Sunday, May 7, 2017

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.

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