Abbendorf to Oebisfelt; a day in Wolfsburg

A good breakfast, then off.  We re-joined the Iron Curtain Trail in a few kilometers, and continued Southwards. The weather was OK, not brilliant, and the surroundings very rural and agricultural.  Through several villages until we came to one called Brome, where we had excellent soup and visited the museum in a castle. This had an excellent display of crafts and trades, though we did not have enough time to see it properly.  In Brome we also found a cafeteria in a butcher's shop that did a really good and copious, thick soup - important to keep up the nutrition!

The continued route started off clearly on ordinary roads, then veered off into woodland and a very muddy section that had to be walked.  This did not last long, and became a reasonable track on very flat land.  It ended up on a not-too-busy main road to Oebisfelt, where we found Peter's guesthouse and they could have us for two nights.

The next day, a break from cycling.  We took a train to Wolfsburg where VW make cars.  There is a great interactive science museum called the Phaeno, near the railway station, with a whole series of interactive individual displays.  I recall in particular a terrific marble run, and a device where you put on a headband that picks up your brain wave patterns and in particular estimates your degree of relaxation.  But it does not tell you this; you sit opposite someone else who does the same, and a marker on a table between you moves in accordance with who is more relaxed.  The aim is to win, which might seem rather contradictory in the context.  Anyway, Katherine was always more relaxed than I am.  I think I always knew this, but was slightly miffed to have it confirmed!

There is much, much more in the Phaeno.  The Amsterdam-Berlin trains call at Wolfsburg, so next time you are doing that journey, take a break there.

We then went to the Art Gallery and saw a most extraordinary display by a Belgian artist, Hans op de Beek, called "out of the ordinary".  Quite extraordinary - not really ordinary at all -  and quite moving.  No attempt here at explanation.

Our final visit was to Autostadt.  Saw lots of cars in a series of very plush buildings.  But not an expose of our motor civilisation at all, with absolutely nothing about the growth of the industry or the domination of the car or about how it has changed life-styles in the modern era.  Or about the growth of motorway networks or the impact on urban design, or global warming and not a squeak about hybrid or electric cars.  Well, it is VW sponsored, so what do you expect?

Back in the train to Oebisfelt.

From Gartow to Abbendorf

These are just place names, but Gartow is close to the river Elbe, on the West side, and Abbendorf is, well, about 80km on. It was a day of good weather, sometimes sunny with the wind unusually behind us.

Our first task in Gartow was to get a bolt that had fallen out, replaced in Katherine's bike. Then coffee and cake, then off. We had deviated from the iron curtain route the previous day in going to Gartow; on the way back to it we crossed the former border, where an observation tower and the service road were still there; otherwise everything had gone. It a village a bit further, where we rejoined the ICT, a former border post.

We were close to where the border left to Elbe, heading South, and our route followed it a few km on the East side. We then diverted from the route at Arendsee (where the border turns West), going on the South side of the lake. The route guide mentioned an establishment called the Haselnusshof, run by some ecologically enthusiastic people and we planned to see it. It was supposed to be in a village further on, but no sign of it; where it was supposed to be, a fully commercial garden shop. Presumably they had succumbed to commercial pressure. We also wanted to go via the town of Salzwedel, which was after this village and off the main route so we took this other way at this stage.

We stopped for a picnic lunch off the road, finding a pile of logs next to a small wood, to sit on. A pleasant lunch and as we finished, a large truck turned up to take the logs away. They very kindly waited while we got our bikes clear of the logs before a grab lifted them (the logs) on to the truck. So it all worked out fine.

Salzwedel is an old place, a former Hanseatic town that made its fortune in years gone by from salt. It has lovely half-timbered houses in abundance and is just worth seeing.

We stopped for coffee and cake in a nice cafe in the centre, then continued. We were aiming at a campsite about 25km further on. In the last few km we missed a turning and after about 8km on the wrong road, a straight main road through a wonderful forest, arrived in Diesdorf, the wrong place. Found a B&B there; it was closed but the woman, who was very sympathetic, phoned another in the neighbouring village who had room. This turned out to be pub/restaurant as well and we had a large and excellent supper.

The day had been 80km, a lot for us early on in the holiday as we have not really got fit! There was a bit of anxiety when we found we had missed the campsite, so a beer and the meal were most welcome.

Hitzacker and along the Elbe

It was a windy day, and as is so often the case when one is cycling, the wind was strongly against us.

We started by buying a bike light - do we expect darkness? - and then crossing on a little ferry over the Elbe river.  It is wide, very wide, and in a fair flow at this time of year.  It was a cold day, but the ferry had a warm cabin.  On the other side, we continued along the Iron Curtain Trail, from the point we left of last year.  This took us along the former East German side of the river, past various houses - here is a place where they had a thought for the storks,

the next special thing of note was the following

The village of Rutenberg is close to the river and the river then was the border that no-one was allowed near.  So the village was surrounded by a fence with one gate, and everyone had to show a pass when going or coming.  This picture shows a reconstruction of a bit of the fence, plus the gate.  In fact, very near the end of the DDR, the village people got permission to hold a meeting about their situation and they voted to create their own republic.  The next day, the Berlin Wall came down (co-incidence) and their vote now had much less meaning.  However,  the "Dorfrepublik Rutenberg" was duly constituted!

We next crossed the river on the new bridge.  In the cold war, there were no intact bridges, so this one marks the new area from 1989.

Things like views from bridges do not always come out well

Anyway, we continued on the other (Southern) side.  |We saw the remains of what had been the longest railway bridge in Germany, and used to carry the main line from Berlin to Hamburg.  It was bombed in WW II and never repaired, during the DDR for obvious reasons.  This took us in the end to another ferry, to re-cross.  It was still cold, but this ferry had no passenger cabin.

We went to Lenzen, a small town a few km from the ferry, which had been recommended as having an old-world look, full of half-timbered houses.  It did.  We had not eaten so went to a cafe and had hot meals.

By this time it was getting latish.  Originally, we had planned to go to Schnackenburg, which is where the border leaves the Elbe.  But it was a fair bit further, and the town of Gartow was closer.  This was the other side; we re-crossed.  Birdsong had been wonderful all day, but the sound of blackbird as we left the ferry was especially good.  In Gartow, we were trying to find out how to attract attention at the hotel, when a woman walking her dog offered us accommodation for the night at a very good price.  We accepted and walked across the road to her place and had a very good night. 

Hitzacker; 1 may 2017

A day off in Hitzacker.  Actually, in out B&B about 6km from Hitzacker, and a lot of that day asleep.  After plenty of sleep, we went in, say the archeological centre, which had a lot of reconstructions of living a long ago, but also some of the local finds.  Then to the restaurant where we had fish soup last year to finish that stage on the Iron Curtain Trail, and fish soup was still on the menu, so we ritually consumed some to denote picking up where we left off.  Then a wander round this very small and charming town, which is started as a small settlement on an island on the edge of the Elbe river, and back for more sleep and tidy up.  Tomorrow is starting day

Here is a metal pig and a model labyrinth in the archeological centre

 

to Hitzacker

We left our campsite in Delft quite early, cycling to Rotterdam to catch the 10.05 train, connecting at Amersfoort on to another train to Hannover. The cycle ride was about 22km. A lovely day with quite strong wind against. So, with yesterday's ride, a suitable beginning to a cycling holiday. In Rotterdam, I managed to get both of us lost, but we recovered the way to the station. There, there are ticket gates like we have in London, but with the difference of no staff anywhere. Our German tickets would not activate them. How to get in? Well, one had to press button to notify an emergency call, and then the man who answered said he would open one of the gates remotely. So that is how to get into a Dutch railway station when you do not have a ticket that activates the gates, in case you wanted to know. Next was finding the platform. They do not have a big overall indicator of departures; you have to know what line you are traveling on to look it up. I had an idea of this.  Our platform was right on the other side. Up in the lift. There was the train, with the guard all ready to wave it off. Just got our bikes on, with us as well. Then settle down for a very comfortable journey.

At Amersfoort, got the bikes off. The next train had a proper bike compartment with numbered gibbets - sorry, hooks - for hanging bikes from. These are high up and I was not strong enough, so we left the bikes standing with luggage attached. Again, found our seats and had a very comfortable journey. At Hannover, we changed again on to a train to Luneburg. Here, the bike compartment was quite full, with several lean and muscular cyclists milling around, who were helpful in getting our laden bikes on. In all these changes, we found the trains had several steps from the platform; there are some things British trains do better, and not having so far up is one of them. Getting our bikes with all the bags for a month traveling on and off was hard work! Several times, generous and strong people, men and women, were very helpful.

From Luneburg, a very local train to Hitzacker. A modern train, with a low floor easy to get bikes on and off. Got there a bit after 18.30, having eaten a very varied snack-based diet along the way. . Our B&B had been selected by me using booking.com, and I had not fully appreciated how far it is from the station, nor how many hills there are in between. But we got there to a good welcome and a comfortable room and sleep came very easily.

re-appearance ??

One one more year. It is now 2017 (as you will know) and the plan is to get to Hungary, in two stages. The first, in Germany from Hitzacker to Hof near the Czech frontier, and the second on to Bratislava and a bit into Hungary. Return to London in between, so plenty of train travel! We are trying to cover more each year, and if possible to finish next year. This is partly because of feeling older - will we last out? - and partly because we are wondering if visa-free travel for UK people may come to an end soon. We have European passports now, and more to the point European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC's), but for how long? Mind you, when it comes to Brexit and our travels in the rest of the EU so far, we have experienced sympathy more than anything else. As we get older the the EHIC will almost certainly matter more as we can expect other travel insurance becoming harder to get and much more expensive.

Anyway, now it is the one month on the first sector. This is being written in Delft on the way to Hitzacker. We booked train tickets for the journey out months ago, at Munich railway station for the sector from Hook of Holland to Hitzacker. No problem then, but I then booked the return journey from Hof sometime later by phone from German railways in London and they could not book us as far as Hook of Holland, but only to Rotterdam. I did not smell a rat at this stage, but went on to enquire of Dutch railways who told me that the railway to Hook from Rotterdam had been closed, to re-do it as part of the Rotterdam tram system. When I remarked about booking the outward journey with DB (German railways) she said they probably were not informed of this until later. Somehow, it seemed a very casual, very Dutch reply. There is now only a bus, and that does not take bikes. We would not have time to cycle from the ferry at the Hook to Rotterdam to make the connection, so we rescheduled to a day earlier from London and for the ferry, and reckoned to spend a night in the Netherlands.

And that is why traveled through Delft.. We left home the previous night after the usual efforts at home to get various other jobs that would have waited a month, done. Some success, but not everything! We took a train to Harwich, had a night on the ferry and then cycled to Delft, a distance of about 22km, and put up our tent in a campsite there. We saw an excellent museum with an exhibition of re-assembled broken pottery excavated an Jingdezhen in China, where anything made for the Emperor he did not like was trashed, and they are now doing archeology to recover it. Then a bit about the connection of Chinese and Delft pottery. Then a two-church crawl and remembering some of the history around William the Silent, as we Poms call him. In between, I had a bit of a bike wreck, in the form of (a) the chain snapping, twice, (b) replacing it with a another and (c) since the new chain continually jumped (as one expects) getting the gear cassette changed at very efficient, somewhat expensive, establishment. Better to have this happen in a town in the Netherlands than in remote parts of central Germany. Better still to spot the trouble before starting the journey .... Oh well.

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The last three paragraphs were written in the Netherlands, in a campsite in Delft. We had been given a limited amount of internet capacity, but just as I finished it, and some of the more to come, the limit came to an end and it will have to wait until I next get internet access. Whenever this gets sent, it will probably be followed by another post.

In Delft, we got my (Tom's) bike repaired, after a chain failure, though only one of these, saw the place, saw interesting stuff in the prinshof museum.  I have little photographic evidence for this, though something about a shoe repairer who seemed to have given up