Berlin to Rostock (400km)
Six days of riding, no free wifi and no rain until 1 hour before Rostock!! Northern Germany is covered in gorgeous lakes, rivers, forests, wheat fields and small towns (the names of which are hard to remember because first they all ended in "itz", "burg" or "berg" and then in the north in "ow"). Poor Kirsten couldn't find a single person who spoke English for a whole week!
Espresso break on one of the gorgeous canals.
One of the many small lakes.
The castle of Oranienburg.
A dark chapter in German history: Concentration camp of Sachsenhausen. "Arbeit macht frei" (work sets you free) seems like a pretty sick joke by the Nazis.
A Russian tank that "liberated" eastern Germany from the Nazis - somebody knitted a stocking with a flower at the end.
This type of brick oven was invented here and produced most of the bricks used to build (and rebuild) Berlin.
The trail is very easy to ride and mostly on sealed bike tracks with lots of diversity:
along a canal.....
... around a lake...
... through flowers....
.... swamps...
...over boardwalks.....
... and through wheat fields....
... and forests.
Every restaurant serves mostly pork, which is odd, because pigs are just about the only farm animals we never saw. Curious turkeys below.
One of Kirsten's new favourite: Marzipan Cake.
She must have eaten too many of them!!
Neustrelitz - a holiday town on a lake. The grandmother of Queen Victoria was born here and Sir Joseph Banks named the Strelitzia in her honour.
The area is so popular with cyclists that we even found a special cyclist hotel, the "Radlon" in Waren. The shower included several massage settings!!
A stork (without baby) along the ride.
The soccer fever even influences the food: half-time eggs.
Lovely boat houses along the lakes and rivers everywhere.
A very lop-sided church steeple.
Germany uses a lot of wind- and solar-power.
A typical lunch: bratwurst, sauerkraut and potatoes. This one cost 4.5 euros!
Castle of Guestrow.
Waiting for the rain to stop. It is interesting that the weather forecast in German newspapers has six different logos for rain!
Rostock to Gedser
Rostock is one of Germany's ports where ferries and cargo ships leave to Finland, Sweden, Denmark, England and even the USA! We had to catch a ferry to Gedser, which is a tiny town on the Danish island of Falster, where the bike ride continues.
Rostock has many beautiful old buildings!
We took a day off from the bicycles (to give our bottoms and knees a break) and took a train to the sea-side resort of Warnemuende.
Our last breakfast in Germany: a typical German hotel breakfast. The bowl at the front on the left is Matjes salad, which is made with raw herrings.
Our little bicycles on the huge ferry. It was interesting to ride them onto the ferry amongst trucks, coaches, cars with trailers - we felt very small.
Gedser to Copenhagen
Our first impressions of Denmark are: lots of small islands, flat, very green, very windy and much more expensive than Germany. Kirsten is just happy to get her apple cider again!
One of the many beaches - unfortunately too cold and windy for a swim!
Gorgeous houses and mostly very well maintained.
Lots of different cereal crops - Germany had mostly wheat.
Another ferry; this time a much smaller one (from Falster to Bogo) and then over a bridge to the island of Mon.
An interesting sport: tractor racing. We happened to ride past the event by accident, but most of the island's tractors seemed to participate. We had them overtaking us for the rest of the day on their way home.
The chalk cliffs "Mon's Klint". Impressive and continuously eroding - apparently taking tourists on a slide once in a while.
Lots of steps to go down... and back up.
A rare glimpse of sun, which makes the white cliffs very bright.
One of the many fishing harbours on the island where they sell many different kinds of smoked or brined fish.
Dairy product heaven!! There are so many different kinds and flavours of milk that we had to try something different for every lunch.
B&B with ocean view! Sunrise is at 4.30am and the birds start chirping at 3.30am!
The town of Praesto...
..and Koege.
And finally Copenhagen: Nyhavn and ..
.. the opera house.
The famous little mermaid. It really is very little!
I prefer the bigger version.
The Vor Frelsers Church where the staircase is on the outside of the steeple!
Some interesting architecture on the outskirts of town.
A very nice office (when it's not raining)!
Everybody is riding a bicycle here and there are special traffic rules for them.
Cyclists have right of way and get their own lanes and traffic lights.
It's like being swept along in an ocean current. Hand signs to other riders are crucial!
Every spot available is filled with parked bicycles....
... and when they run out of room, they just double park.
What a great way to explore town, especially when the hotel is 5km from the centre.
Unfortunately we had to walk all the way back once we picked up the bicycle boxes from the shop (to pack them up for flying).
