Hitzacker to Wittenberge

May 22 2023

This morning the seemingly abandon hostel was a live with activity and there were real live people preparing the breakfast.  And I might add it was quite good.  The rolls were still warm from the oven and the coffee was hot and black.  We were then on the road quite earl, around 8:25 am I believe which was good as we had the longest day so far at 76 kms.    

Out on the road we were riding on top of the river dike and it was very pretty.  The sun was well up and setting some very pretty scenes on the river side of the dike.  The  trail on the top of the dike was paved and was a great surface however all of the entrances to the dike path had barricades down but we rode around them.  It seemed like there was a lot of poo on the trail. Way more than from a flock of Canadian geese. The we came to a truck with some workmen on the dike and they shouted at us to get on the road.  So we took the next exit and went down to the road which paralleled the dike path.  As we came around the next corner we saw what was dropping all the poo.  It was a flock of sheep and the men in the truck were the farmers and they didn't want us riding through their sheep.  Some times it is hard to get a message through to people.  

At about the 20 kms mark we crossed the Elbe  on a large bridge.  It was very pretty with the sun shining on it.  It wasn't far to the next little town and as we had covered 25 of the 75 kms we went in for coffee.  It was a very pretty little town and was just full of cobble stones.  

After coffee and back on the dike path the wind had now come up and was straight into our face. It was blowing at 15-25 kms/hr according to Weather Channel.  In addition the path had given way to a packed dirt and pea gravel surface.  This meant that you had to pedal constantly.  No coasting! About 20 kms/hr was about all you could do on a sustained basis.  

By lunch time we had covered 44 kms and all of us were pretty hungry.  However it didn't look like any thing was going to be available as the towns along the way were tiny little villages.  However fortune was favouring us and there appeared a wonderful patio cafe.  It had the quiche and salad and it was a perfect lunch.   

Back on the path with 31kms to go. By now the sun had gotten quite was around 25 C and the wind had picked up quite significantly.  The dust from the path was just choking and covered everything.  I noticed that there was a paved service road which paralleled the dike and was quite a bit lower than the top of the dike.  The dike gave you some relief from the wind and was a lot easier to pedal on as it was paved.  There wasn't any view from there but it was a much easier ride. Not all of the riders rode on the service road but I did.  

By time we got to the hotel in Wittenberge I was quite tired and my back was sore.  The hotel owner spoke no English so out came the translator app.  He was very helpful and took our bikes around to his garage where he let us use a hose to wash the dust off.  As there are three men on this trip we are taking turns on who gets the single.  Tonight is my turn....Yahoo.

Terry