Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Category: Biking

Biking The Elbe Day 9 – Mödlich to Geesthacht

1-IMG_3788Another glorious autumnal day 🙂 The tyre stayed up after my latest attempt at fixing the puncture in the front tyre. I pedalled across to the main hotel for a full on breakfast. It’s going to be interesting to see how my weight has changed, once I get back home, from eating mega breakfasts, chocolate bars & huge evening dinners. With Fitbit & Moves saying I’m only burning  3,000 to 3,500 cals a day.

Having said that there were no open cafes for the first 40miles of today’s ride plus no Lidl to get chocolate bars. The ride on the right bank was delightful although the engineers couldn’t decide if you should be biking on top or bottom of the dykes so a bit tedious to climb up to discover no track on the top sometimes.

1-IMG_3798Because the East bank of The Elbe was in the old East Germany there are still some of the watch towers and fencing that separated the Germans Interesting how Hamburg was carved out to be in The West with the border abruptly leaving The Elbe at Lauenberg to head over to Lubeck. So in fact I’ve been biking the Iron Curtain trail as well plus learning some history.

1-IMG_3827Lauenburg is a totally fascinating place, once the border town, almost medieval alongside  The Elbe with narrow cobbled streets and glimpses of the river. After the town the bikeway climbs steeply and heads through the woods. I got defeated by the steepness and loose sand so ended up pushing the bike up the hill 🙁  The poor bike was in agony as I crashed along very rough woodland tracks – a track more suited for suspension mountain bikes than a Dawes Galaxy Grand tourer!

The weather became decidedly threatening with the sound of thunder so once out of the woods in Geesthacht I dived into the first hotel – The very modern Elbblick where I was able to watch the rain & thunderstorm in comfort 🙂

A great 65 miles of biking and 85% of The Elbe covered according to my spreadsheet, Here is the Strava and a few pics.

PS My friend Christopher has solved my sisters Groyne mystery: the effect of groynes on rivers: literature review

Groynes are structures constructed at an angle to the flow in order to deflect the flowing water away from critical zones. They are made of stone, gravel, rock, earth, or piles, beginning at the riverbank with a root and ending at the regulation line with a head. They serve to maintain a desirable channel for the purpose of flood control, improved navigation and erosion control. 

Cycling Day 8 on The Elbe – Tangermünde to Mödlich

Weather wise an amazing perfect biking day especially with the wind coming from the South when I’m travelling North!

applestrudelBreakfast was an OK buffet so I was soon on my way to make a quick stop at Lidl and stock up on Rita chocolate and energy drink plus the obligatory banana. The first section was on quite a busy road but I was soon going around fields with the hedges smelling divine with wild roses, I couldn’t resist stopping at the beautiful inn in Buttnershof where they dealt me the most amazing Apple Strudel 🙂  I was going so well on the left bank I totally missed going over on the right bank to see Havelberg 🙁

Jennifers penisularsThe ride was reminding me of The Danube riding along the top of the flood banks with good views all around and at a good pace. I finally managed to cross over the huge railway bridge into Wittenberge once home to the Veritas/Singer sewing machine factory all now defunct of cause. I was going to stay in Wittenburg but it was still early (because I had ‘missed’ Havelburg. Also the place didn’t appeal to me; run down and I hate signs outside cafes that say don’t leave bikes on their wall.

So with the good wind and write up in the book,  I decided to head for Lenzen. Lenzen turned into a disaster with the Wassermuhle Hotel derelict,  Hotel Burg Lenzen allegedly full even though no cars or bikes parked there, TheHotel  Scutzenhaus not condescending to open till 5pm apparently. 🙁  So I rang (Yes you can use the iPhone as a phone)  the Hotel Alte Fischerkate in Mödlich, they had a room in their annexe so thats where I am now.

Still no 3G networks & the hotel WiFi is appallingly slow. The front tyre has had a slow puncture  all day from the poor repair I did the other day but hopefully I’ve now repaired it again.

I managed 77.9 miles (although at least 5 of them was messing about in Lenzen today which you can see on Strava here a few pictures are here.

Lazy day in Tangermüde

1-IMG_0162The only biking today was pedalling around the corner to take it into the Gerike bike repair shop to get the front light re-fixed after my small accident, actually they put it on in a much better position,  and also to see if they could reset the rear derailleur as it has started to move two gears at a time etc. Tomorrow will tell if they have succeeded! Although I’ve now downloaded the bike repair app as recommended by DC Rainmaker 🙂

1-IMG_3732It was a glorious warm sunny day so it made sight seeing very pleasurable, combined with the vast numbers of bakeries, ice cream cafes & pubs which made it into a big weight gain day. No wonder there are so many tubby folks around.

I discovered all the little bits sticking out in the river that so fascinate my sister back home. My only theory is that they narrow the river thus making it flow faster and maybe deepening the navigable channel but really I have no idea. Here is a picture of what she means, any theories welcome in the comments!. [my good friend Christopher found the answer in this paper “The effect of groynes on rivers”

In the evening I went for a massage at the Schloss hotel, bit pricey and I find it interesting that their order of doing the massage is the reverse of Sally’s whose I still very much prefer.

Tomorrow I continue down the Elbe – only about 400km to do now…

Some pictures of the day are here.

 

Day 7 on The Elbe cycleway Pretzien to Tangermüde

A much better start to the day with fine weather an OK breakfast and missing out one of the Elbe’s horseshoe bends finding myself on the outskirts of Magdeburg in just over 1 hour, so pretty pleased that I stopped in Pretzien last night.

1-IMG_3652I approached Magdeburg over the beautiful island park at Rotehorn on a perfect autumnal day cool sunshine with leaves blowing everywhere – and chatting to Sally over Facetime. O2  can only provide 3G coverage in major cities. Obviously Germany is a poor country that can’t afford the luxury of 3G in the country….

1-IMG_3664Magdeburg centre marks the halfway point on the Elbe River trail necessitating  a change to Book 2 of the bikeline books, unfortunately it was deep in my packing 🙁 The centre is pleasant enough with an amazing gaudiesque building and lots of interesting sculptures dotted around including one for all the children murdered in the concentration camps.

1-IMG_0149Whilst pottering around the centre someone on a bike nearly crashed into me, I couldn’t unclip in time so down I fell, once again (after a similar experience on The Rhine in Dusseldorf) no one murmured a word or offered to help! Fortunately the iPhone stayed in its holder and the only damage done was my posh dynamo light bending its fixing 🙁 which needs fixing before I can ride at night. Wearing my heart rate monitor all day I got a bit of  a surprise in the evening…

I left Magdeburg through its now defunct harbour with buildings awaiting conversion to luxury flats & museums. Further along I came to the truly amazing modern aqueduct carrying the canal from Berlin to the Rhine an incredibly vast structure that makes UK canals seem like toys.

1-IMG_3706The afternoon was very pleasant through small very sleepy villages with occasional magnificent views of The Elbe meandering in the valley below. I eventually arrived in the stunning walled town of Tangermunde and called it a day at the Hotel am Rathaus in the centre.

I did nearly 64 miles at a very sedate pace of under 10mph for the day.

The Strava for the day is here and the photographs are here