Bad Schmiedeberg - Wittenberg Lutherstadt - To France the Long Way

June 18, 2009

Bad Schmiedeberg - Wittenberg Lutherstadt

We wake up to blue skies but soon it has clouded over and by the time we're ready to leave it's raining. It doesn't rain long but we don't see the sun very often. For the last 18 km along the Elbe we have changed direction, we are now riding northwest and have strong headwinds.

Before we leave Bad Schmiedeberg we fill our bottles at the "Trinktempel", a fountain reputed to have curative waters. We have a pretty road with a bit too much traffic to the town of Pretsch where we cross the Elbe River by ferry.

Here I think we are entering Pretsch, where we cross the Elbe

After crossing the Elbe we have entered a new landscape

We can now ride on the Elbe Bike Path to Wittenberg-Lutherstadt. Not wanting to ride on a gravel surface, we leave the bike path. This was probably an unnecessary although pleasant detour since, as we see afterwards, the bike path is in excellent condition.

Some farms are on our route when we leave the Elbe Bike Path

When we reach Elster we return to the bike path and have a lovely bikepath through the wetlands along the river.

Now it is really flat. This is northern Germany. It's too windy for us to picnic outside so we settle for a little Greek restaurant which looks uncomfortably out of place in these surroundings.

In Wittenberg we manage to find the cheapest room so far - 30€ including breakfast. It will do, but you get what you pay for usually, and this room is no exception to the rule.

Approaching the main square of Wittenberg we find a cheap room for the night

As in the past days, the evening turns sunny and warm. We walk around the historic part of Wittenberg-Lutherstadt, again a town with a good mixture of new and old side by side. Wittenberg was culturally and politically one of the most important German towns in the 16th century. The main attraction here is the church on which Martin Luther nailed his demands for reform.

Door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) in Wittenberg to which Luther is said to have nailed his 95 Theses on the 31st of October 1517, sparking the Reformation.

Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 643 km (399 miles)

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