Day 5 - Boltenhagen to Rostock

Last night was very relaxing, actually felt like I was on a holiday rather than a mad dash around the Baltic rushing to get a ferry home so I can get back to work on Monday. Found a pizza place around the corner from the hotel run by Italians who were very happy I switched to my terrible Italian instead of my atrocious German. Managed to order something I actually wanted rather than something I knew the German word for. Was surprised also at how cheap it was. Afterwards I took a walk along the sandy beach which are truly endless in this part of the world. I really had no idea that Germany had such good holiday beaches.

Slept well but woke early thinking over my options for the day. I pretty much ruled out a long day in the saddle trying to get to Sassnitz as the ferry arrives in Trelleborg at 0430 in the morning and I would have too long to hang around waiting for the bus with nowhere to go. I then ruled out the overnight ferry at 2300 as it would leave me too little in the morning to make the bus (Trelleborg is 35km from Malmö). That just left the 1500 ferry so I spent the next hours booking ferry tickets, hotel for the night and the bus journey back to Stockholm.

On the road just after 0800. Funny hotel really, you can feel its communist era background even now after the wall has been down for 25 years. Weird door sizes (mine was a single room so the door to get in seemed half the size of a normal room). Furniture hasn't been changed in years but it was all cared for and clean. Loads of staff and very Germanic attitudes, breakfast was at 0730 and not a second sooner, they even locked the door so you couldn't go in beforehand.

Didn't take any extra food which was a mistake as it was a 93km ride which though is not such a great distance meant that it was harder than it needed to be. The route was fairly straightforward though Wisar was a maze to get through. So glad I stayed in Boltenhagen though as Wisar was a depressing looking Ex East German city that hasn't really prospered as much. You can really tell that you are in the former east though, everything looks that much poorer and less well maintained, also the bike paths have almost vanished making it seem like I was cycling in the UK (where there are none). Very friendly chap in Wisar tried giving me directions but sadly the route he described was in German so I politely waited until he was out of sight and then went in the opposite direction from where he said to go

One thing that you see cycling around the Baltic are war memorials and signs of the impact that war and conflict have had over the last 100 years. In Sweden there are memorials to soldiers killed defending the border with Finland and graves of sailors and airman who died on Swedish soil. In Finland there was of course heavy fighting and there are graveyards dotted all over the place sometimes with many headstones. But nothing compares to cycling through Germany as you know the Allies pounded this country flat and then invading armies carved it up. Rostock was heavily bombed and hundreds of Russian soldiers are buried here. A stark reminder of darker days.

Finding the ferry port was a nightmare as the normally efficient German signposting vanished almost all together. Would be ok if you were a car but as a cyclist the signs were nowhere to be seen once you left the busy main roads. A number of us formed a convoy to the port but we gradually got separated. I made it good enough time but I am so glad that I chose to come earlier and not try to catch the later boat which would have been tough in the dark, plus it really started to rain.

Trip over was relaxing and arrived back in Sweden about 2100. The train that I was going to catch doesn't start running until December so I tried my luck with a local bus. No problem as they all have bike racks on the back of the bus, why the hell don't they do this in Stockholm! Found the hotel, really nice to be back in familiar territory and home tomorrow.

Day 4 - Eckernförde to Boltenhagen

Great  meal last night sitting ion the hotel veranda overlooking the harbour. Asked for a local fish dish and something typically German for desert, wasn't quite expecting something that tasted like Cherry Nypoon Soppa with ice-cream on the top but what the heck.

The best day so far, but almost didn't start out so well that's for sure. Lovely breakfast (the scrambled eggs were incredible, I should have gone back for more) and they even allowed me to take some extra sandwiches with me, so sod you Zleep hotel in Kolding!

Packed my bags and was about to leave the room when I decided to do a quick check just in case I overlooked something. Turned back the duvet as the last thing before leaving the room and there was my wallet!!! Phew lucky escape.

On the road by 0740 and did my best to follow the B76 but its wasn't easy. The bike lane continually vanished or took me on wide 5-10km loops (or so it seemed!) away from where I wanted to go. This coupled with having to navigate through Kiel cost me valuable time

I had sort of set myself a goal of reaching Rostock today in order to catch the 2300 ferry to Malmö. Not impossible as "optimistic maps" aka Google maps said it was 197km. I have long since learnt to add 20% to such mileages so thought it was doable but a number of factors were against me.

• Tough navigation to follow the B76. This was solved by enabling data roaming and using Google maps all the time rather than in the evenings\mornings when trying to plan the next day route. Hence later I found a route that avoided the B76 and instead took me on a very scenic route that I probably wouldn't have taken  
• My legs would only allow a certain number of rotations per hour
• The hills! or to be more exact the ups and downs! Almost 1km of climbs today mainly along the coast

Anyway lunch found me at Eutin where I ate at a place that did quick food but somehow took 30 minutes to prepare a tune fish baguette. By the way since when did a tuna fish baguette come with so much mayo! no wonder all the Germans seem to be struggling with weight problems! Was tasty, but thats not the point!

The afternoon ride was the best so far, hit the coast at Scharbeutz and followed the German riveria for miles and miles.

When i think of seaside resorts in the UK I think of Blackpool at one end of the scale and Brighton at the other (though this is my limited exposure, so no hate mail please). The next hour (or so it seemed) was spent cycling through resort after resort of immaculate German seaside towns and not an amusement arcade in sight and all of them put Brighton to shame, bit like Capri on the Baltic, was very pleasant I am kicking myself for not stopping and having an icrecream

My relaxed composure almost slipped when I reached Travemunde and the only ferry I saw had a big "no bikes" sign in it. Then the skipper pointed out the car ferry  a few hundred meters further on so I was able to avoid Lubeck and carry on along the coast

Then almost immediately I came to an almost no mans land and it wasn't until I read a sign post I realised I had come to the old East\West German border. The wall, barbed wire, mines and machine guns have gone but in there place was an area of nothing followed by over 20kms of cycling down what must have been an old patrol road used by the East Germans.

I had planned to reach Rostock but at lunch realised Wismar was more realistic, in the end even that was too far and I stopped at Boltenhagen where I found a cheap hotel and an Italian restaurant so at least I knew what I was ordering

Afterwards I got to walk along the sand by beach and feel the sand between my toes


  
 

Day 3 - Kolding to Eckernförde

Woke early, before 0500, but well rested which is a miracle after yesterday. Packed and repacked my bags before breakfast at 0600. Got told off for taking things from the breakfast room, didn't make me out everything back so was kinda pointless, "i promise I wouldn't do it the next time" seemed to make him happy.

On the road nice and early which is good because I had no idea what the day had in store. Leaving town was easy and thank goodness I made no effort to look around as the place didn't look like much on the way out.

Roads as always were brilliant, the bike lines are just superb, and no problem with the navigation as everything was very well sign posted. Good speed, straight roads and no wind made for good time and before I knew it I was out of Denmark and into Germany.

Cycle lanes went to hell, they were there but so badly rutted cracked and undulating that they didn't make for good cycling. No more than 20 minutes into Germany and the constant bumps sent my phone flying from its holder on the handlebars. Thank goodness it survived even if it did end up in 3 pieces.
       
Bike lanes didn't really improve and I was very tempted to use the roads but it seems that all cyclists use the bike lanes and I got a few stares when I got fed up and used the road. Countryside has changed though as the Germans have hedges and many of the villages have very pretty thatch cottages, lots of them in fact compared to Denmark. Nothing burnt down or abandoned, everything looking very well cared for.

Passed a Kindergarden class out on their bikes. All these little kids of 3-4 years old on their little bikes not knowing which way to go as I eased past them, I think a lot of them still didn't know the difference between left and right as I eased past.

Keil looked doable but there was little point,. I have 2 days to get to Rostock, Stopped just before 1600 after 165km and boked into the first hotel I came across. Having walked around town it was a lucky find., Had dinner there later overlooking the harbour.

Day 2 - Rudkøbing to Kolding

A good nights sleep though I kinda regret postponing breakfast until 0800 as it means an hour later on the road. Set my sights on Kolding as it looked very doable though to be honest I had a secondary destination in mind about 40km further south

Nice breakfast and the owner was more than happy for me to fill up my lunch box with sandwiches and a yoghurt.

On the road at 0830 and straight away I was in for a hard time because of the WIND!

Slogged up to Odense following excellent roads



Passed more burnt down and abandoned cottages, I must have passed at least 6 the last couple of days. Asked the owner of the vandrahem last night why so many and he said that people burn them down as they cant sell them.

Odense was a typical big city and took ages to navigate through especially with all the traffic lights, only got lost once.

Didn't find anywhere for lunch so stopped at a hotel only to find it closed down. Passed a lot of closed down businesses, you can really see that the recession as hit hard in Denmark. Ended up getting a chicken toasted sandwich at a garage, quite disgusting.

So having spent all morning with the wind coming in from 11 oclock I now turned west and took the full force of the wind. It was absolutely knackering and Kopling couldn't come fast enough. Just as I was coming into the city I passed a cheap looking hotel which had a restaurant attached, that was enough for me.

So a rather disappointing 130km but everything considered I was happy enough, legs are like jelly and my neck is killing me

Day 1 - Copenhagen to Rudkøbing

Yesterday was spent getting out from Stockholm to Malmö which is never easy as they don't take bikes on the train. However good old Swebus will take a bike as long as you do some surgery on it and take away all the bits that stick out. No problem :) 8.5 hours later, very sore legs and bored out of my mind I finally arrived. Put the bike together and took the train over to Copenhagen. That cost be almost half of what I had spent to get to Malmö on the bus, terrible really.

Stayed at the Urbanhouse which is a hostel we found last time Susie and I were in Copenhagen. They do a wicked veggie hotdog. I chose to stay in the 10 man room only to find it was mixed! So no wandering around in my undies. Had a restless night as I was keen to get going, woke at 0500 and lay in bed until 0600 which is when I got up. Went to the toilet and was very conscious that the room was completely quiet. Do you know hard it is not to make rather embarrassing noises when going to the loo?

My bike survived being hidden amongst all the bikes at the train station. Checked the rout maps and made a plan, looked to be rather optimistic but thought I would give it a go anyway. Have a long way to go if I am to make Rostock and the ferry back to Malmö without taking shortcuts.

As always getting out of as big city is never easy and Copenhagen was no exception. Once I was past the industrial area there were some very nice suburbs especially along the coast. The road I followed was a cyclists dream. The 151 was well paved, had a dedicated cycle lane which for long stretches was separate from the road, and was fairly flat. The countryside was very much like Herefordshire but without the hedges  and traffic.



Lunch was perfectly timed as it rained very hard while I ate, then stopped when I was ready to leave

The afternoon ride was of course tougher. Legs were tired energy levels fluctuating and the wind was pretty much head on at times. No wonder the area is dotted with windmills, this is a very exposed, flat and windy country.

The 151 gave way to the 153 which was as good as its predecessor. Everything actually went very well even after I joined the slightly busier route 9 (though still with cycles paths). It all went bad just at the end where I took a wrong turn and stopped following 9 and instead followed a cycle path sign (which I had been avoiding as they wanted to take me on a 30km detour). No real harm done though as I was able to catch the ferry over to Spodsberg and arrived at my destination in good time.



Shower, food and cup of tea while watching Denmark under 21's play Serbia and doing my blog. A relaxing end to what has been an incredibly productive first day. Let's hope that tonight's sleep gets rid of this hayfever