Changing Gears

Gommern, Germany 3,865 km

Well, we completed our journey on the North Sea Cycle Route quite a bit earlier than expected, as the cold and wet weather made us go more quickly through Scotland (dashed our dreams of wild camping by a "loch" for a few days, catching fish, and soaking up the sun) and cut out part of Norway. And, because the weather was so bad, we talked about completely switching gears and heading down to Italy (by train) for one more month of riding - we knew it would at least be warm there! But when we got to the train station, and realized how difficult it would be to lug the bikes, the trailer, our equipment, etc., etc. from train to train, we decided to bag that idea and ride back down along the Elbe river to the Czech Republic. Besides, the weather in Germany was already much better than in the countries farther to the north; it still rains a bit almost every day, but it's much warmer and there's much more sun.

So, we rode back the way we came and arrived at Matthias' parents house yesterday, where I immediately showered and put on "street clothes" (that now fit again, by the way!) Matthias is tinkering with the bikes, and I'm busy doing laundry, labeling photos and catching up on email. We leave tomorrow in the direction of Prague.

Speaking of photos, I've uploaded all the photos from the bike ride and included a link to the left.

Hamburger Birthday

Hamburg, Germany 3,447 km
We breezed through Denmark and arrived back in Germany on July 14, which gave us time to make it to Hamburg for Matthias' 38th Birthday. Hamburg is a great town in which to celebrate anything - lots of good food and bustling nightlife along the Reeperbahn (Germany's red-light district/street, and even more famous among Europeans than the one in Amsterdam.) We booked a nice hotel near (yet far enough away from) the Reeperbahn and rode into town and checked in before noon. We had lunch in a nice restaurant in the fish market area. I had to get used to the fact than "Hamburger" fish, or "Hamburger" salad had nothing to do with chopped meat on a bun, but meant that the food was a Hamburg specialty. Still, I kept thinking they served Hamburgers everywhere.

In the afternoon, we walked around the city and then hit the Reeperbahn area. We skipped a sit-down dinner and opted for evening snacks (most notably, Matjes (herring filets) on bread and Doner Kebap) and went from pub to pub. I am quite sure that Matthias enjoyed his birthday, as we didn't get back to the hotel until after 1AM, and as many of you know, it's often difficult to keep Matthias up past 9PM! The next day, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, and started off again on the Elbe river, where we planned to catch a train from the next town for points south....

LegoLand and Ugly Ducklings

Søndervig, DK 2,964 km

We have arrived in Denmark. I really wanted to avoid talking about the weather and prices in this entry, but that's all I can usually think of to write about. They are both pretty crappy here. I really should think of other things to write about such as the scenery, the people we meet, or the food or something, but instead of trying to come up with content for the blog while I'm riding, I'm always trying to think of 'cute' titles...today's runner-up was:

-Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark (the weather)

But I actually did see some ugly (swan) ducklings today and thought that Hans Cristian Andersen was right - swan ducklings are pretty ugly, but grow up to be so lovely! And I remembered that he is probably one of Denmark's most famous export, along with Legos. Thus today's title.

So, we took the ferry from Haugesund, Norway to Hanstholm, Denmark on Monday night and arrived on Tuesday morning (10 July). We immediately started off toward the south, with light rain and a very strong headwind. Still, we managed to ride about 80 km to a super-posh (and superexpensive, of course) campsite, where we had some good shelter from the rain. Tonight's campsite was more expensive, and not as nice, but there is free Internet, so I'm sure as hell going to get our money's worth, if I can just think of more to say...

We have met some interesting people in passing. As it turns out, if we had gone 'the other way' around the North Sea (Germany, Denmark, Norway, Scotland, etc.) instead of the clockwise direction we chose, we would have had better luck with the weather, or so said the people we met who went the other way. The people we met lately, though, have all been in the same boat with regard to the weather. A Swiss biker we met in Norway told us that one night in Denmark he woke up at 4AM with his tent flooded! He said he doesn't sleep very well anymore when it rains (and neither do I!) We also met a retired Dutch couple who were doing the whole North Sea Cycle Route (6000 kms!)

Okay, it looks like someone is waiting to use the Internet and I've been hogging it (ugly American!) So that's it for now...

Norwegian Cruise

Haugesund, Norway 2,774 km

Just had to laugh reading Sue's comment on the last post. We are high-tailing it out of Norway for various reasons. First, as Sue mentioned, it's REALLY expensive. Second, the weather is awful, and not that we're pansies or anything, but when it rains all day, we'd really like to be able to afford a place to stay - or at least a meal in a restaurant! Not that Denmark will be much cheaper, but I think we will just have about 10 days riding there and then back to Germany, where food (and lodging...and beer) is affordable.

The 180 (or so) kms we did in Norway were indeed gorgeous, but with the rain, we didn't get to stop much and enjoy the view. That really made me angry. But at least we got to see the beautiful Fjords, which pretty much resemble the Chilean fjords we saw last year.

Will try to do another update from Denmark. Keeping our fingers crossed for better weather there....