To Nauen - one days ride from Berlin - Wandering around North Germany

August 27, 2018

To Nauen - one days ride from Berlin

A good breakfast and we were off. The weather is so much cooler and I started off with both a jersey and my coat. We stopped at a Backerie for sandwiches which was a good thing as we didn't come to another place for food the whole day. Ken loves going into supermarkets and as there were two on the way out of town our progress was slow.

More people arrive at the supermarket by bike than car

I wait and guard the bikes while Ken makes the important purchases of beer and chocolate

Out of town we were beside a fairly main road but the track was a joy to ride on. As usual the surface was perfect and it wound its way through the trees well separated from the road.

All day we were passing through small hamlets. It was hard to know what sustained them, the farmers must live in them, there were a number of elderly people but none of them had any services of any sort

A 3 cylinder Hanomag that has seen better days

he must go on holiday with his neat little Trabby and caravan

Some of the small hamlets had churches - there must have been a much greater population in them in former times

This is very much stork country in this billboard you can see where they go to in the winter. They have nearly all left now and the nests are empty waiting for next year

This is the reality. However all around are massive farms.

Today the signage has been anything but perfect. A sign must have been missing . On and on we went it was getting more and more remote and the track was pretty broken up and there was no sign of human habitation of any sort. Then we came to a dead end all there was was a deep sandy track going in two directions. I fired up Mr Goggle and he gave us a route to the next town. It was along the sandy track. This seemed a slightly better option than going back as we had no idea where we had gone wrong. It was impossible to ride in the deep sand so we pushed along, it was hard work so I was very pleased of the 'walk' function on my bike. We came to a massive paddock of cattle with two very impressive looking bulls that I didn't like the look of. They were separated from us by a single electric wire. After about 1.5km the sealed track in the forest looked so inviting and there was a great place for our lunch sandwiches and peaches

A very welcome lunch spot and the onward track

We were back on track and with no further dramas made our way to Nauen. Today was a big day for cutting maize for silage, For the last ten or so km we were on a road and massive tractors with huge trailers of cut maize were hurrying past us. Farming in this part of Germany is on a very big scale - they certainly are not family run

Arriving in Nauen it was a much bigger town, about the size of Balclutha and looks prosperous. Children were making their way home from school- today is the first day of the new school year. There were two supermarkets for Ken and we are well supplied not only with chocolate and beer but good looking salads and wine for dinner in our room.

These are very unusual hydrangeas that you cant get in NZ. I do like them

Ken waits outside the Hotel Garni Lavendelhof while I check in

Ken did see this small Zetour tractor - he used to have an old one and when we were in Brno we visited the factory

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 361 km (224 miles)

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