We both woke up with headaches and feeling hung over. It seemed like a betrayal of our beautiful room, with the cross ventilation, comfy bed, fluffy duvets, excellent shower, etc. But dehydration and too much sun can still give you a knock no matter what other amenities you may have.
Actually, the room and the hotel did weigh in and put us right. With a little extra sleep, good shower, and good breakfast, we were perfectly ready to go again.
The breakfast was the legendary bread, sausage, and cheese variety, with some scrambled egg included as well. The quantities at the buffet were a bit limited, but it seems there was only one other guest to provide for. This was a bit of a problem, since we planned to bring some spare items for the road. We were conservative and discreet about this, but the cook must have thought a herd of wild boar had hit her display. Putting cyclists at a buffet is risky business any time, and I guess this hotel on the Oschenweg knows that.
The hotel sits on the Noord-oestsee Canal, which runs from near Hamburg to Kiel. The hotel was built at the same time as the canal - 1877. There is a bike path the length of the canal, some 325 km, known as the NOK radweg. It would be a great one for a short trip, and there is even a group of restaurants offering e-bike charging along it.
Maybe we were hung over from this! It's great how they give you 8 oz of sauce on thhe side
Camping sites are scarce in these parts, so reaching one at the right time of day is controlling our itinerary. Today Schleswig's site would have been too close, and Flensburg would be a stretch. So we made for Flensburg. This did not stop us from going in to both Rendsburg, and Schleswig's old city for a look, though, Unlike Stade, for instance, there is little commercial development in the old core of these places, giving them an older atmosphere.
Schleswig's Dom and Altstadt got shortchanged in the uploaded photos below - stay tuned for an update.
It took us over 8o km to reach camping near Flensburg, because we manged to get lost a little more than usual. We also had hills putting in an appearance, something that naturally slowed us down. So we arrived late and beat, only one of the reasons this blog entry may appear disjointed.
We did take time in Schleswig to go into a branch of Media Markt - the outfit where we had bought the new camera. At the time I did not know that a tourist can get the tax refunded (almost 40 euros in this case). You need a form filled out by the store. But despite our having the receipt, this branch said the form could only be done at the branch where the purchase was made. Now, in our own country and language a service failure like that would probably not fly. As it is, it's likely bye bye 40 euros.
As we near Denmark, vikings and viking histoorial sites are popping up. Another sign of our impending country switch: Scandinavian people around. For example, a lady spoke to me here in the laundry room where I am typing this, plugged into the only outlet in the building. she turned out to be Swedish, not Danish. But still, she rates as my first Scandinavian person in or near their native region. All others have been Lillian Hallin, who I worked with, and managers at Ikea!
