Overnight, I decided to head towards the Polish border rather than Berlin. There’s another river to follow along the border, plenty of cycle paths, and I can head into Poland at anytime.
I should have checked the wind prediction. It was howling all day, right on the nose for the last 50kms.
I said goodbyes and left the campground and backtracked to Strehla town square. I found the small backerei and had breakfast – a croissant and roll with lashings of butter and the greatest homemade strawberry jam I’ve ever had. (Maybe I was hungry).
Just south of Strehla was a small ferry that would take me across the river. I found it ok, but had to extract the ferry guy from his conversation or I would have been there all day. It was a very quaint little boat but not as quaint as the ones in Czechia.
I immediately felt the wind as the path zigzagged its way north beside the Elbe which had split into a few channels at this point.
There wasn’t much to see, eat or drink for the first 40 kms, the second half of which was into the wind. As well, there were kilometres of cobbles, bone jarring, teeth rattling cobbles which came out of nowhere. I expect to see them in villages but these appeared on country roads not near anything of note.
Eventually, I arrived in the nice town of Bad Liebenwerda. I stopped had a coffee and looked at my accommodation options. There weren’t any nice campspots nearby, and besides, there was rain expected. I’m clearly a fair weather camper. Thirty kms away was Finsterwalde which I hadn’t noticed on the map before – just like yesterday.
It had hotel options, so that’s where I headed. The ride was great, nearly all the way on separated bike paths or very quiet small roads through forests and farmland.
With about 15 kms to go, I had a good phone signal and thought I’d better book a place. Hotel zum Beter was the winner, and it was great. They have under cover spaces for bikes and is a very friendly, well run place. The rain arrived as I was unpacking the green machine.