Day 9

We woke to a beautiful misty morning at Mollhagen Landhotel, so it was with some reluctance we packed up ready for an early start as thunderstorms were forecast for later in the day and we wanted to be at our hotel by then. During breakfast the heavens opened and it was torrential rain, but as we set off the rain was fizzling out so by the time we arrived in Nortorf 4kms away it was time to take raincoats off. Had a quick look around, great church and lifesize statues on bench plus old standing water pump still in good condition.

The terrain was very variable and paths through the forest now harder to negotiate on my touring bike not enough rain to compact it but enough for me to be sliding around.Yesterday we had gone through forests of woodpecker reserves plus forests warning re deer but nothing like that today.As we came into Rendburg our path took us under the Nordost See Kanal. The lift was working and down we went so cold as we came out into the tunnel, then cycled under the canal incredible. Eventually we came to Rendburgs main square which was full as it was Market Day so hard to see where any cafes were. An older man approached us and asked if we were a member of “warm showers” where other cyclists house you for the night and did we want stay with him. We explained we were on our way to Schleswig so he joined us for coffee only problem was that the coffee was out of a machine at the bakery and they didnt do tea but we stood at a table to eat our sourplum tart with him. Tim had skipped the coffee to wait for me to have a tea, This man was a serious cyclist 6000kms in 3 months plus climbs over 600m not in our league at all. He did say he’d been in Norway in june and it had got to 31c unheard of.As we left the market place we found a cafe that did coffee and tea so quickly grabbed one before heading off to beat the thunder.

Along our route we passed a Peace Oak planted after the 1800 wars with France, with a memorial next to it to the 25 year reign of Wilhelm 1st who we gather stopped the german french wars.Thisbarea has had 100s of years of conflict. Schleswig still celebrates its Viking heritage it was still a dukedom of Denmark till 1844 after its second war over its territory.After world war 1 northern schleswig became part of Denmark and the south remained with Germany.We also came across a railway crossing where I had to press a button to talk to a railway guard to open the gates for us, I remember doing this on another of our trips fortunately otherwise we could have stood there for a very long time.

As we peddled on we could hear music ,very loud music. When i checked what was happening in Schleswig that every hotel and pension was booked out turned out there was a 3 day Future Music Festival aswell as a Nordic Festival.We peddled past the entrance to the music festival we couldnt check it out as we weren’t wearing black tshirts and black jeans/ shorts plus our lack of tattoos.I did think of puttjng my black merinos to use but it was too hot for that! We also cycled past a rune viking stone celebrating Eric a good viking warrior and sea captain.

It was tricky negotiating the way to get into Schleswig eventually we found a tunnel going under the motorway to get us onto a cycleway. We inadvertently cycled into Gottorf Schloss the light before the thunder was magnificent on the castle and its buildings. We found our hotel around the corner the historic Zoll hotel, (customs/toll house) It had been the residence of Bishops since 1300s who decided what tolls should be paid on bridges.It seemed a very relaxed hotel the key to the garage for our bikes was in an antique drawer in the hallway. The manager found a fan for our room as the humidity was building up still.Just as we set off to explore Schleswig and get dinner the thunder and rain started, the manager took one look at my teeny umbrella and produced a very large hotel umbrella for us.

We slept well after our 64km day , the stretches are being done more seriously now joints have settled down, phew.

DAY 10

We had managed to book an apartment in flensburg BUT the host could only meet us at 1pm. This meant we had to cycle 45kms often on forest tracks at 10kms an hour and not get lost plus breakfast at weekends in hotels is later aaaaggghh.So it was with some trepidation we set off id written down exact instructions to get us out of Schleswig and that seemed to work ok.Signeage again for the Ochsen way wasnt great so instructions helped. Tracks today were particularly bad one was just a walking track, impossible to cycle.Every day we have met signs “Radweg schaden ” ie damaged and its not just cycle paths its country lanes aswell, damaged means huge humps and potholes.A mountain bike with suspension could be a good idea for this route!

We had managed to make up time on country lanes despite the hills we are now encountering so we allowed ourself a stop at a bakery at Oeversee , comfy chairs and a good mug of tea and coffee for Tim charged us up for the last few kms into Flensburg..Flensburg had its market day today aswell so had to walk through many squares to finally get down to harbour. We arrived at the appartment block before 1pm and were aghast to see the front of the building covered in scaffolding. Workmen would be making noise and peering in !! Hauk arrived to let us in and show us where to stow our bikes.Inside the appartment was great and the workmen will only be here monday, phew.The appartment of course is on the 3rd floor which means 6 flights of stairs.We are in norderstrasse a bustling historic street full of coffee shops, and shoes strung across the street . Legend has it a shoeshop always used to string up his last pairs of shoes to sell across the street every night and the tradition has continued.

Looking to a few days of relaxation and exploring Flensburg, time to fit in a massage aswell me thinks! 675 kms peddled so far so ready for a break.