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.
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.
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