It's me again ... Mike... I've taken over the blog action for today, as I wanted to update you on how we're going.. we've been on the bikes for a month (and 1 day). Yep.. a month! Here's a map of the action so far... the red dots was 2 years ago, and the blue dots are our action this time. Today we reached the ferry to Denmark... wow!
As you can see we left Lubeck 3 days ago, and it's been an amazing 3 days! We rode out on Monday following the river (continuing the path we rode in on), just a great way to leave, and feeling amazingly refreshed after our double rest day. It was a fabulous day on the bike, sunny but not too hot, great paths, with a few sharp climbs but some lovely descents to make it all worth while.
Then we hit the Baltic coastline... it's nuts! It's the French Riviera meets Nelson Bay. We had to stop to take the obligatory celebration selfie - total tourist mode!
Then lunch ... an amazing Focaccia and some Chilli-con-carne.. both yummm. The rest of the day was spent riding along the coast on roads where cyclists have priority, past some super swanky holiday places, just totally chilled till we found our cute little camp site, right across from the beach. We were the only tent amongst a whole bunch of permanent cabins... everyone welcomed the newbies!
Tuesday we hit the road early, and again had some early hills (this seems to be a theme), before descending back to the beach, and following a dirt track along the beach till our lunch stop. We then headed 6k inland to our granny flat... super cute and super relaxing.
Then today, we completed the ride up to Puttgarden, we're camped about 500m from the ferry to Denmark. Again today we had hills early. Then we stopped at a supermarket for supplies and light lunch when I saw an Aussie flag on someone's pannier. It turned out it was a couple of intrepid cyclists on their way back to Hamburg from Denmark, they've done 2 trips to Australia, including cycling across the Nullarbor... count me impressed. Oh yeah, and the 2 women were experienced, the oldest is 75! Inspiring!!
After lunch today was a bit of a slog, some difficult terrain and a bridge we had to walk the bike over (it's 1k long!), and some busy'ish roads (Google is a little confused sometimes). But we found ourselves a bike path and had a smooth and comfortable ride to our campsite.
Amazing Poppies - most I've seen altogether
So, here we are, 1 month and 1 day in, 997k's on the clock. It's strange but I planned on us doing about 1,000k a month. It's easy to say, but it's almost overwhelming to think back on. Every day is a BIG DAY. So much happens, so many small details, so much good food, and amazing scenery.
Along the way we've learned a few things...
- The tent (Sally) is a real asset. It gives us many more options each day. We haven't had any camp sites turn us away, and it gives us amazing flexibility to change our plan during the day, and to adjust our distances to the weather and our tiredness.
- Balancing the riding and resting is so important. Both of us are nowhere near as tired as we were at the end of the ride 2 years ago, and adding extra rest days seems to be the key.
- We're loving the routes we take and the surprises we get along the way. It's really working for us that we don't do much research each day and just head off and see what we find. Google maps seems to be doing a great job of mixing up "things to see" with "let's get there!".
- On the same theme, keeping things flexible each day. Somedays we stop and re-evaluate the route. Maybe a road is too busy, or we feel fresh enough to add in a detour through the forest.
- And, above all, having so much time is amazing. It means we always have time, for the extra stop, for a rest day (or 2), for whatever.
I'm excited and a little nervous to be leaving Germany. Denmark is a whole new adventure, and then, Sweden... wow!!
Great.Be careful of the schnapps in Copenhagen.
ReplyDeleteYay Mickey D! The map is excellent for us following along, and you look very fetching and European in your stripes on the beach.
ReplyDeleteLove the energy and happiness! Gosh you've covered some ground.
ReplyDelete