After breakfast and packing our gear, there is a photo moment with our host Silke. What a lovely person. Caring and most of all proud of her house, a former pig farm, and the part of Germany she lives in. She showed us all the nice spots that we could go and visit. We’ll remember it for a next time we visit the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony.
According to the weather forecast, the day looked promising: a little drizzle before noon and sun in the afternoon. Silke convinced us to take the scenic route, prolonging the trip from 69 to 75 km. But hey, what’s an additional 6 km?
When we wanted to leave, it was raining cats and dogs, so we waited a bit and left at 10 instead of the planned 9 o’clock.
Along the edge of the bike path, tall grasses grow. Weighed down by the rain, they hang over the road, getting our legs and panniers wet and covering them in grass seeds. That’s probably how the grass spreads. We’re sowing the seeds of love along our way.
We always try to keep our spirits up and make some fun along the way such as singing ”Door de wind” by Ingeborg at the top of one’s lungs.
More fun moments along the way:
At noon the sun is back, but temperatures stay low. Anyhow, it’s time for a picknick.
And after that picknick the weather turns. Not the promised sun an cloud situation, but one rain downpour after another.
We take shelter in a place that just pops up on our road. And almost at the same time another biker stops at the same spot and then we meet Frank from Frankfurt.
Frank worked as a technician at a roadside assistance company. He had taken a four-week vacation to bike to Denmark, and it was heartwarming to hear about the spontaneity and improvisational ability with which he did this.
After an hour, we continued our journey although the rain had not stopped completely. From time to time, we were blessed with another light shower but we kept going. #wouterdebootmoment
But as you might have guessed, it didn’t take long for another downpour to come over us.
Fortunately, we found another shelter, a carport near someone’s house.
After this shower, we moved further until we came at a fork in the road. Komoot suggested going left, and Garmin suggested going right. When checking the map, left seemed the shorter route.
Bad choice. First, we had to cross an electric fence for the grazing cows. That was easy since it was just one electric wire with a handle to open and close. Once over the dike, the road was muddy and full of cow shit. At the end of that field, we were stopped by this typical cow gate. People can get through, cows can’t. After a closer look, we couldn’t either. The farmer had blocked the gate with chains and other junk.
So we needed to return on that same muddy road.
After a few kilometers, we arrive at the ferry to cross the River Elbe. There, Leen gave a performance of a song by Bert Kaempfert that we regularly play when crossing the Elbe tunnel by car with the kids. And, surprise, surprise, we meet Frank again as we are taking the same boat to the other side.
Once we crossed the Elbe, the sun came back out, and we still had to tackle the last 16 kilometers of our journey. It was tough, especially since all the detours added up to a total of 82 kilometers.
We were so happy to get to the tiny house we booked! We whipped up a quick veggie sauce and boiled some penne, and boom, dinner’s ready.
A quick shower and finalizing our daily report, and it’s time for bed.
Tomorrow is a resting day.
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