Welcome to Denmark

Our second Monday of this trip and it's the day we move north from Germany across the Baltic to Denmark.

Fortunately, having spent ages with the hair dryer on our cycling shoes yesterday evening before stuffing them full of freebie newspapers from the hotel lobby, they were fairly dry to put back on this morning. The rest of our clothing also seemed to have dried out more or less, and after Mike spent at least half an hour using the hair dryer to separate and dry out the papier mâché pages of our route instruction book, each individual page can now be viewed, even if multiple lines of text are completely illegible on several of the pages. Most of the maps now have 3D mountainous effects and the lakes and seas appear extremely stormy with huge swells.

Bright and breezy would sum up today's weather as we got ready to set off from outside the hotel. Today has a sort of stop and start schedule; we begin by taking a series of cycleways through the old part of the Rostock city centre, then continue on bike paths through open countryside and into the more industrial landscape of the ferry port a mere 12km / 7m away. On our way we gradually become part of a convoy of bikes with a few familiar faces and many more strangers, as we all head in the direction of the port.

The ferry port is a vast complex, far larger than either of us had expected. After checking in to get our tickets we hung around for quite a while outside the offices with several other cyclists, squinting in the bright sunlight but getting windswept from the sea in these acres of concrete. Eventually, we pedalled off to take our positions in the loading lane for bicycles, and got windswept and squinted some more whilst we waited for our ferry on its incoming journey, and then for it to unload its seemingly never ending cargo of trucks, cars and bikes. We then waited some more at the ramp entrance as a similar number of vehicles was loaded on for our voyage before our mass of cyclists was allowed to ride on.

The two hour ferry ride was a smooth crossing, but otherwise as exciting as pretty much any car ferry trip anywhere else in the world; generally you wish it was over when it has only just begun. We spent most of the time talking with a couple of Aussies from Brisbane whom we have bumped into a few times over the last week, either whilst riding or when staying at the same hotels. They also have done quite a few previous cycling trips in Europe.

After the calm of the Baltic crossing, we pedalled off the ferry at Gedser into very strong wind, mostly headwind. Once again, we found it easy to understand why the Danish authorities had installed masses of wind turbines in the area; their huge blades whoooosh whooooshing as we rode nearby. Unfortunately, they were almost all facing the western coastline; exactly the direction we were headed, meaning we struggled into the wind for most of our post-ferry section of 26km / 19m. So not much total distance for the two sections combined, but tiring riding because of the wind.

We rode into the nearest 'large' town of Nykobing, headed for the first ATM / cashpoint to get some Kroner and ten minutes later were seated in a bakery scoffing some hard-earned fuel with warming coffees. After that we explored a bit of the old market area, including climbing a 1908 water tower which now has a coffee shop on the ground level, an art gallery and studios on a number of its seven floors, and an observation level at the top. As we got there and asked about climbing to the top, we were told they were closing. When we said we would only be able to visit today, they allowed us ten minutes for a quick up and down visit. It was worth the few Kroner and short time as it gave a 360 degree view of the orange roofs and church towers off the city.

After cruising a few more of the backstreets to look at old buildings, we retraced our route a short distance to get to the bridge across the sound to our hotel on the opposite side. Hotel might legally just about work as a description; our tiny room with two small single beds and our bathroom which would be small as a phone booth did not fill us with awe. The shower head and its controls were shared with the sink, and the floor of the shower doubled as the bathroom floor. Standing in a pool of water whilst drying my hair seemed like a definite risk of electrocution.

Due to location our only reasonable choice for dinner was the hotel dining room. Judging from the quality of the room and this quote from the Internet . . . "We are famous for serving absolutely nicely cooked food of high-quality, fine portions which are creatively decorated. The cook has many years of experience and he is able to handle most challenges in his own way. He is trained in a large international hotel. We are making an effort to get more skilled." we were unsure of what to expect in terms of dinner quality. I could use the term pleasantly surprised, but shocked might fit better. The food, presentation, and service were all of a high standard.

After dinner we went for a walk to watch the sunset over the Baltic Sea. Spectacular!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy