The hotel in Finsterwalde was great and I was lucky to chance upon the town when I was scanning the map for accommodation places. Great breakfast too. Last night’s pizza from the restaurant around the corner was also very nice. It looked like there were only a couple of places open too.
That’s really surprising about this area. The streets are close to empty and restaurants etc are nearly all closed. Even in larger towns and villages, I don’t see many people around.
There’s also less and less English spoken around here – since I left the Elbe. I assume that because it’s less tourists, that it’s not needed.
There were some beautiful paths out of town, then some nice dirt sections through pine forests. It got quite sandy at times. They have a network of bike paths that seem to go everywhere. Between villages, there can be multiple options. They number the intersections and the signs point to them. So, all you need to know are your intermediate points and you can easily and quickly find your way around. It didn’t help – I didn’t know which numbers I wanted to start with.
It was nice riding, but boring after a while. I’ve been through enough pine forests, thanks.
So, this is the first time I’m listening to a podcast while riding. Usually, I don’t feel like it at the end of the day, and I’ve been missing the content as well as the thoughts that get provoked by a good podcast. Today I listened to the Dyl and Friends episode with Nathan Buckley. Highly recommended to hear the journey he’s been on and continues to be on.
Thru quiet rural areas. some places looked grim and it made me wonder about how things were here 40 years ago.
I had my lunch in a bus shelter in a farming area and noticed a tower that wasn’t connected to anything. At the top was a stork’s nest with baby stork’s in them. I could only hear them.
Later I had a second lunch, 10 kms from Cottbus and identified a place to stay another 10 kms north of Cottbus. I should have booked it. It was the last one because someone else booked it before I got to town.
I arrived in Cottbus and immediately had to shelter from some heavy rain. That was great timing. Then I tried to book a hotel somewhere nearby.
My first choice was taken, so I looked closer by. I finally decided on a place, booked it, went there and waited an hour or more until the host responded. It’s an apartment and it’s pretty stunning, but the host was ridiculously lazy. One of the tenants of the apartment building, helped me contact the host on WhatsApp and that’s the only thing that got a response. The next day, he had the audacity to ask for a 10 rating on Booking.com. I don’t think so.
After all of that, I went to a supermarket to get some things for breakfast, and on the way, look for a restaurant for dinner. While at the supermarket, I decided to get some bits and pieces and have dinner in the apartment. I’m a little sick of restaurants at the moment.
So it was Sushi, Ramen and fruit for dinner followed by an early night. Perfect.
And it got better. I was able to cast YouTube videos to the TV and that meant I could watch some Ryan Van Duzer biking videos – always a great motivator.