Thursday 14th July

Ferry port to Newcastle - 9.7 miles
Carlisle to Skelton - 14.2 miles

The final two short stretches to home went without a hitch. We were greeted with great enthusiasm by ....... the dog.

                      Somebody loves me

Postscript for Derek - not once did I have 'old man's drip' on the end of my nose and I never had to evacuate my nasal passages whilst on the move. Just goes to show that doing less mileage is good for your health!

Total mileage - 531.9 miles

Wednesday 13th July

Amsterdam to Ijmuiden

Arrived in Amsterdam on time last night so checked into our hotel, parked the bikes overnight in the Bahnhof cycle storage and went for a beer in the oldest bar in Amsterdam.

                                Evidence

We didn't wake up until 8.45! Trundled down to a chaotic breakfast room in tbe cellar. There were too many people and not enough room as well as a group of Italians who decided to stand in the only room available and block all movement. I stepped on the main offending woman's toes which pleased me but seemed to antagonise her.
Back to the room and then checked out. I did mention that our shower didn't drain so flooded the bathroom. I'd spent a bit of time mopping up the water and wringing out the bath-mat. The receptionist was pleased I'd mentioned it and confessed that it seemed to be a design fault in many rooms. Mmmm.
So, off to Ijmuiden and the ferry.

                            First the rain

                           Then the wind

               Followed by coffee and cake

                      And finally the ferry

Tuesday 12th July

Zollenspieker to Hamburg HBF - 15.6 miles

We didn't quite go for the 5 course meal option last night but enjoyed our table with an Elbeblick. Slept well and ate a leisurely breakfast before setting off at about 10.30.

                      Last view of the Elbe

The skies were grey and there was a blustery westerly wind but the going was easier than yesterday as we were mainly sheltered by trees and fields of corn. Yesterdays last sighting of storks proved to be premature as we saw two grazing in the fields just north of Zollenspieker.

                  Stork from a few days ago

Our ride into Hamburg took just under two hours and we made our way through the industrial outskirts to the Hauptbahnhof.

Very last view of the Elbe looking towards                                      Hamburg

We are now sitting on platform 11 waiting for the 14.46 IC to Amsterdam via Osnabruck. Arrive in Amsterdam at 21.00 then hotel before the dying throes of our journey are enacted tomorrow and Thursday.

Monday 11th July

Stiepelse to Zollenspieker - 40.5 miles

Good old Portugal won last night so I guess waking up to the wind howling was a cross we had to bear.
We also had to bear a rather strange breakfast - it cost us €8.50 each so we were expecting something rather special. Silly us.
Having to lay our own table didn't impress and although there were some scraps of food on the sides there was no-one around to tend to our needs. Eventually we had a bun or two and a cup of coffee and as we were leaving a scruffy guy appeared and asked us if we'd like an egg. We declined (he had no shoes on!) and paid the bill.
This was to be our last full day's cycling and the strong headwind made it a bit tiring. However, we endured and before crossing the Elbe by ferry again we passed an old lookout post and a sign about the partitioning of Germany.

We had come across these on numerous occasions and this part of the Elbe seems to have been a wide belt of 'no-mans land'. Perhaps that is why there is such good wildlife. By the way 18 storks were grazing on the flood plain and sadly they were our last sighting.
I digress. Over the ferry to Blekede and a coffee and then no sign of food or drink for the next 30 miles! It was a good job we had bought a sandwich at the coffee shop. More wind grimacing and frequent stops eventually got us to Hoopte where we took our final ferry across to Zollenspieker.

            Our final ferry across the Elbe

The exceedingly posh hotel seemed a bit much for us two grubby cyclists but the only other accommodation before Hamburg wouldn't answer their phone so rather than risk another 10km and possibly no bed, we did posh.

                       Jenny doing posh

After looking at the menu, we might have to restrict the beer drinking and perhaps we'll also have to make do with a side salad. All will be revealed in the morning.

 Beers of the day - Hasseroder Furstenbrau
                 Und - Zwick'l Schwarzbier

Jenny always has a Weissweinscholler. She had popped up to her room to get more clothes on when I took the picture.

                       Weissweinscholler

Sunday 10th July

Domitz to Stiepelse - 32.3miles

The music fest last night kept Jen awake but I was fresh and raring to go. So we breakfasted with our jolly hostess who because she had spent three days in London thirty three years ago felt able to communicate with us in our mother tongue - 'Hello', 'Come', 'Follow', 'All is happy'!
All was happy and we departed with her 'Englander come again' ringing in our ears.

                       Our Domitz Pension

The wind was not as strong today but the first 10 miles were through woods and although a little rough were sheltered. Eventually it was out onto the dyke again - a brand new track funded incidently by the EU - and into stork country again. One really can't have too many of these wonderful birds.

We felt quite privileged today as a number of adults flew above us and across our path as we cycled along. The young are also hugely comical as they jump up and down on their nests flapping their wings.

A visit to Hitzacker meant another ferry trip across the Elbe and a trip on a rather quirky tin tub which only took cyclists and pedestrians.

Hitzacker was a nice little Fachwerk town that served us our lunch - a belegte Weltmeisterbrotchen - and had the histories of many of the old houses pinned on their doors.
The return trip on the ferry proved uneventful so we had to continue our journey and make do with more storks and some old thatched buildings that the guidebook seemed to be particularly proud of. Charon, der Fahremann tried to entice us into the Underworld but we declined his offer and cycled on.

We eventually arrived at our Gasthaus for the night and sampled a late afternoon beer before showering and eating supper (rather delicious) washed down with yet another Schwarzbier.

                     Schwarzbier und Pils
        Trout for Jen. Spinach curry for me

             Note the next round of drinks!

I must say I have taken a liking to this delicious beer which has a liquorice after taste and is not as fizzy as a Pils. Perhaps I'll just have that for supper tomorrow!

Saturday 9th July

Ruhstadt to Domitz - 43.5 miles

We had 'web cam' for breakfast!

Once we had had our fill we braved the wind and set off through the village waving goodbye to the 14 stork nests we passed. It was very hard going and we deserted the main Radweg and took the road. This gave us a bit more shelter for a few miles. It was back beside the river as we entered Wittenberge and we struggled to make headway.  We were grimacing as we cycled but the cyclists coming in the opposite direction were grinning. (Beaming more like it!)  If Derek had been with me there would have a few choice words directed at the opposition but as it was Jenny we had to wish them 'Guten Morgen'.

After a coffee in the town we visited the Tourist Information to ask if there was a cycleway on the main road. Thankfully there was and the trees provided some shelter so we slowly made progress.
As we neared our destination of Domitz we saw two pairs of cranes in the fields. These sightings raised our spirits as we continued to battle against the wind.

               Pair of cranes - look harder!

It was with some relief that we arrived at our Pension. Three beers later the world seemed a much friendlier place.

 Our evening meal was taken in 'Martin's' where the host not only served us with a delicious meal but also provided us with live music. Phew, quite a hard day.

                       Our entertainment

Friday 8th July

Tangermunde to hstadt - 46.7 miles

After a disappointing night of football we are wondering who to put the mockers on in tbe final. Our Pension was one of the Fackwerk houses mentioned in the guide and not only was it historically important but the owner laid on a magnificent spread for breakfast.

                        The breafast table

The two men we met at the table were cycling from Ulm on the Danube to Sylt on the north German coast. They covered 160km yesterday. A bit more than us!

                   Thuringer Wurst in roll

The cycling throughout the day was on very quiet and rather remote tracks. We crossed the Elbe on the ferry at Sandau and made our way to the pretty town of Havelburg where we sampled our first Wurst of the trip. It was good too! After a quick walk round the town and a look up at the Schloss we continued on our way.

                        Havelberg Schloss

Unfortunately our preferred route was closed because of damage to the flood dyke so we had to take the Umleitung which initially followed the road but eventually brought us back on the original Radweg. We arrived at our destination of Ruhstadt at 4.15. The little village is famous for having over 30 stork nests. We spent a lot of time peering upwards and smiling. Our Gasthaus had their nest shown on the tv via a webcam. More smiling.

Jenny flaked out for an hour but eventually got her act together and we made our way down to supper. Jen ordered an 'Erbseneintopf' which was a bowl of peas and beans and a rather unattractive huge sausage. I couldn't believe what I ordered when I saw it - it was typical German fare with SPROUTS! I don't even eat them at Christmas - and there were 12 of them!

Sprouts

Three sprouts were returned untouched but after manfully struggling with the other nine I decided another beer was needed.