River Days and Fairy Tales

Our first day out of Bremen was the only day of the next few that we didn't have organised accommodation, and with this knowledge we happily crossed the Weser river for the first time, and joined the Weser Radweg (Bikeway) - a path we would follow for the next week all the way south to the head of the Weser river. The first few days of riding had us weaving all across the surrounding country as the 'bikepath' was following the small car roads through the farming areas of Nieder-Sachsen, and it seemed the creator of this path was keen for the traveller to visit every tiny town along the way.

I started the day with wet socks after the bike shed became a shallow pond after the last 2 days of rain, but the weather had turned for the better now, and even though not warm, at least it wasn't wet.

We planned to get a new map from a servo as we were about to ride off the bottom of ours in the next few km's. I didn't manage to find any maps so we just went without, which will probably shock most German people to the core, with sat-nav's seemingly being the required minimum for any trip further than the local supermarket, for all types of transport. And as we were to learn, rightly so, as travelling without a map in Germany is fraught with wrong turns and miss directions if you only have the road signs to go by. But we also had the bikepath signs, and with the riding along this river among the most popular in Germany, we found ourselves with an abundance of signs. Depending on our mood it was possible to follow the river trail, church trail, devil trail, monk trail or windmill trail, with a few others thrown in just to keep it interesting. We stuck loosely to the Weser river trail.
We were rolling along nicely with our first tail wind of the year and quite probably our first tail wind ever. It was taking us past paddocks submerged under snowmelt and rainwater, whilst other paddocks were populated with swans feasting on bugs. We eventually picked up a new map, but it started further south of where we were, so another 1/2 hour of surprises before we knew our exact location in the world again, a mildly good feeling whilst on the other side of the world. But without getting lost along the way, I pay homage to the pre sat-nav skill of 'opening a bloody map'.
We had guessed that the town of Verden would be a good length day from Bremen, but we gave the town a miss, instead staying on the western side of the river. We cruised into the town of Hoya for a very late lunch, so late that it was decided to look for accommodation also. We found 1 place that was advertising a special for cyclists that came with cheap room, brekky, all the mod cons and a sauna to boot, but when we rang the number that this deal wasn't actually for us. Maybe because nobody has heard of 2 people stupid enough to be cycling at this time of year, and especially this year when we are only 3 weeks out of the severe winter in 20 years. Putting this dissapointment behind us we pedalled the entire 900mtrs to the next town of Bücken where we happened upon a beautiful little B&B right on the bikepath (the bikepath goes past every B&B), so that became home for the night. Looking at all the B&B's and houses advertising free rooms, I can only imagine how nuts it must be along the river during the summer. The first question we got at the restaurant this night was 'cyclists or hikers?'. We aren't planning on pre-booking any accommodation for now, but might find ourselves in trouble come mid May.

The next day started with a beautifully presented breakfast, and with not much to pack we were away at 10.00, and straight back onto the Weser Radweg. The same as yesterday we were passing through many small towns only a few km apart from each other. There were Schweringen, Sebbenhausen, Buchhorst, Mehlbergen and Marklohe all before Nienburg which came equipped with a nice bikeshop, where we stopped, as we do with most bikeshops we see along the way. This time I came away with a new second hand adjustable stem, to raise my handlebars a few cm's, as my seat has been a long way above my handlebars, which ins't great for extended tours.

After this long stop we chose some more direct routes to get to our destination a bit quicker, and also because the sunny day had given way to clouds, and the smell of rain was on the edge of my nostrils. So with the threat of rain and a house to locate, we were getting to work and putting the km's behind us when at one stage we stopped to ask directions and Naj noticed that her back tyer was needing some extra air, which she promptly added with her rarely used pump. A few minutes and 2 towns later I was exiting Heimsen and noticed that Nadia was not. I gave it a few minutes, then guessed that for the first time in over 4,000km's we had our first flat tyer situation. I returned and found Naj with her bike upside down and rear wheel off. She found a nasty foreign object imbedded in her tyre and decided on a complete tyre and tube swap. I was ready to lend a hand, but noticed the look of determination, so I sat to watch and chat. In no time at all we were on our way again, but still, the day was shortening, and we had told our hosts to expect us between 5 and 7. After a few pieces of advice from locals and a few wrong turns we managed to lean our bikes against the correct garage on the stroke of 7.00, which was also just about right on time for dinner.
This night we were staying with the parents of Anja from Bremen. We dined with her folks Manfred and Gurden, then retired to the basement where Manfred has a fully kitted and stocked bar, with tables for 2 dozen guests. Finally got to bed at middnight merrily pissed, and with stories of European Handball swimming through my head, that being the chosen sport of the family. There were a few old newspaper clippings on the wall of the bar, of Manfred and his 4 brothers in action for the local team. They were all big and hairy and I would've happily let them win without much of a fight.

Day 3 along the Weser started dry but overcast, then got even better when the clouds burnt off and the hangover followed suit. We were again away early with no camping gear to pack, and were soon standing beside the Mittle Land Kanal AND at the exact same time we were also standing above the Weser River. This amazing feat was achievable thanks to those engineering Germans who many years ago built a massive aquaduct for the massive canal right over the top of the masive Weser River, so that was interesting.
Riding onwards took us through Minden and also past our 1st mountain of the year. We left the river and went up a bit of a climb, easily our biggest since Norway last year. At the top of this climb we stopped for lunch at a picnic table set back from the road amongst some large, brown leafed trees. We sat in the sun and the birds were singing and it was great! I really like that most of the picnic tables out along these small, backcountry roads also come with bins. I don't know who has to empty them or how often, but it's great for us, where packing space is a sought after thing.
For a few km's after our mittagsessen we followed the windmill trail, and as the name suggests there were windmills to be seen. The afternoon session had us crossing onto the northern bank of the river and passing through many small towns, including both Kleinen and Grossen Wieden, and yes, 1 was much more Grossen than the other. From here the last stretch of the days ride into Hameln was ridden in near perfect riding conditions, with a beautifully smooth path under our wheels and a gentle breeze at our backs. We weaved our way between other cyclists and rollerbladers, arriving in town just before 5. Soon we were joined by our couch surfing hosts Marc and Susanna who were also on their bikes. They gave us a quick tour of Hameln, taking us past the towns oldest house, built in the year 1560. The tour ended in town centre just on time to listen to the bells and see the Pied Piper characters come out of the wall and follow their thrice daily path, moving slowly around whilst in the background was playing the Pied Piper tune.

We rested a day in Hameln, then got away early on the 25th, arriving in Bodenwerder for lunch. Bodenwerder became the 3rd town that we have passed through along the river that is the basis of a Grimm Brothers fairytale.
Another name for the river path we are following is the Fairy Tale Trail. The Brothers Grimm actually travelled this area and put together some of their works. Of course we had the Bremen Town Musicians in Bremen, The Pied Piper of Hameln, and now the town of Bodenwerder, the home of The Lying Baron Von Munchausen, who was a man not short of a good story, like riding a canon ball and taking half a horse to water. I vaguely remember most of the stories from when I was a little tacker, and it's fun to know that it was in these old towns along this wide old river that the ides emerged and have been told to many a generation since.

We collected the obligatory postcards and got back on the path, where everything was going nicely until the path disappeared under hochwasser, this 'high water' being the result of all the rain and the masses of snow melting up in the hills. We negotiated the flood and enjoyed a care free afternoon that took us past Corvey Schloss, an ancient and fairly sizeable abbey. The photographing of this abbey completely drained my camera battery, meaning the last 16km of the day were halt free on my behalf.
Our host for the night had told us to text her when we got to the bridge, which had us confused as there were many bridges across the river, but as we arrived in the town of Blankenau it became much clearer. The town is on the uphill side of the old traintracks that run along the riverside, and the only way into the town from the riverside is through the old train bridge tunnel. So Nadia sent through a text and 10 seconds later Sabina was looking over the railing above and saying hello.
We took our bikes through, and around and up to find her property edging onto the old tracks, giving her an amazing view over the river, which we enjoyed with her for the next few hours till after sunset.

The next day was our last following the Weser River and it again started early with not much packing required. There was the lightest drizzle as we set forth for the day, and we'd been promised rain later coming across from France. But for now the weather was nice and the temperature climbed to a seemingly hot 24degrees.
The day and the scenery were both sliding by nicely until, after what must have been 1 bump too many, the screw attaching the top of my right front rack snapped and the pannier rotated around to be hitting my foot.
5 minutes later it was occy strapped back in place well enough to get me into the next town of Bad Karlshafen. Here I found a bike/auto repair shop and within a few minutes the boys had managed to remove the remaining screw body out of my fork, leaving me free to put a new screw in. To top off the good work the fella then said there was no charge, so very chuffed with Germans and Germany and life in general I happily rolled along until reaching Hannover Munden. It is in this town that the river Werra joins the river Fulda, and with their powers combined... they become... the Weser river, which we had now reached the start of.
We lunched by the rivers in nice weather, and then the storm came.
It started with some dark clouds appearing from the west, and then came the wind change, with some huge gusts roaring across from the west also. We jumped aboard the bikes and began seeking shelter in a fairly hurried style. The shelter was found at a servo on the outskirts of town, and we were soon joined by a motorbiker with the same idea.
It was now that the day turned the lights off, with some of the blackest clouds ever created, and an instant temperature drop of a good 10 degrees.
It took another 5 minutes for the storm to break, but once broken it certainly knew what to do. We were stuck in the servo for 45minutes as it absolutely smashed down all around us. Our time was spent making sure the bikes hadn't been blown away, drinking choccy milk and chatting in our broken German to the other sewrvo dwellers, whilst outside the storm kept it interesting by swapping from heavy rain to hailstones and back again.
When we left it was still raining, but time was slipping by and we had a host waiting for us in the distant city of Kassel. Leaving the servo it was as though we were riding through snow with that much hail laying on the side of the tracks.
We arrived at Corri's wet and filthy, both us and our trusty bikes, but still we were welcomed with open arms. By the time we were showered and fed I unfortunately only had about half an hour of chat in me before I had to sleep. Another fun day done, another 89km further from, or closer to somewhere.

After a rest day in Kassel and a few beers at the Irish pub, we were back on the path, the path this time being the Fulda river radweg. The morning was nice so our hostess Corri jumped on her bike and rode with us all the way to the outskirts of town, which was great, as we would've got lost a few times. She left us just as the path got beautiful for the day, with the track climbing and decending a few times before the valley widened out. The riding was easy and after a bit of rain the day was nice. Naj was apparently bored so decided to liven things up by falling off her bike, blaming a stiff clete.
This day was our last day of touring for nearly 2 weeks, as the end of the day brought us to Britta's house. Britta is the kind lady keeping Brendan Hanley off the streets, and was therefore in need of a nice relaxing Easter holiday. During their holiday we were making ourselves useful by guarding the house and feeding the cats.
Brendan is an ex Waratah lad, so we had a good time catching up. There were hugs all around and a few beers were had. The bikes were unloaded, but not forgotten, with a tender loving clean the next day.
We had a nice holiday, with some walking, some reading and lots of relaxing.

On The Road... Again

And so it begins... again.

On the 17th of March, 2010, after 6 months and a handfull of days (and a smashing going away party) we rolled out of Circus Mignon and towards the first of a few ‘already on the move’ farewells. The Breckwoldt family’s fish shop was the first port of call, where we were given lots of hugs and promises of visits to Australia. As we headed outside to our bikes getting ready to leave again Achim and Kristin followed us out for a photo. One of the other staff came to take the photo and with us standing between them, they unfurled a banner saying goodbye to us from Hamburg, pure words of love. What a great send-off! We had a picnic lunch put into our pockets and then it was on the road again.
From the fish shop we rolled down the hill to the northern bank of the Elbe River, where we were able to follow some nice paths all the way into the city. It was a nice sunny Wednesday and there were lots of people along the river walking, running and lunching. The snow had fallen as recently as 2 weeks before, and the ‘permafrost’ ice covering the footpaths had only fully melted away a few days ago, so all the Hamburgers were out and enjoying the early springtime sun, as weak as it was. We stopped at one stage when Nadia was having some packing issues, and were instantly caught in conversation with a happy looking fella who had been confused by the stickers of the country flags we have plastered to our frames. After confirming we aren’t from Norway and that we are from Australia, but we haven’t ridden all the way from Australia, he then told us about his bestselling book from many a year ago about his journey by bike around Germany, showing Germans that they don’t actually have to go on an expensive holiday to have a good holiday, and that their own country is pretty bloody good. He was now married and stuck in a job and didn’t like it, so hopefully seeing us out and doing it brought some joy to his day.

We had planned our 1st day well, with the destination being the old apple farm, which meant a short day of only 47 km. To leave Hamburg behind for good we chose to exit through the Old Elbe Tunnel, which is open for cars, but also used by pedestrians and cyclists. After taking the elevator down to the tunnel level we strolled along underneath the Elbe River, took the next elevator up and came out onto the southern side of Hamburg. All we had to do now was to weave our way through the industrial part of this dock city before emerging into the fruit farm district of Altes Land (the old land).
We had been warned by some locals that it was easy to get lost on this part of the ride, and get lost we did, but only once, and it only added an extra 2km to our day. And taking the wrong road in this part of Germany isn’t as taxing as taking the wrong road in Norway, as here when you realise you have made a mistake, you don’t then have to push the bike back up a 3,000mtr mountain.
So with the docks behind us we started to see the acres upon acres of fruit tree farms, all looking half dead without their leaves, but the foliage free trees did make it easy to see several deer grazing and birds of prey checking for movements in the grass. Through this area we were travelling along the earthen wall of a dyke, and for the second time, we got ourselves into a friendly conversation. This time it was an old fella on his bike who had stopped to talk to his even older nextdoor neighbour who was also out on his bike. He happily chatted away for a while, and we learnt that he has never been to Australia, but he has been taught how to make and play a didgeridoo from bamboo, naturally. His older neighbour very proudly told us that he was 72 years old and rode his bike 40km every day.

Since leaving the circus in the morning with all our panniers loaded up to the max, people’s attitudes towards us were markedly brighter and friendlier. I noticed many drivers and walkers smiling as we rode past, we had people stopping to talk to us, we even scored a thumbs up from one old dude, and old dudes don’t just give away thumbs up willy-nilly. There were questions of where we were from and where we were going. During the winter we didn’t ride our bikes much (Nadia’s bike was actually frozen to the ground), but when we did we didn’t get much of a reaction out of anybody we passed. I put this down to the lack of panniers. Without the panniers we looked just like normal everyday cyclists, we might even have been locals for all anybody knew, and hence the lack of interest from passersby. But now that we were looking like full on, crazy tourists that were from somewhere else and were right at this very moment going somewhere else, and the fact that we believed that their city of Hamburg was a destination not to be missed, then we were interesting and must be nice people to be engaged in conversation at any opportunity, and failing this, then a friendly wave would suffice. Or maybe everyone was on a natural high because it was the end of a bloody long and cold winter.
Once through the town of Neuenfelde we were back on ‘home turf’ and cruised along familiar roads. We saw one of the hundreds of little apple tractors chugging towards us on the road, carting the usual 5 apple bins behind, and low and behold, it was Ralf, our old boss, doing his thing. He saw us and grinned and waved, then kept on his way. A few minutes later we arrived at the farm and found that Marion was also out, but she soon drove in with young 3 year old Jan riding shotgun and ready to tell us all about his day’s adventures. We moved back into our old room for the night, and then joined the family for dinner and drinks, after which we very much enjoyed looking at all Ralf’s photos from his January trip to Australia.

That was the end of the first day back on the road. It was great to be moving again after what felt like such a stagnant winter, even though we did some bike-free travelling. We had an awesome time in Hamburg and made many very good friends. The send off we received the night before we left and again on the day was memorable and touching. One incredible gesture from our good friend Anne was her gifting us with a small lizard pendant that had kept her company for many years of her life, and it was given to us with the wish that the lizard would bring us many years of luck too. How special is that! So with memories that will hopefully last a lifetime, and be built upon with future visits to Australia, we had left Hamburg, but this night was with the old boss, and the next day 1 final goodbye would be the last of our Hamburg farewells.

The next morning we wanted to get up and at'em early. We knew we had a massive day considering it was only day 2 on the bikes, and it was all starting just across the road. First it was a nice brekky with the Schlieckers, after which Jan had politely asked his Mum if we would ride our bikes with him. So we headed out onto the concrete out the front of the house and straddled our bikes while Jan starting cutting laps around the concrete. We joined in and after countless laps we rested while Jan chucked a few more blockies, before deciding it was now time for me to push him on the swing. We had a fun half hour before we finally had to pull the pin and make a move. Ralf loaded us up with apples and a photo stick of the morning’s fun and then it was goodbye to the farm.
1km down the road we were off the bikes again, this time for our final goodbye from Hamburg. This time it was Ana Breckwoldt, who works at the Jork Tourism Centre. She arrived just after we did and surprised us with a journalist. As she works in the tourism centre she does a lot with the local newspapers and a few days prior she had been contacted by a local reporter who was trying to chase down a story of the oncoming spring, Ana had mentioned our situation and the reporter decided that we were a great story to show that spring was finally arriving. So after an interview and a few photos she left happily and we were left to our goodbyes with Ana. They were short as she was actually at work, but they were sweet, and I’m positive that Ana (and the rest of her family) will visit us in Australia.

Once we left Jork we were into unexplored territories and would be for many thousand kilometres more. But this day was going to be a very long one, as we had accommodation waiting for us in Bremen, about 90km to the sou-southwest. There were suggested paths from other riders who had ridden between Hamburg and Bremen, but that they wound around on nice quiet roads, and were also about 30km longer, so we gave them a miss and just followed the most direct route. Even though following the more major roads we still had nice and wide sealed bikepaths all the way.

Now that we were moving towards central Germany we were entering a very populated area considering what we had found in Scandinavia, but still it was farmland with heaps of tiny towns’ inbetween. As soon as we saw the ‘thanks for visiting’ sign from the town we were leaving, we could also see a sign proclaiming that the next town was only 2km away (sometimes as close as 1km, sometimes a massive 3). So for the day we passed through 24 towns, and stopped at 2 of them. The day gave us beautiful weather with the lightest of headwinds, and lunch was had at Zeven, which was a bit over the halfway mark for the day. Once again we only took 1 wrong road for the day; at Lilienthal a bridge under repair had us pretty confused, and we ended up turning to the right instead of the left. This took us on a likely looking path that just didn’t do what it promised, and after 2 kilometres we decided to turn back as by this stage we should have been in the suburbs of Bremen. After this we negotiated the city like pro’s and got to the front door of our host right on 7pm. And that was the cycling done for now; after 2 days in the saddle we now had 2 rest days in Bremen.

Our nights in Bremen, and all the way for the next week of riding, were accommodated thanks to a nice little website called Couchsurfing. Jonny Cope got us onto this site, where after entering our details, we are now free to find other members in the area we are travelling through and send them a message to ask to sleep at their house, either on their couch or spare bedroom, and for free! Of course the idea is that when you are home you also offer the same free accommodation. It’s a great idea, and for anyone with a spare room or a sofabed, then I reckon it’s a pretty nice way to meet some (possibly) cool people from all over the world. We were loving the couchsurfing as we weren’t wanting to bust out the tent yet with the nights still dipping down to zero, and every German had told us we were crazy to be cycle touring at this time of year. Most Germans happily told us that we could expect some snow in April and here we were riding in March. But our first 2 days of riding for 2010 had been dry and geez it felt great to be on the move again and riding through country areas after such a long stint in big cities.

Our 2 rest days in Bremen weren’t as nice; it rained on both days and the temperature dropped a fair bit. We had a nice time wandering the streets of Bremen and found it to be a beautiful little town. The market area in the middle of town was cool, with the Rathaus (town hall), the Dom (cathedral) and crazy old buildings surrounding statues of Roland and the Bremen Town Musicians. Some of you might know of the Bremen Town Musicians from story times long ago (4 animals; donkey, dog, cat and rooster who wanted to be musicians and scared some bandits out of a house). We wandered the old town walls that have been turned into nice gardens and saw the Becks (proudly brewed in Bremen) Brewery across the river. Some pleasant days indeed.

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Our German Family

So with all the computer cock-ups, the photo card issues and having our brains on permafreeze for 4 months, somewhere along the way a blog entry was misplaced. It was of the thanking variety, the sort of thanks that come with the biggest hugs. 
It's concerning an unassuming family of the best kind, you know, a cool married couple who meet you on a beach in Denmark and invite you to come and visit them in Hamburg. And being Australian, thats exactly what we did. And then you find out they've got 2 beautiful and fun loving daughters ready to party hardy and offer their couch to 2 homeless cyclists.

So it was in their comfortable house in Blankenese, a river-side suburb of Hamburg, that we got to know the Breckwoldts. We stayed for a week in a spare bedroom and became friends with Achim and Kristin, who spend their days working hard in the 105 year long family owned and run fish deli. 
We got to their place after thankfully leaving the retired english teacher, who for some reason had decided that we would be staying for an undisclosed length of time. So with his dissapointed face fresh in our memories we arrived at the Brekwoldt's and moved in and showered and felt refreshed.
The 1st evening they took us for a crusie along the Reeperbahn, a street famous for its nightlife and 'men only street' containing many a window housing ladies of both varying age and looks. After a quick stroll up and down this street with Achim while the the ladies waited outside, it was off to a cafe, then to sushi for dinner. During the week we ate great food, met some family motorbiking friends to view photos of an American biking trip, and they were even nice enough to let us stay in the house over the weekend while they went to Holland to race their cart. A few weeks later Kristen unfortunately had an accident in the cart and smashed 1 of her legs up pretty good. So she was on crutches for a month or so, but still full of smiles and laughter.
It was the second afternoon that we met Marie Brekwoldt, the youngest of the 2 daughters, who joined us for a cafe session. It was also here that we found out about our up-coming job as apple pickers, so life was good.
We didn't meet Ana until a day trip to our next hometown of Jork. She works in the Jork tourist information centre, so we saw her a few times during the apple season and 'borrowed' her internet several times at her office.
We were taken out on the town a few times during our stay in Hamburg, and each time we would spend the night on 1 of their couches, and even in Ana's bed, with her on the couch, or at her boyfriends for the night. I think by the end of our stay I now know more of the nightlife in Hamburg than I do of any other city, except maybe for Alice Springs.


And the bonuses kept coming. At the end of the apple season we were once again looking for work and it was Ana that scored us the job at the Christmas Market, thanks to an uncle who knew a man with a dog...
And after the work had finished and we were filling our days with general activities and the ocasional trip, Marie invited us to come and stay a week with her in Berlin, where she had recently moved for work.
It was truely great to have met the Brekwoldt clan and their dog Buddy. Infact without the Christmas Market job we would probably be home already, or completely broke and unable to come home.


The best thing is though, that I know I'll get to repay the hospitality soon, with everyone promising to visit Australia in the next few years, and the promises were made with earnestness, and unlike many a European resident who say yes just to be nice, I actually believe this family will.
Anyway, thanks heaps for adding so much to our big trip.


And thats enough of the tear inducing dribble, and somehow once again, we are now a month or 2 behind in our blogging, so look out.

Weihnachtsmarkt and the Never-Ending Winter

Weihnachtsmarkt and the never-ending winter.
It was the middle of November when we got a lucky break thanks to Ana Breckwoldt. We had been looking for jobs and getting nowhere until Ana made a few calls for us and found a possible job working for a Circus during the central Christmas markets in Hamburg. We trekked into town to meet our prospective boss and were extremely delighted to find Mischa, a man who seemed to want to help us out as much as he could. There was space for us to stay at their property where they operate a circus school, so we nervously, but excitedly packed half our things on the bikes (sent the rest home with Ana one day after work) and made our way into Iserbrook, just one suburb away from the Breckwoldt parents.
We moved in on a Friday and Mark started work on Monday. His first assignment was to help erect the huts and tents for the markets that would run for 30 days between late November and Christmas. The weather was already quite cold and rainy by mid November and I was quite happy to not be working outside. Mark’s first week was in central Hamburg and the second week was in a town called Lubeck, about 1 hours’ drive from Hamburg. The markets officially began on 23rd November and were open every day until 23rd December. In Hamburg the market was set up directly in front of the town hall in the middle of the city and that’s where we spent 12 hours, at least, per day for the entire market. Mark was working in the kitchen of the Circus’ restaurant while I worked for a biscuit stall selling traditional German biscuits. The month consisted of sleeping, travelling to work, working and then travelling home again. We ate all our meals at the market and didn’t even enter the kitchen/living room at home between Nov 23 and Dec 23.
The market had a great atmosphere and was a fun workplace for us. We met some really great people and it came to an end more quickly than I had anticipated. After the final day of work the circus crew all went and ate a meal together before visiting a few bars later in the evening. At the end of the night we rode home in a taxi unaware that was the last time we would see many of those people during our stay in Hamburg.
The next day, 24th December, seemed to be when most of the Christmas celebrations are carried out in Germany. We got in on the action, opening our presents a day before normal and were even invited to dinner at the circus directors’ house. Martin cooked up a goose and we ate traditional German style food including red cabbage and knoedel (potatoes, eggs, and some sort of powder all mixed together and boiled in water). We contributed a packet of Tim Tams to the evening and they were devoured with many oooh’s and ahhh’s.
There was no rest on the 25th as we were invited to eat a meal with Ralf, Marion and Jan out at the apple farm in Jork. We travelled by train and had a beautiful afternoon at the Schliecker household eating more traditional German food of green cabbage, sausages and potatoes. Jan (3 years old) wanted to tell us stories, show us all of his new toys as well as watch his new movie all at the same time! We left in the evening feeling very full after a delicious meal and very tired after a whole month of work and festive celebrations.
Over the following days until New Years Eve we caught up on a lot of sleep. To bring in the new year we had been invited to attend a party at the Blankanese Sailing Club down by the river. The night was cold, with snow and ice all around. During the market there had been a few days of snow, and consistent temperatures just below zero, so it was a different new years eve to that which we’re used to, not only because of the cold temperatures, but because everyone is allowed to buy fireworks in Germany and at midnight there were explosions all along the river banks in both directions! To begin with I was pretty excited about the amount of fireworks I was going to be able to enjoy as the clock ticked over into 2010, but at times people lit them right next to me and I didn’t know how big the blast was going to be, or in what fashion it would explode; whether it would fizzle around on the ground, shoot out flare type sparks or just make a series of sparks and bangs. Overall it was great fun, even if nerve-racking at times. We partied until 5am and caught the first train home where we fell into bed and possibly didn’t really move until 3 days later.
When Monday 4th came around we headed to the city to check out a German language course. It proved expensive and time consuming, and considering our stay was dependent upon the weather we decided against it. We might not have learnt much German as a result, but it gave us the free time to travel and see a bit more of Germany, which otherwise we would not have seen.
Wally travelled to Munich to catch up with Jon Cope at the end of January. I had fallen on the ice and hurt my leg a few days prior to that trip and decided against the chance of worsening my injury while walking around Munich as a tourist. I think it was a nice chance for the guys to catch up without me, and a welcome bit of solo time for me as well. After Mark’s days in Munich he said they walked a lot and drank a lot (of beer). So I think I made the right decision, and at the end I still got to eat a pretzel as big as my head (a most awesome present from Wally), so everyone was a winner!
Only a week after Mark’s Munich getaway, we were off to a small town near Kassel, in central Germany, to visit Brendan Hanley and his girlfriend Britta. While searching the mobile I found Brendan’s number and thought I’d search for him in facebook. I found him, sent him a message and was amazed to find out he was also in Germany. So, with the use of Mitfahrgelegenheit (an online car-pooling website) we were off to Kassel for €15 each, a bargain compared to the train or bus. The last time I saw Brendan was for 5 minutes, almost 4 years ago, in Melbourne one day as he rode past me on his bike; prior to that I hadn’t seen him since high school. Mark had known Brendan when we were all part of the surf lifesaving club, but they hadn’t seen each other for maybe 6 or 7 years either. So it’s fair to say there was a lot of talking and excitement during our 3 day visit to Britta’s place in the small town of Braach, which lies in a beautiful valley with the river Fulda winding its way along the valley floor.
Not so long after our return from Braach, we were off to Berlin (again with Mitfahrgelegenheit) to visit Marie Breckwoldt, who had moved to the capital in December with her boyfriend Stefan. We spent one week in Berlin and had almost perfect weather the entire time. When we arrived there was still snow and ice, mostly ice, covering the footpaths and roadsides, but when we left it had all melted and everything looked very different! We spent our days walking around the city from Marie and Stefan’s centrally located apartment. We visited all the big sites including The Brandenburg Gate, The Reichtstag (parliament building), Checkpoint Charlie, the remains of the Berlin Wall, as well as numerous other places old, rebuilt and new. We had a look through the DDR museum to learn a little about what life was like in the former German Democratic Republic (or eastern Germany) and treated ourselves to The Blue Man Group. It was an hilarious evening with 3 very entertaining fellows creating weird and wonderful sounds and scenes, all without muttering a word. They were covered in blue paint and maintained a very unemotional expression on their face the entire performance. At times there were crowd members pulled from their seats to take part in the activities, but everyone in the crowd was involved in the show as well. And it didn’t matter what language you spoke because they never talked, and often when there was something to read (in German or English) it ended up being something that added to the experience, but wasn’t a vital part of it. The grand finale had everyone laughing and cheering, and I think everyone would have sat there all night watching these 3 crazy guys jump around the stage. Everyone that is, except the teenage girl sitting next to me, who took no part in any of the fun during the whole night. If she can’t enjoy an evening at The Blue Man Group, I don’t think she enjoys very much at all.
We said goodbye to Marie a day before we left Berlin, as we were off to stay in a crazy hotel for one night. It was called Propeller Island City Lodge. Every room in the place is designed uniquely and our room had white walls, white bed, white sheets, a white door that covered the window, but 3 different coloured lights so you could transform the entire room to be red, green, blue or a mixture of all 3! It was so much fun. Other rooms included one that was completely covered in mirrors, one where the bed was IN the floor, another where the bed was floating and some had themes such as ‘the barn’. Each room also had its own music system installed, our room was called ‘therapy’ and our music was composed accordingly with forest, beach and other soothing recordings.
The next morning we casually rolled out of bed and headed for our meeting point to catch our lift back to Hamburg. We arrived in Hamburg and delightedly walked back to the circus without stepping on one piece of ice of snow – the first time in over 2 months. Quite a different reality compared to the story of ‘here in Hamburg we only have about 2 days of snow each year, and it turns to slush about as quickly as it falls...’
With the drier conditions we were out to chip a 2-inch thick, 50 metre long strip of ice off the footpath bordering the circus property. It took 5 of us about 2.5 hours to clear the way with shovels. The next day we were feeling very tender in our muscles that worked to chip that ice, and for me, that was basically my whole upper body! The day after that... it snowed again. And not just snowed for 20 minutes, but for the whole night and we awoke to find snow piled up as high as the middle of my shin! It’s fair to say that we were not impressed. Even less impressed when the path we shovelled to our front door was flattened and recovered with snow thanks to the bob-cat attempting to clear a path for us.
That was about the 5th March. We’d started to get excited about our departure when the snow disappeared in Berlin. But after the 5th March I was pretty wary about getting my hopes too high again. The snow did, however, quickly disappear after that surprise dump and we were organising packages to send home and farewell drinks within ten days. It was a festive time to leave Hamburg, with school holidays the circus school was buzzing and there were many people to celebrate with us on our final evening. I painted a picture telling the story of our journey to the circus and then gave it to them as we said our goodbyes. I don’t know if the style was easy for them to understand, but I hope they come to appreciate it as time goes by.
The night of the 16th was our final night in the cosy home provided to us by Circus Mignon. We will always remember the generosity and hospitality of the crew we met there. The night was spent with delicious food, fun conversation and many brain teaser games to finish it off. I hope we see our German friends in Australia one day so we can show them a good time in our homeland as well. We went to bed both excited and sad; sad to be leaving the place we have been calling home for the last 7 months, but excited to get back on the bikes and continue the journey section of this adventure we are calling The Slow Way Home.

Some Apple Picking

Two Aussies, 38 Polish and 1 German (the boss)
Living at the apple farm we didn’t initially realise how outnumbered we were, not only on our farm but seemingly in the entire region. We were introduced on the first day of work as ‘international guests’. We were placed in a group with what seemed to be the lazier ones of the workforce, but never working with any of the other groups we never discovered the work ethics of anyone else.
In the beginning there were a few women in our group, but after a few days, or maybe a week, all the days fused as one very quickly, the ladies were all bunched to form a separate group that worked in the packing shed, or on their own area of the orchard with Sebastian (the guy with the best English) as their driver.
We started at the south end of the farm picking ElStar – a smooth skinned pinkish coloured apple to which we became very attached, picking them for what felt like nearly our entire apple picking career.
Each day brought new instructions on what IS red and what IS NOT.  Sometimes it became easier to differentiate the shades, and for a while I used the technique of watching what others were picking, but that quickly became troublesome because for some reason when we picked a vividly red apple, it in fact was NOT red, according to the Polish leader of our group who couldn’t really explain what colour red we actually needed to pick.
During the day our group of 10 was split into two smaller groups. Luckily for us, the people we found most offensive were in the other half of our group. One guy could actually make a whole sentence from 1 swear word, amazing. And even more astonishing was that the other members of our group looked up to him.
After a while we decided that there seemed to be little pattern in how / which apples were picked, so we just waited for the instructions and did what we were told. I didn’t realise it beforehand, but there is actually quite a lot of technique required to pick apples. There was a minimum size, you had to check for blemishes, make sure it was the correct shade of red and pick 2 or 3 in each hand, then place the good ones in the big crates; blemished ones in the smaller boxes. And all of that happened every few seconds for 10 working hours every day. There was an extra challenge for shorter workers, in that the crates for the apples were tall enough that, depending on the position of the tractor, we had to lean quite awkwardly in order to place our apples safely in the bottom of the crate.
We worked for around 40 days in Jork. The days started as long and sunny, but by mid October had turned quite cold and grey. Some mornings we were reaching through branches that still had ice on them. It was like picking ice blocks off the trees. Miraculously, the cold didn’t affect the Polish too much, not that we could understand what they were yelling at each other, but us Aussies were wondering whether our limbs were going to drop off! I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that they’ve grown up with snow and ice in their backyards every year.
We finished the season at the start of November and at times we wondered if we would make it to the end. We probably learnt more Polish than German, and I’m very happy that I completed my time there without developing asthma. After all, I think there were some workers I barely saw without a cigarette hanging from their mouth. Sometimes I was completely surrounded by smoke and had to evacuate to the end of the tractor in order to breathe some fresh air.
The night before our last working day, the boss provided some tasty food and drinks for the whole crew to sit and enjoy together. It was the first time I’d seen some of the people without hats or beanies and found it quite tricky to identify a few of them.
The last day of work was complete at midday and it culminated with everyone converging on the same group of trees to be picked of their last apples. With everything picked, the crew of 38 Polish and 2 Aussies rode on the tractor trailers back to the shed one last time. We bumped and bounced along the track together, as we had done every morning, lunch time and evening during the last one and a half months.
The following day many of the Polish had returned to their homeland and the busy atmosphere that had surrounded the farm the previous day all of a sudden become much more relaxed. We spent the next 2 weeks unwinding, searching for a new job and contemplating how we would move to a new place after somehow acquiring a few extra belongings since settling in a couple of months ago.

Also, you might notice that the last couple of blogs have been lacking in photos. This is due to a technical issue of a buggered camera card, and will hopefully be fixed when we get home. Sorry about that.

Deutschland

Day 1 in Germany and it didn't rain! Even with predicted thunder storms for the day, it was warm and mostly sunny. Maybe now that we are out of the Viking lands the weather will improve instantly and we will be able to enjoy some late summer sun.
About 2km north of camp was the town of Aventoft, where we both made an early morning dash to the toilet. After packing camp we then headed back through Aventoft which annoyed Nadia that she had ridden 4km for nothing. So the morning session was spent riding along very quietly. Picking up the North Sea Cycle Route again (the 4^th country) we skipped Niebull, making our first stop the town of Dagebull, back on the coast again, and following the same dyke from Denmark.
Riding along the dyke we had to constantly stop to open gates, as the whole dyke in this area doubled as sheep paddocks. Going through 1 of these gates I dropped my bike, which darkened the mood. To top it off I soon after realised that the lens of my camera was buggered, with something in the movement mechanism broken after the camera took a short fall the day before. There was amusement during the ride as we came across people enclosures - small paddocks for people within the sheep paddocks. These people paddocks were so that holiday makers could relax on a patch of sheep shit free grass. And popular they were, with many people in each paddock. It was also refreshing to see that Germany is a country that is not shy of the human body, with many of the paddock users opting to swim and sunbake without the hindrance of clothing.
Onwards, and the dyke brought us onto Nordstrand; a sizable peninsular with roads all over it, but only 1 road onto it. We were looking for fuel for the stove but found no servo. So then we were looking for a supermarket; we found 1 but it was closed. With the day going from strength to strength we took the easy option and hit a restaurant for dinner. Nadia opted for an authentic schnitzel, while I chose blindly and ended up with some cold pork with 2cm of cold fat attached, the whole lot having been marinated in vinegar and tasting pretty foul. Luckily there was lots of spuds aswell.
The night was spent beside the road, under the cover of an info shelter telling tourists about Nordstrand. For desert I drank from the $10 bottle of apple schnapps that we had bought earlier in the day and mulled on some contemplation whilst watching the setting sun light the clouds over Nordstrand.
Our second full day in Germany again gave us a rain free day. After waking for the sunrise I dozed until 7.00. We were on the road by 8.25 and arrived in Husem right on 9.00. In Husem we found nothing open, with the 'Sunday rest day' attitude extending from Scandinavia into Germany. So we kept on moving, with nothing to keep us in town. Right on 11.00 we came into the outskirts of Tonning and to our excitement we found the ALDI supermarket was just opening for its limited Sunday trading hours. We happily stocked up on lollies, muesli bars, fruit and flavoured milk, and the whole lot only cost €8 – an absolute bargain compared to Scandinavia. The 500ml of chocky milk was only €0.35, which is like getting a BIG M for $0.70!
It took us a while to find our way out of Tonning and somehow we ended up on a 'Hauptverbindungsstrasse' which translates into 'important main road'. On these important main roads there is lots of traffic moving at high velocity, and bugger all room for 2 confused cyclists. We had no option but to ride hard and get off at the next exit. Once down the exit ramp and onto a normal street again we found a fella waving us down. Apparently he had seen us riding on the road, so had made a u-turn, came back, found that we had already made it to the exit, so u-turned again and found us at the bottom of the exit. He had done all of this just to tell us that bicycles weren't allowed on the Hauptverbindungsstrasse, which we had figured out also. He told us that it was very dangerous and cyclists had been killed on that stretch of road in the past. After this he introduced himself and gave us his business card. He was local, so gave us some good directions, and disappointedly told us that he would like to make dinner for us, but his girlfriend's father was visiting. He told us to call him if we needed anything and sent us on our way.
Our new path was much more relaxed, and on this path we cruised into the town of Heide for some lunch on a shaded park bench. From a servo we bought a road map and struck out for the town of Albersdorf which was surrounded by forest on our map. In Albersdorf we made a phonecall to Winfred, one of the German fellas we met in Denmark, and the giver of the 3kg mapbook. I organised for us to stay with him the following night, and then we went to find ourselves a campsite for the night.
Technically it's illegal to 'wildcamp' in Germany, as we had done the previous 2 nights and were planning to do again this night. We found some walking tracks through the forest just out of town and set up the tent off to the side of the path. Shortly after that the heat died down and we found the path to be well used by locals and their dogs. Two ladies came by and stopped to say 'hallo'. They were happy to find out we were Australian, and even happier to find out we only planned to camp there for 1 night. Satisfied we weren't bums, they happily went on their way. Shortly after this another lady stopped when she spotted us to say hallo. She informed us that it was illegal to camp in the woods and that maybe someone would get angry. We told her we already knew this, but we were only here for 1 night and we would risk being told to move on if any angry German found us. She gave us directions to her house and said that if anybody told us to move on we could go and camp in her front yard, then gave us a friendly wave and went on her way.
Just before sunset we were just finishing cleaning our dinner dishes when a young lass came towards us from the direction of town. She came to us and said that her mother had talked to us earlier, and that she had been sent to bring us a bag of goodies, which included some juice, some chocky bikkies and some sparkling (bubbly) water which the Germans love.
So on our second day in Germany we had already met several very friendly people who did, or were prepared to go out of their way to help us complete strangers, and this impressed me a lot. The general view of Australians is that we are very friendly people that are happy to help, but I can't imagine too many Australians prepared to double back in their car to help a cyclist, or even many who would be very happy to find someone camping in their woods.
On the 24^th of August we were the furthest inland we had been, probably since Scotland. Even being this far inland we were still blessed with a headwind, which was rather disappointing. We came across some hills that were the biggest since the start of Sweden, but still nothing compared to Norway. The sunny day certainly made up for any wind and hills though, with t-shirts the optimal wear for the day.
All day we were heading in a roughly southeast direction, with rolling visits to Hademarschen, Schenefeld and Itzehoe. The day was so nice that on the way out of Itzehoe we even stopped for an icecream. We skirted the town of Elmshorn and then came into the outer suburbs of Hamburg, Germany's second biggest city. We found our way to Rellingen and to the house of Winfred and Monica. We stopped to buy a bottle of wine and still arrived half an hour earlier than we had organised, so the only person home was Monica's brother. He was struggling with small talk, and with most other things linked with his mental faculty, so it was a very quiet and strange half hour before our hosts arrived home.
The evening was spent freshening up and relaxing, with a tasty bbq dinner on the back deck. We met the daughter and her boyfriend, then chatted until bedtime. Our bed was the motorhome out in the drive, which was spot on. We were invited to stay for a week and promised a tour of Hamburg the following day, so we that night we slept in comfort, knowing that we wouldn't be needing the tent again for a while.

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The Denmark Wrap

I really liked Denmark. I thought the northwest of Denmark was beautiful, and very nice for outdoor activities. I liked the bakeries in Denmark, and I liked the prices in Denmark (after coming from Sweden and Norway). I liked the Danes; they were friendly and could speak real good English. I liked the amount of wind turbines in the country, and the efforts this country had made in the direction of green energy and recycling. I like the Danish royal family more than any other, even though most Danes think that the Prince will make a pretty lousy king. But if king’s aren’t allowed to risk their lives and show their valour in war anymore, then why isn’t running a marathon the next best way to show your strength and stamina? Did Charles ever smash out a London Marathon? And if Gordon Ramsay can run a marathon, and still work hard at his business, then what are the royals actually doing with all their time and tax payers money?
I would love to cycle Denmark in the other direction. North to south didn’t work too well, with the wind always coming from the south. Maybe we were just unlucky, maybe it’s just a seasonal thing, or maybe I should have done some research first (and for the first time ever).
Anyway, in spending 9 days in Denmark, we achieved our highest daily average of 78.6km per day. We covered 629km, with 1 rest day in the middle. Of the 9 days we camped 8 nights, only needing to hide in a hostel on the last night when the sky was ripped asunder, and on 5 of the days we received rain.
Out of my short time in Denmark, I can see Australia able to take on the camping hut idea, and more paths and tracks along our sadly diminishing water ways which would make our beautiful country a bit more accessible to the outdoor lovers amongst us.
Anyway, that was Denmark. Now onto Germany...