I ordered the breakfast last night, not knowing what to expect, but knowing it was all I was going to get until lunchtime.
If you saw the size of the breakfast, you’d wonder why I needed lunch (I didn’t really). There was muesli, yoghurt, juice 4 types of cheeses, egg, salad, fruit, and fresh bread rolls all arranged at my table. It took an effort, but I polished it off. Any touring cyclist sees food both as fuel and a challenge.
And off.
There was a bunch of older Germans staying in the Pension rooms at the campground and they all dressed the same on the bike – knee length bike knicks and bike shirts, printed to resemble Lederhosen. They weren’t pictures of health and fitness, but they laughed their way through their journey – at the bar / restaurant last night and at all points along the way.
They all waved and called out as I went past the first cafe on route. I stopped for coffee and cake while they had beers ! Minutes later, when I was talking with Minou, they filed past, each one waving and yelling as they did. The happiness was contagious.
Proper food was a little scarce today but coffee and cakes weren’t. I guess they were catering for the Sunday crowd. At 2pm after 40kms, I looked at the map to find a suitable campground. There was one a few kms away and another 42kms away which looked great. Decision made.
With 10kms to go to Schwedt, my destination, I stupidly followed the sign to Schwedt instead of the official bike path. What could possibly go wrong ?
A km or two firther up, and the path became a series of metre and two metre long interlocking concrete pavers, but time had moved them all. That meant that every metre or two, there was a big clunk, a jolt and then on to the next one. It was tedious and I’d gone too far to turn back – should have in retrospect.
Mercifully, it came to an end a few kilometres out of town. The bitumen felt like plush carpet as I cruised into town and to the nice campsite a féw hundred metres away. ThIs is a nice town.
In riding around town, I could notice how some of the former east German buildings (that I’ve seen elsewhere in the last few days) had been renovated.
One long block of units had received external lifts on one side and independent balconies on the other, along with a paint job. The result was a major change.
