Last day: Glückstadt-Hamburg

The morning started with rain again, so I didn’t hurry with my breakfast and checked out at ten from my B&B in Glückstadt. By the time I left, the sun was shining again and the streets were almost dry, but after ten minutes, I got into a heavy rain shower. Because I was told that there were some bridges ahead that only open once per hour, I continued anyway and got pretty wet. When I reached those bridges, I got the impression though that they are always open to cross except for once per hour when they open for boats.

What was more of a challenge than the rain and the bridges was the amount of sheep poop. My fluffy friends had been going on the toilet everywhere. As there was normally one road behind the dyke and one in front of the dyke, I often had to make a call when there were crossings, which side was less shitty. And sometimes, I had to turn around because I made the wrong call and ended up in places where the road was technically blocked by ankle-deep crap.

On the positive side, I head tailwind and made good progress. Around twelve, I reached the ship welcome point in Stade. There is a restaurant with a terrace there, and they announce every ship that arrives in Hamburg or leaves Hamburg and inform about the size, the nationality and so on. I sat inside, comfortably dry when another shower hit, and continued after one cappuccino.

Half an hour later, I reached the border of Hamburg. I continued down to the Elbe river again (had to take my skates off at one point because the road was too steep and wet) and proceeded towards the stairs’ quarter (Treppenviertel) in Blankenese. Here, I somehow missed my planned end spot, which I noticed two kilometres later. I then considered to continue towards the fish market, but got (a) stopped by a gravel path, and (b) hit by another rain shower. So instead I went back to Blankenese, took off my skates there, and enjoyed a beer.

Day 10: Cuxhaven-Glückstadt

As expected, the day started with heavy rainfall. I gave myself some extra time for breakfast and checked out first at ten o’clock. I took a bus to Cuxhaven centre and enjoyed another coffee at the pier. Then, around an hour later, the sun came out, the streets started to dry, and I boarded the train to Otterndorf where I had stopped skating yesterday.

The first ten or fifteen kilometres I skated next to a Bundesstraße with a lot of traffic. There was a separate bike lane, so for skating it was fine, but the traffic was a bit annoying. For the second half of the day, I was mainly on small roads between fields with no traffic at all, but with a road surface that wasn’t always great. In addition, where there were trees, the roads were not dry and partly very soapy-slippery.

The last few kilometres towards Wischhafen, from where I wanted to take the Elbe ferry to Glückstadt, were next to a bigger road again with a bike lane that was pretty damaged and that slowed me down a bit. Two kilometres from the ferry harbour, it started raining again. In addition, I noticed cars getting off the ferry coming towards me, so I hurried up a bit to catch this ferry, which I barely managed.

Just before reaching the other river bank, the rain became heavier, and the streets were very wet. So I decided to call it a day for skating and walked the four kilometres to Glückstadt. (Surprisingly, there was no bus from the ferry to the centre.)

The town looks quite nice, founded by Danish king Kristian IV. I just passed through the centre on the way to my B&B. Ironically, the sun was shining again when I reached my accommodation. In a bit, I will go back to the town centre for a drink, before preparing for my last and final stage to Hamburg tomorrow. Looking forward very much to reach my destination.

Day 9: Bremerhaven-Cuxhaven/Otterndorf

I should have taken the bus out of Bremerhaven. I considered it yesterday because the satellite pictures looked like there were no good bike lanes out of the city centre and past the harbour. I knew that behind the harbour was the dyke and probably a good road to skate on. But the part towards the harbour turned out to be tricky. First, I had to turn around a couple of times because Google Maps sent me over roads that ended in gravel. Then, there were roads that led to the harbour which were not allowed for cyclists (and skaters) and the parallel pedestrian/cycle paths were unskateable. So I made a detour through the harbour which was not too bad – good roads and not too much traffic. The whole process took me about an hour though, so I was glad when I reached the dyke.

From there, it was a pleasant skate towards Cuxhaven. Only the last few kilometres were a hassle again due to gravel roads and/or no bicycle lanes.

I reached Cuxhaven already around twelve o’clock and was lucky to be able to check into my room already. Since I still felt fresh and the weather forecast predicted rain for the next day, I decided to skate one more hour in the afternoon as well.

So, I had a quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant, put my skates on again and skated twenty more kilometres towards Otterndorf. That way, I can start from Otterndorf tomorrow and have to cover only between thirty-five and forty kilometres instead on fifty-five. If it rains the whole morning, I can still manage to do this in the afternoon.

After taking the train back to Cuxhaven, I’m now on the bus back to my guesthouse. There I’ll take a shower and then go for a well-deserved dinner after skating more than seventy kilometres today.

Day 8: Wilhelmshaven-Nordenham

As I wrote yesterday, the ferry that I wanted to take over the Jade Bight, is not operated on Mondays, so I had to depart on a not so little detour around the bay today. First though, my hotel had an excellent breakfast in the café that belongs to the hotel. With this energy boost, I left Wilhelmshaven at half past nine.

The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms from four in the afternoon, so I thought that I had enough time to reach Nordenham from where the Weser ferry would take me to Bremerhaven.

After two hours though, I noticed for the first time some very dark clouds above me. Shortly after, a heavy rain shower started, luckily in the exact moment when I passed by a little tavern. So I took a prolonged lunch break there (cake for lunch is a concept which is underrated). I also had very good entertainment there because a group of cyclists tried to tease the slightly unfriendly owner, but she always had the quicker responses.

After about an hour, the road started drying enough so that I continued. I got very close to Nordenham when the next rain shower took me by surprise. And this one was worse than the first, so I realised that it was unlikely for the roads to dry again in time for me to reach the ferry before the actual thunderstorms were predicted. So I took a local bus to the ferry harbour instead.

I did not make it dry to my hotel either because before I got there, the thunderstorms started. So all in all, it was a very wet afternoon and evening in Bremerhaven. On the positive side, I had some delicious surf and turf for dinner, and it seems like the sky is clearing up again now.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to Cuxhaven – forty kilometres if I go the direct way or a bit longer if I follow the dyke route, which I probably will if the weather looks fine.

Day 7: Ostbense-Wilhelmshaven

Lucky me got company over the weekend. Therefore, Saturday was another rest day or let’s call it: alternative activities day. We took a ferry to Langeoog, rented bikes there and explored the island on two wheels. We were very lucky with the weather and enjoyed cycling in the dunes. Our highlight of the day was watching some seals. Back on mainland, we enjoyed a delicious fish dinner in a harbour restaurant Bensersiel.

After breakfast this morning (Sunday), we took a car ride to Jever and Neuharlingersiel and walked around a bit there, before heading back to our hotel so that I could continue my trip there.

It was a bit hard to get started after driving around half a day and due the strong wind we had – “steife Brise” (stiff breeze) from the South. The first six and a half kilometres, I had to go south, so they were really tough. After that, I went mostly eastwards, and coming from the side, the wind wasn’t that much of a problem anymore.

The route was not so nice today as I was often skating next to bigger roads with lots of weekend traffic. So, today it was just nice to reach my destination, Wilhelmshaven, after three hours. I went for dinner and walked around a bit, but collapsed quite early on my hotel bed.

Tomorrow, I wanted to take a ferry here to cross the Jade bay. However, the ferry is not operated on Mondays, so I have to skate around the bay instead, which adds some annoying thirty kilometres to the trip. Well, I have the whole day, so I’ll go for it.

Day 6: Norden-Ostbense

This morning, I didn’t have breakfast included in my overnight stay. So I walked to a nearby bakery and had breakfast there instead, including a piece of rhubarb cake because I figured, why not.

I had to choose between two routes that Google Maps suggested: one along the dyke and one a kilometre or so behind the dyke. The latter one didn’t seem to have a bicycle lane according to the satellite view on Google Maps, so I chose the dyke option although I was uncertain about the road conditions there.

The first two kilometres or so were literally on the dyke, on the seaside, with a heavy sideways slope. And to make it more fun, a flock of sheep had prepared a slalom course for me with the sheep being the obstacles. After fifteen minutes, I decided that life must be better on the other side of the dyke, and indeed there was a better road there.

For a while there was a paved road, but eventually it turned into the best tarmac you can imagine and I could skate on highway-like conditions for most of the rest of the day.

I took a short break in Nessmersiel and enjoyed a cold malt beer there (typical German non-alcoholic drink) and then continued towards Dornumersiel. In Bensersiel, I wanted to stop for another coffee or so, but the sky looked pretty grey and first raindrops were falling, so I decided to rather continue with the last kilometres towards my hotel. Unfortunately, my room is not ready yet, so I wait in the hotel bar and have time to write my blog. Next blog entry probably Sunday evening.

Day 5: Emden-Norden

When I first skated out of Emden this morning, I thought: That went smoothly, given that there was little traffic and good roads. But after two kilometres, the road was closed and I had to take a detour which involved a bike lane on a paved sidewalk for kilometres. When back on the original route, there were bike lanes, but most of them had pavements of non-skater-approved quality.

Due to the road conditions, I was pretty slow on my first ten kilometres. But the second half towards Greetsiel where I had planned my lunch break, had better roads, fortunately.

I started to eat lunch outside at a supermarket, but quickly moved inside because a heavy rain shower came down. Because I wanted to avoid skating on wet ground, I had another coffee and waited a bit longer. Luckily, the sun came back and dried the roads pretty quickly.

The second half of the day took me from Greetsiel to Norden on good roads and with a gentle breeze from behind. In Norden, my feet thanked me for visiting a pharmacy and stocking up on Hansaplast and Bepanthen.

Tomorrow, I plan to continue to Bensersiel and either Saturday or Sunday to Wilhelmshaven. The other weekend day will be a rest day.

Day 4: Lauwersoog-Delfzijl

Yesterday was my fourth day of skating and the last one in the Netherlands. Due to the weather forecast which predicted rain for today (rightly so), I had decided to combine the last two planned stages into one, skip the night in Uithuizen and go directly to Delfzijl, located at the Ems delta which marks the Dutch-German border.

The distance was roughly 60 km in total. I took 30 in the morning, had a lunch break at an Albert Heijn supermarket, another 15 before the next supermarket break, and the final 15 towards my destination.

The landscape was different as I was not skating close to the coast anymore. instead I was mostly between potato fields and small canals. The asphalt was mostly fine, except for the last kilometres in Delfzijl which had pavement which was difficult to skate on. It felt like I spent half an hour on the last two kilometres.

The hotel in Delfzijl was in urgent need of a renovation. The temperature and humidity in my room were way too high, and there was only a tiny window that hardly let in any fresh air. In addition, I spent quite some time in the bathroom yesterday – already during my supermarket breaks and later at my hotel. I have decided now to skip the tab water and buy bottled water instead. I figured that tab water which I carry around in thirty degrees for hours might not be the best option.

Today is a much needed rest day. There are rain showers anyway, so I hope that I can continue tomorrow. My original plan was to take the ferry from Delfzijl to Emden, but the ferry is currently being repaired. So there is a bus replacement instead. I’ll spend the night in Emden, Otto’s hometown, and tomorrow, I hope to skate to Norden.

Day 2: Hippolytushoef-Oude Bildtzijl (50 km)

After a quick breakfast topped off with some vla, I left at quarter to nine so that I had no stress to catch the bus over the Afsluitdijk which left at half past nine. The bus ride over the dyke which is currently closed for cyclists (and skaters), took about twenty minutes.

On the other side, I continued skating towards Harlingen which had a nice harbour. I was tempted to take a coffee stop there, but since it’s Sunday, a lot of places seemed closed and I felt like I hadn’t earned a proper break yet, so in continued. Skating out of town, I must have taken a wrong turn because I had to follow a road for two-hundred metres which was not allowed for cyclists, to get back to a bicycle lane. There wasn’t much traffic at all, but I got two angry honks nevertheless.

From there I followed a road a couple of kilometres away from the coast, until I took a left swing again close to Firdgum to get back to the dyke.

From here I followed the dyke for some kilometres, took a water and chocolate break among some sheep, and finally reached the Oudebildtdijk which led me all the way on immaculate asphalt with a gentle breeze from behind to my destination today, which is Oude Bildtzijl.

There is supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight. And according to the forecast, temperatures tomorrow should be around twenty degrees only as opposed to thirty the last two days.