Touring 3

The Baltic Coast.  From Rostock (D) to Swinoujsciz (PL) and down to Szczecin (PL).

We had already completed a trip cycling across the North German district of, Schleswigholstein;  going from from Baltic Coast at Eckenförde on the East, to Husum on the North Sea Coast, via Schleswig (and back); as another one of our C-2-C rides, but the wind blows hard across the shallow dull sea, over a muddy beach, on the west coast.  We had another preferred image in our minds, one which attracted us to the north German, Baltic Coast; one that pictured golden sands, forests and clear water.  

We travelled by train to Rostock.

     A ferry took us back across the harbour.  I mended the puncture on the quayside next to that Icebreaker (seen moored on the opposite side).  When I had finished, the crew invited us onboard to wash our hands, and they gave each of us a mug coffee.

We spent a couple of days in Rostock.   Obvious efforts had been made to regenerate the town since Reunification, but only for much of it to have been vandalised by Graffiti; what a shame.   By chance, we happened to be there on Fathers Day, unfortunately this tradition has become an excuse for a huge, all day, booze-up, with much vandalism, many drunks, and broken glass everywhere.  It did to improve my image of Germany.

  We had decided to make a tour around the harbour without our baggage, so that we could enjoy riding our bikes in an unladen state for a change.  What we hadn’t bargained for was intimidating drunkards, and for the paths and pavements to be littered with broken glass. 

    Un wittingly I broke one of my standard rules and on this rare occasion I did not carry any puncture repair equipment, and that was a big mistake, because, due to all the broken glass, the inevitable puncture ensued.  No Kit! 

     Fortuitously we found ourselves right by a ferry terminal on the east side of the Harbour, one which could take us back across the harbour to close to where our hotel was.  Once across I was then able to cycle back to our hotel very quickly to fetch my repair kit, so things were not so serious as they might have been.  So it was with some trepidation that we set of next morning for Rimnitz-Damgarten.  We saw gangs of workmen were out early sweeping the cycleways, and generally tidying up after the previous days debacle.

   

     We were obliged to leave the coast and head eastward down to Rimnitz-Darmgarten, which was a inland from the coastal route that we had planned, this was due to us not being able to find a B & B with a vacancy exactly where we had wanted.  But, it was situated at the end of an inland sea, it was quite pleasant with it’s own little harbour.  Browsing around the town, we discovered that there was a ferry service that operated around the Bodden (inland water), and that the first trip was due to depart at 9am. Next morning.  It might be fun to take the ferry a little way, so we asked some locals if they knew if the ferry would take bicycles, and they suggested that we should ask the skipper in the morning.  Well it would not have mattered if hadn’t, we could cycle.

     Whilst on our stroll around the rest of town we saw several buses with bike trailers.  Providing, what appeared to be a normal, scheduled, passenger bus-service, and bikes.

     The next morning we arrived at the ferry nice and early.  When we asked one of the crew if they would take bicycles, he nodded in response.  He asked us where we wanted to go to, when we told him, he told us to wait on the quay.  After a while another couple arrived with bikes.  Then four more.  Then some more; the number of the number of cyclists had grown alarmingly.  The crew then started to load bikes on board, but not ours. Then more and more were hoisted on, but we were ignored.  Hang on a minute, we were there first!   We made agitated signs to the crew, but they indicated that we should wait.  The boat was becoming alarmingly overloaded with bikes.   Would there still be room for ours?

With the rear of the boat full to capacity (or more than) they turned their attention to the front (forepeak) of the boat.

 

Stern full, still loading, a number of bikes on the forepeak, and we still weren’t on board!

A trailer has to be loaded too.

      Bikes were packed in everywhere.  They even squeezed two bikes within the cockpit with the skipper.  Our bikes turned out to be the very last ones to go on, and only just! It was because, we were to be the first off.  We didn’t count just how many bicycles the Ferry carried that morning, but it must have been a lot.

       We left the ferry at Dierhagen, its first stop.  Continuing by bicycle along the coast to Barth, with the sea to our left and a Bodden (inland sea), or two, to our right.  At Stralsund, we used an old bridge to get cross to the island of Rügen.  We experienced a brief taste of the island before returning to the mainland using the ferry at Zudar.

   Cyclists were very much in evidence every day, they were often out in droves; with at times almost traffic jams.  

Mostly on beautiful cycleways, with picnic areas every now and again.  Just around the corner from this picture we came across a nice picnic area, shaded by trees.  A couple of families arrived, and no sooner had parked their bikes, than they stripped-off completely, down to the nuddy, and went into the Bodden for a swim.   Now that’s something one is unlikely to see in the UK, but it seemed so natural at the time. 

We cycled through marshland, then through forests.  The surfaces varied, they ranged from this perfect smooth roadway (one with a barrier to keep cars away cars at each end), to rough  fieldstone roads.   

Fieldstone roads can be tough going, especially with a heavily laden bike.  This is when full suspension can be appreciated.

In some areas in the old East Germany they have left the fieldstones as deliberate and effective traffic-calming, but they have provided a brick paved lane for cyclists.  

    We continued along coast through forests with trees that grew down to the sandy beaches.  We sampled the smoked eels, a local delicacy.  On one stretch we rode along an elevated spit, from where we could see the sea and the golden sands through the trees to our left, and Usedom-Boden on our right.  Until we arrived at the last, very nice, seaside resort, and last German town before reaching the border with Poland, called Ahlbeck.  

A group of female touring holidaying cyclists in Ahlbeck at the head of the pier;  note that they are middle-aged, and are wearing practical everyday clothing.

Parked bicycles line the main street and coastal road in Ahlbeck.

A new cycleway was under construction, which will soon link Germany with Poland directly.   We were impressed with the coastal town of Swinoujscie (Swinemünde), and its smart luxurious hotels along the front, and we were surprised at the hordes of people having an evening stroll along the sea front.  We booked in at a very nice self-catering apartment.

From Swinoujscie we had intended to head for Szczecin (Stettin) from where we had planned to catch a train to Minden, but were concerned that there were only small villages en-route, and accommodation might be hard to find.  Then we discovered that there was a high–speed hydrofoil service, which ran via a canal then across a vast expanse of water called a 'Haff', right into the centre of Szczecin.    We  stayed one night in a nice hotel/B & B, we had one room, and our bikes had another.