Last night, the storms rolled in and brought rain and wind for hours. By morning, there were a few breaks in the weather, so I left the tent and made some breakfast. I packed up in drizzle, but my tent is big enough that I can organise everything undercover, then just put the bags on the bike. Nearly all the bags are waterproof. When I had finished, the drizzle stopped and I set off.
I made it 10 metres before I noticed the rear wheel puncture. It’s partly my fault. I was experimenting yesterday and removed the tyre liner to see if that improved the ride. It was marginal, but I must have done something to the tube in the process. Oh well, I had a bench seat to sit on and was undercover, so I took my time and put it all back together.
Out of the camping ground, I turned right and the reality of the weather hit me bang in the face. And that’s why there are very few photos today 😀
The wind was ferocious. It was a crosswind to start with, but strong enough to stop me in my tracks. For the rest of the day, it was pretty much on the nose and only behind me when I made a wrong turn. (For that 50m of backtracking, I had a tailwind, didn’t pedal and the bike accelerated by itself. I had to brake to make the right turn).
The route took me for about 10kms on a secondary road with a narrow bike lane and it wasn’t easy to stay in the lane. Relief came, when I joined up with one of the Eurovelo paths. It was gravel, traffic free and generally protected on both sides by trees. A lot of the trees were fruit trees and their fruit lay strewn across the path as a result of the wind.
At one point, rain clouds approached, so I sheltered beside the thickest clump of trees I could find. I didn’t need any overhead shelter – the rain was horizontal.
The problem was, I enjoyed the path too much and I missed the turn off to the ferry, so I stuffed around for quite some time finding the right place to get tickets.
It hardly mattered though, as the ferries were all delayed due to the weather and with a bunch of cyclists I waited for an hour or so to board the next one.
Once underway, I could see why they were delayed. It was really rough. The 45 minute crossing from Rodvig to Puttgarden left me with a dilemma – where to stay.
There was a gale warning and the wind was apparently gusting at 60-70km/hr. Booking.com didn’t help. The closest accommodation was 250 euro. I went to the nearby campground hoping to find a sheltered spot.
I tried one spot near a container but the wind was swirling and I realised I couldn’t camp there. So, I walked around the large campsite and found a spot behind some trees and also slightly sheltered by the amenities block. That was the best I could do.
Luckily, there was an on-site restaurant because I didn’t have enough food for dinner. A very disturbed night’s sleep followed as the tent shook in the wind. This tent is noted for its ability to withstand storms but in the.middle of the night, I had my doubts.
In the morning, the winds had calmed to 45km/hr and it felt almost serene. The tent was fine, but I could use some more sleep.