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.