Cycle Tour Iron Curtain Tour, part 3 Gdynia-Aš

In the morning the camp owner was kindness in person according to our solution to my needs as a camper. And after shopping at the local grocery store, I was ready for a good breakfast. I just froze because it was quite cold. Maybe I should have skipped the bath in the lake that the campsite was right next to. But I just love such a skinny morning bath in nature. And at half past seven it is always empty. But I think that the wife in the minibus got a glimpse of me without swimming trunks on. I didn't care, but I think she did ...

Today's stage was to lead me down to the Elbe and a stretch along this mighty river, now to the southeast. First, however, I rode a along the Elbe-Luebeck canal down to the town of Lauenburg, which is the capital of what was once the Danish duchy of Lauenborg. It was a nice, but not very easy trip along the canal. The trip into town was also troublesome. But the beauty of Ruferplatz was worth it. It's named after a jokey statue of a shipboy shouting something at an imaginary boat on the Elbe. After a nice break there, I soon cycled into East Germany again. For the next 100 km or so, the Elbe had formed the border, so obviously I wanted to camp before I reached the end of the stretch in Schnackenburg.

It was wonderful to cycle on nice, wide asphalt paths (with a lot of sheep droppings on them) along or on top of the dyke. The dyke is necessary because of the danger of high water and floods. In front of the dyke lies the wide and completely uninhabiteted foreland, which is truly beautiful nature. A bird concert of unusual power, of course especially early the next morning, was astonishing. Especially the cuckoo's voice here in end May was catchy. The wind was still in the northwest, so here I really cycled 20 km in an hour.  Normally 15 km/h without breaks and 10 km/h with breaks was my goal, but mostly I didn't make that. A long, long detour in Boizenburg to buy a gas can in a hardware store plus some hassle finding my way back to my bike route had cost a lot of time.

But all was forgotten when I was very kindly received at Bankerhof by the Dutchman Kees. The weather was again nice and somewhat warmer. Apart from the many mosquito bites I got, it was wonderful here, and I had good company by some German youths on a cycling holiday. However, I cooked the food for myself on the idyllic tent pitch on a disused farm, where the owner had set up a good, large kitchen and living room for his guests. Luxury!