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