Day 29 – St Michaelisdonn to Schwanewede

69 miles (111 km) – Total so far: 1,736 miles (2,793 km)

A cloudy and dull day dawned with that wind still from the southwest, but as usual, in the mornings is less. It was 20 kilometres to the ferry, but a 20 km not without its problems. I arrived at the ferry port (or as I though the ferry port) and a German woman arrived shortly after also cycling. After 15 minutes or so someone else arrived who told us this was not the ferry we wanted, it is just a weekday short river crossing. We therefore had a 5 km ride to the terminal, into the wind with 15 minutes before the ferry left. We just made it.

The ferry crosses the mouth of the Elbe and takes 70 minutes, and is very popular with cyclists who are on one of the radwegs or more likely the North Sea Cycle Route. It arrives at Cuxhaven, a sizeable port, and from there options of roads weave south to the city of Bremerhaven. The North Sea route does also, but with the wind as it has been, that would take me significantly longer. The ferry docked just after 12 and I was in Bremerhaven mid-afternoon. The city is busy with tourists. I rode through the centre and got some pretty useless information from the Tourist Office. They on,y seems to know anything about the immediate area, and things that need to be paid for. I don’t think the woman who spoke to me had actually been to the places I was headed to later in the day.

I have left the North Sea for a few days, and a considerable amount of the wind not surprisingly. I therefore made much better progress than in the last week. It had started raining however, and after a couple of hours of it I was keen for a cheap room again. I asked in four successive little villages and all were full and kept directing me to the next one. I could see why they were full also, the restaurants looked good and they were in very attractive villages; Bramstedt, Hagen in Bremischen, Uthlede and Meyenburg. Eventually I am in Schwanewade. The pension isn’t anywhere near as smart, but correspondingly cheaper. Hence also, I am quite a bit further on than I had planned, so it can be a quiet day tomorrow.

Distance 69.2 miles Time left 9:20 am Time arrived 7:05 pm Time riding 5 hours 58 minutes Height gained 308 metres

This came at that time of the day when I was looking for somewhere to stay and couldn’t find anywhere.

IKEA is a great place to stay, hide in a Hurdal Wardrobe until after closing, and then sleep in a Malm double bed.

There’s a tremendous book by Grady Hendrix called Horrostor. It is about some people hiding and partying in an IKEA store, but this one is haunted, it was built on an old cemetery. Super stuff.