holes’!) then crossed to the western side of the Elbe - after crossing a ghastly long bridge with speeding traffic! - past Wahrenberg protected by a high dike. In the past it was often threatened by high water. The area here belongs to the bird protection area of Europe.

A windmill juts upwards - as we pass through Wanzer. Channelling Erika here!

We pass Aulosen and arrive in Schnackenburg where we sit by the river in the sun and eat the cakes the MFs had bought at Stendal station. Lots of apple trees - someone had even gone to the trouble to put labels on the ones alongside the road indicating the particular variety.

Between 1945 and 1990, Schnackenburg served as an inner German border crossing for inland navigation on the Elbe. The crossing was open for freight vessels navigating between the Czech Republic, the GDR and the FDR.

There is a Grenzlandmuseum (Border Museum) here which I said to the MFs they should go in and have a look while I minded the bikes. It documents both the history of the inner German border and the partitioning of GDR until the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

This is Lower Saxony’s smallest city and we are now in the Lower Saxony Elbe Floodplain Biosphere Reserve. We see heaps of birds and bird hides, wetlands, and the river meandering along.

We cycle on to Gartow which, with its lake (Gartower See) and the Gartower Forest, is an absolute highlight of nature along the Elberadweg. This really was pretty. There was a big market taking place by the lake - lots of people! Many out cycling and walking too.

We had a fast ride then to Lenzen (with a tail wind!! yay!!!), crossing at the Pevestorf-Lenzen ferry which we just missed; we had to wait for the next, maybe 10 or so minutes (someone had the ’go-slows’ today!!!) - so we were losing valuable time. Hmmm!

  

The weather was warm now which was great. We have been passing many lovely half-timbered houses along the way and now start to also get some wonderful thatched-roof homes. Terrific! Very scenic.

We stop at Möglich for a coffee at a very cute little spot - who would have thought? (just a wee spot on the map) - and share a delicious piece of apple cake.  This is afternoon tea and we still haven't had lunch! The woman here speaks amazingly good English - like the Queen (!). It seems that as we move further west, people are speaking English more. 

The good bike path continues - up high on a dike with great views out to the wetlands. We stop just down the road at Wootz  to eat our lunch - nice rolls that the MFs bought at Stendal earlier today.

We arrive into Dömitz with its harbour and where we cross the Elbe by bridge. The light is fading fast, not helped by the cloud that has moved in but which creates the most beautiful shapes and colours as the sun goes lower - this becomes the most splendid sunset, the pinks reflecting off the water of the river. Argh! No time to stop for photos as we are racing against the clock! Still 20 kms to go!

I try contacting our B&B to let them know we are running late but the phone is not answering and certainly the message in German was way beyond my comprehension.

We crossed the bridge and I saw a rent-a-car vehicle plus a guy with a big van and a bike so  I took a punt that maybe he might know some English.  I was lucky: he spoke enough for me to explain that I needed someone to listen to the phone message at our B&B as I suspected the message might have been advising an alternative phone no. 

This guy was wonderful. And Dave had his Swiss Army penknife at the ready (which he bought in Switzerland last year when we visited Gilbert); it has a pen (!) which the guy could use to write down the number, after having to ring the number several times so as to hear the message! I then rang this new number. This put me in touch with the owner of the B&B - who was in Majorca (!!!). Fortunately he understood enough English for me to explain that we were still 20 kms out - he said he’d contact the lady at the B&B who was only to be there until 6 p.m.; we wouldn’t be there until 7 p.m. at the earliest! (unless we rode like Lance Armstrong!!); and then the phone cut out. Argh!

The last 20 kms into Hitzacker were probably the fastest this trip - we ‘flew’ along at 20 km/hr plus, driven by the fear of there being no roof over our head at the end of the day, plus the encroaching cold and darkness. 

The temperature started to drop, the light was fading fast, and it was almost 7 p.m. when we arrived. Wonderful sunset.

Hitzacker is TINY, but we still managed to lose our way to the accommodation. A kind woman in the street with very good English was helpful. The map app was useless but then again I’m not sure the right address had been keyed in?#$@&!

Gabriela met us - never have I been so happy to see someone at the end of the day! A bed for the night! She was such a lovely woman and spoke very good English; she’d spent a few summers when younger in the UK.

I don’t know how I managed to climb the stairs to our absolutely beautiful rooms. We have an apartment! But time (again) was of the essence, it being Sunday night and a very small place; we had to hurry if we were going to get something to eat, so we had the quickest of showers (my clothes were drenched in sweat!) and out we went - only about 2 places open: a Turkish takeaway and a Greek restaurant (Plaka). What is it with Greek restaurants in Germany? Anyway, it was full but we got a table and we got BIG meals that even Dave couldn’t eat! I think he was ‘done in’.

Our B&B (decorated throughout with great black & white photos of film stars on the walls) has a lovely salon downstairs - which I made use of early this morning after tearing the bedroom apart looking for my reading glasses! They had fallen off the bedside table into one of the panniers! Argh! Really, I cannot remember ANYTHING once I ‘hit the sack’ last night!

Cycling distance: 93.2 kms