June 9, 2011
Bremen - Bremervorde: We ride across the Devil's Bog
The day before it had poured, but for our departure from Bremen the sun was out and the air was pleasantly cool. Our route out of town followed the Weser, our last ride along the Weser. We now planned to head northeast to Wischhafen for the ferry to Glückstadt, the only Elbe crossing north of Hamburg.
After passing the train station we rode through the Bürgerpark or People's Park, a beautiful example of different landscape gardening styles, created in the mid-19th centuy. It would have been interesting to explore it a little more instead of just cycling along its edge, but we were looking forward to our next goal, Lübeck.
Once out of the city, we were in the region known as Teufelsmoor, or Devil's bog. The bike path was on what looked like a dam, but it was actually a raised path built for transporting the turf that was cut in the peat bog in earlier times.
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The rural, agricultural farmhouse style in this part of Germany was again fascinating and unique.
In the afternoon as we were approaching Sandbostel on a sideroad, we spotted some dilapidated barracks. Curious to know what they were, we rode closer. We had discovered Stalag X-B, one of the most notorious prisoner-of-war camps from World War II. There are plans to make this a memorial site, but for the time being the buildings are deteriorating and apparently forgotten.
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In Bremervörde the friendly tourist office helped us find a room. It was a comfortably furnished private room with kitchen (which we didn't use) about ten minutes from the center of town. The bathroom was notable: it was almost as big as the adjoining bedroom itself, only separated by an archway, no door. I wonder what the architect had in mind.
We went to eat in the restaurant recommended to us located at the edge of the Vörde Lake. We both ordered eel, a north German specialty.
Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,046 km (650 miles)
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