Another good night's sleep. It's amazing how many good night's sleeps you can get when you're not camping!
I remembered when Derek and I did this section of the Radweg three years ago it was very rough and rutted through woods and fields so I planned a shorter day to compensate. We were so pleased as we rounded the first corner and saw a shining new surface.
Our first seven miles were great. We were sheltered from the north westerly wind and had smooth concrete under us.
Eventually we arrived at Walternienburg where we stopped to view a tower from the Middle Ages. Hanging on the side of the tower was a weather stone dating from 973AD. It made us chuckle as it read:
Stone wet - raining
If it's white - it's snowing
If it's moving - it's windy
If it's dry - it's sunny
If you can't see it - its foggy and
If it's broken - there's been an earthquake
I paid €2 to climb the tower and be given a guided tour. I explained that my German wasn't very good and I could only order beer and ask for a room. However I must have said this so well that the woman guide insisted on explaining everything to me. I even had to turn the handle on the old clothes wringer to demonstrate how it worked. After three quarters of an hour of this constant battering I was so pleased to return to the bike and Jenny.
The new bike track continued for a total of 18 miles and we made such good progress we decided to fit in another cultural highlight and detoured to catch the ferry to Barby and look at the 'Barby Museum'. I felt it would be so much better than the Nudel Museum in Riesa. Unfortunately we couldn't find it and in any case were informed it didn't contain any dolls! We made do with coffee and kuchen and retraced our steps back across the ferry.
We were treated to three more storks nests, all with young in them.
This area is also famous for its beavers but we saw no sign of them. Six herons were spotted near the Pretzien Weir which was built in the late 1800's and is yet another ' biggest of its kind in Europe'. It is still used to control the flood waters of the Elbe so it must be some use.
Our luck with the Radweg ran out for the final few miles and we had to battle uneven cobbles and the wind. However we arrived gallantly at 'Gasthaus Kelly' and were shown to our room - in the cellar!
During our evening meal a rather worse for wear old German ranted at Jenny about how England had destroyed hs home and family in tbe war. A bit of a sad ending really.
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