Day 1 Done!

The madness has begun. Day 1. Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into??? I feel like I need people in my life to talk me out of these crazy ideas! Joking, but maybe only half way. It’s a daunting feeling knowing I have 34 more days just like this one ahead of me. I’m almost finished with my day of cycling, but having not yet stopped for a long lunch break, I’m now parked at a somewhat fancy brewpub in Eckernforde, Germany looking over a small inlet that’s part of the Baltic Sea. I’m eating flammkucken – think German flatbread with ham, onions and chives – and drinking a house made lager beer.

It feels good to be in a warm, dry place, away from the wind. The conditions have been mixed today. Not great by any means, but not completely terrible either. I started off from Flensburg in the rain this morning, but thankfully it only lasted an hour or so, and since then I’ve been mostly dry. That’s not to say I’m warm, however, by any means. The wind is whipping and the sun has remained mostly behind the clouds all day. Taking breaks along the side of the road for a picnic hasn’t been that pleasant. It’s been better to keep moving, keep warm.

Backtracking a little bit, getting to Flensburg, Germany on Thursday afternoon was a complete shit show. My train was two hours late getting into Hamburg, and from there, several trains to Flensburg were canceled. The train station was a zoo. I had to scramble to figure out what to do and finally latched on to two other couples who also had bikes and were also going to Flensburg. They were super kind, we stuck together, and we finally made it there. Jette was nice enough to meet me in Flensburg rather than the Danish city in which we had planned on meeting earlier. It was great to see a friendly face upon my arrival.

On Friday, Jette and I took a road trip to the westernmost part of Denmark and the city of Blåvand. We strolled the sandy beaches of the North Sea then visited the Tirpitz Museum, which is built around an old, enormous German World War II bunker, one of hundreds along the Danish coast. Afterwards we grabbed a seafood lunch, climbed to the top of a lighthouse, then returned to Sønderborg in the evening. We grabbed a couple of beers at her local pub, before going back to her place where I geared up for my ride today and hit the sack.

My route today took me south from Flensburg, through a large nature park and to a body of water known as The Schlei. It’s a narrow inlet coming in from the Baltic Sea. I actually needed to board a small ferry to get me across. From there my next major landmark was the city of Eckernförde which sits on a larger inlet of the Baltic Sea. This was quite the hopping little beach town, with a promenade and little shacks dotting the sandy coastline. There was also some type of dance contest in town, so multiple groups of teenage girls were practicing their routines on the beach. Unfortunately, the cold weather didn’t make lingering, or eating, along the beach very inviting so instead I dined inside.

After my meal I continued onward for about another hour, traveling east from Eckernförde, along the Baltic Sea, and eventually to my cute “Peanuts Hostel” in the countryside near Krusendorf.

Because I’m staying in the country, and because it continued to rain up until an hour ago, I decided just to buy some spaghetti and tomato sauce from the hostel owner rather than bike two miles to the nearest restaurant. Oh, a super funny coincidence. One of the couples that helped me figure out my train at the Hamburg station is actually staying at this hostel. Heinz and Bernadette. I came out of my room and there they were sitting at the kitchen table. We all got a pretty big kick out of that. They shared their prosecco with me. I shared some of my spaghetti. We also ate with a fellow from Hannover named Marcus. Good people.

So, off to bed soon. Altogether my ride today was a little over 40 miles. Tomorrow I’m doing 60. I’ll get an earlier start than the one I got this morning. There won’t be any bus travel to contend with. Here’s to as much dryness as is humanly possible. I’m a wimp in the cold rain!