Our game for today sounded simple: Peddle 80 km down to Hamburg and meet up with David and Collette Watson. David and Collette are just finishing their tour, and have writen an excellent blog that we have been following. In fact, the total distance turned out to be a bit longer, but it really didn't trouble us, and we still had time to look around the town of Stade (halfway) and to stop for eis, as well as the requisite getting lost, going in circles looking for the route, and asking for directions.
The big thing about the day, though, was its contrasts. There was the time spent on our usual, cycling through fairly lonely farm country or residential neighbourhoods, and then there was the huge city of Hamburg. And there was time with our usual, talking to just each other or just thinking, and then there was the chance to compare notes and share thoughts with David and Collete.
And oh, one other thing. Mid morning the tablet, which contains much of our life on the road and which took weeks to semi-adequately set up to do this blog and many other functions, put on a convincing display of being dead. This triggered all sorts of thoughts about how or if we would repair or replace it. Having spent all those weeks finding the right software and procedures, the thought of starting again, whether with an iPad, Windows 8 netbook, or some other Android device was so daunting I really could not think about it. To her credit, Dodie just said buy whatever and get on with it. It's like when the Watsons had their bikes stolen - all you can do is buy whatever and get on with it. Watsons and Dodie are tougher than me, though. Fortunately, when plugged in to real power at the Watson's, the tablet came back to life! It had fully discharged, for some unknown reason. Hooray!
This is ouur play land for today: Hemmoor to Stade to Hamburg
Rain came early today, but we outsmarted it by getting on our raingear even earlier. The captiioned photos that follow take you through the above playland, so you will see what we saw. The main features the appearance of at least a few buildings with interesting design and brickwork, which was so common in Netherlands, and the fruit orchards. Unlike our own fruit region, the Okanagan, in British Columbia, the Altes Land does not appear to be a super hot desert region. Consequently we see no soft fruits. However the cherrries, especially, are ready now, and they are super.
Fruit based pastries are also big in this region, and aside from plum kochen, every bakery has strawberrry slices. These are unbelievably yummy, and you can even convince yourself that they are not sinful!
Why is Dodie staring up thhe tailpipe of her bike? Actually she is struggling to get on rain pants, fast!
Hamburg is a whole different thing from our usual cycling world. It's truly a big city. We of course have cycled through cities, like Wilhelmshaven or Cuxhaven, but these are relatively small and figured out and grasped reasonably well. Hamburg, however, "started" 20-30 km out, and from when we found the Rathous to where the Watsons lead us home, we have no idea where we were, and we have no idea what is in the rest of the city.
Of course, 20-30 km out for a city to "start" is nothinģ compared to Los Angeles, for example, which has a 200 km reach. I guess Hamburg just seems big in relation to our most recent experiences.
Still on Finkenwerder island, traffic is heavy. This is near an Airbus operations centre. However bikes and cars were separated and there was no danger.
The Watsons are getting ready to return to Brisbane on Monday after an incredible run through nine countries over about six months. They have done and been through so much. Through Crazyguy, we felt we already knew them, and of course our community of interest is so strong. We found we have instant "new" friends. Yes, you can make friends at summer camp or on a cruise, but touring cyclists (even though deliberately) have put themselves on the edge - trying to move, survive, get unlost, eat, etc. under difficult conditions, and this creates an instant comraderie. Anyway, all friends are so valuable to have, and we are so grateful for these "instant" ones.
David Watson points the way to the Watson's temporary apartment
