July 30, 2023
Day 10: Bremen to Oldenburg - and a CB meet-up!
It's reassuring this morning to look out the window of the Central Hotel in Mannhaim to see the grand facade of the train station, just up the road. The hotel has lived up to its name.
We have an early start to catch the 7.36 am InterCity to Bremen, but we are up and out the door in good time, promising ourselves breakfast at the station. Our tickets tell us that the cycle carriage, for which we actually have reservations, is the first one - apparently, this is always so on German trains. I'm mentally preparing a tribute to Deutsche Bahn's efficiency when the train comes into view. We're at the far end of the platform, so when it stops we're face to face with a DB train manager sitting at a window in carriage 1 and gesticulating furiously at us. It appears that we are on the LAST carriage instead, so had better get a move on down there, is the gist of the translation.
All cycle tourers know what happens next: the timed platform obstacle course where the aim is to avoid knocking into disembarking and boarding passengers, who clump messily around each train door, to find the correct carriage and then to load bikes, panniers and selves before the flag falls. In reality we have enough time, but it's still a high-energy, mildly stressful workout.
Eventually, 30 minutes late, we’re at Bremen station, loaded up with lunch and water and ready to find the start of the route to Oldenburg. It’s 1pm now and we have 50-odd kilometres to our destination. We’ve decided to head due west to the Dutch border, rather than join EV12, the North Sea route, a more circuitous route.
Once again, German cycling infrastructure ticks our boxes. We leave the station on a cycle path and cross the Rhine for the very last time. Soon we are out of the city and continue on bike paths or shared paths for the whole ride. After 10 km, it’s time for a lunch stop. The best we can find is what appears to be a beach volleyball court.
As we pull in, the sky darkens and lunch is a hurried affair. Jackets on, we ride into a deluge. This is not pleasant riding. We struggle on, looking for some shelter to put warmer layers on. At a handy bus stop, there’s another cyclist seeking shelter. An older chap, he wants to know, in German, where we are going, and tells us we’re going the wrong way. Despite seeing the blue dot on my phone, he’s totally unimpressed by Google Maps, GPX files and all things new-fangled. He just knows that Oldenburg is over THERE, pointing to the way we’ve come.
He shakes his head in disbelief as we remount and wave a friendly goodbye.
After a welcome patch of sunshine, which is enough, along with the constant head wind, to dry us out, a clap of thunder alerts us to the next deluge. But we’re closing in on Oldenburg now and won’t be cowed by a bit of weather. Some time after 4.30, we pull up outside the B&B hotel in Oldenburg. As ever, it’s a great feeling to have reached our destination - but today there’s an added incentive.
Tricia and Ken Graham are in town. If you’re following their journal, A Nostalgic Journey through Europe, you’ll know they took a train from Amsterdam to Bremen at the end of their river cruise. And here we all are in the same hotel in Oldenburg.
As well as following them on CycleBlaze over recent years, I’ve known of a more personal connection with the Grahams through my good friend Jill’s family. It’s a small world in New Zealand, after all.
We have a great evening of catch-ups on each other’s journeys, moving from a cramped hotel room to a Japanese restaurant next door. Anyone who meets this couple must be in awe of what they have achieved on bikes, and of what they are still doing.
It’s a delightful evening.
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Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 520 km (323 miles)
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