Distance: 113.4 km
Ride time: 6:53:53
Average: 16.4 km/h
Max speed: 30.2 km/h
Total: 57802 km
The morning was considerably more sunny than what I have experienced lately as I made my way towards Hamburg. Now, nothing comes for free, and I was paying for the sunshine in terms of a strong head wind, bringing the average speed of the day down to 16 km/h. I final blow from nature on this last stage of the adventure, but I have the feeling that nothing can stop me now…
Lunch number one consumed at the sunny parking spot of Lidl before continuing towards Hamburg to cross the Elbe river.
On the way towards the river I passed the Airbus headquarters, and lo and behold, there was an Airbus Beluga cargo airplane landing just as I passed by. Only five of those strange looking planes exist in the world – sometimes you are just lucky to be at the right spot at the right time.
From my childhood road trips to Germany I remember that when we drove through the Elbe Tunnel it meant that Denmark was getting closer. You can’t cycle through the tunnel, so I was taking a small river boat across instead.
The Elbe, another one of Europe’s main rivers, has its source a thousand kilometers away in the mountains of the Czech Republic.
Another and very interesting fact for me is that the Elbe used to be the border between Denmark and Germany before 1864 – granted, a few years ago, but even so I managed to spot small signs here and there. For example this mile stone from 1832 with the Danish King Frederik the 6th Monogram.
Another sign that I’m getting closer to home; branches of the Danish supermarket chain Netto started to show up. A feeling of excitement came over me as I noticed those homely connections to the places I was cycling through. There is no doubt that crossing the real border tomorrow will be a big deal.
After two nights in fancy hotel beds I thought that a night in my tent would be entirely OK. I easily found a spot next to a forest which proved perfect for camping in the fresh autumn night, the last in Germany for now.
Tomorrow at this time I will be back in Denmark – a though that I right now find absolutely unreal.
Even if bicycles were allowed through the tunnel, I’d still take the ferry anyhow. Nothing like a water crossing. 🙂
Home sweet home 🙂