Bad Bramstedt, Germany to Hamburg, Germany (August 21, 2023)

August 21, 2023

We slept pretty well in our budget accommodations and the next morning had the lamest breakfast of the trip. It was offset by the fun conversation we had with the couple sitting at the next table, Ute and Stefan. They were expert fly fisherfolk and were visiting Bad Bramstedt for a holiday of fly fishing. In Germany, we learned, you can’t fish anywhere unless you are a member of a club that controls access to that stretch of the river, and there can often be a waiting list for memberships, not to mention you have to know someone to recommend your membership. This was clearly their passion and it was fun to learn about it. Dave has fly fished in a past life so he could talk rods, or whatever, with some credibility- Jill on the other hand, not so much. She stilled enjoyed the chat.

The German fly fishers we met at breakfast.

We got on the road about 10:30 am for our last day of bike riding and we’re feeling pretty sad about it. Plus, it was lovely, warm weather, which we hadn’t had on the entire trip, so we don’t really feel ready to be done. Not to mention back home in Oregon there are some bad wildfires, and our part of Oregon is having a bad smoke season. In any event the first half of our ride to Hamburg was along the main road although it was a cycleway the whole way. About 20 km outside of Hamburg we suddenly hit the suburbs and we encountered an intense, but fun ride to the center of town. We went from kind of a brain free no stress ride to one where we really had to concentrate.

Dave doing a fireman carry with our panniers.

We enjoyed a gorgeous day riding into Hamburg.

We arrived at our Ibis in one piece and fortunately our room was ready. Unfortunately, however, the previous guests had been smoking in our assigned room so we asked to switch rooms and the staff were quite nice about it. It is not one of the better Ibis hotels; it’s a bit worn. They suggested we could keep our bikes in our room, and for those of you who have stayed in an Ibis, you know the rooms are small, AND our bikes are big. After dickering around and considering other options (the stairwell, the hall etc) we finally decided we could manage sleeping with our bikes for one night. You can see the results in the photo.

We walked down to the Hamburg station nearby and scoped out the train logistics. We found our track (8) and the associated lift and felt like we should be able to manage the following day. We are taking the train from Hamburg to Munich, a six and a half hour ride. We think we have tickets, seat reservations, bike reservations, hotel reservations. Anything else?

Hamburg's main train station was pretty cool.

That evening we wandered about and had supper at a Portuguese tapas place which was good, not to mention we actually managed to have a dinner that wasn’t ridiculously expensive. For that reason alone, we were glad to be back in Germany. Afterwards, we had a drink in the lobby bar of the Hotel Atlantic, the 5 star hotel across the street. Dave loves talking whiskeys and the bar tender seemed to enjoy talking about them as well. I just drank my espresso martini while listening to the boys ramble on about the well stocked bar.

Dogs seem to be welcomed just about everywhere in Europe. They're always on leash and seemingly well behaved.

Tomorrow, we have our final leg back to Munich.

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 1,708 km (1,061 miles)

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Rachael AndersonI’m sorry you to return to Oregon when the wildfires are so bad and especially because you are finally getting good weather there! We’ve had lots of smoke issues in Portland and parts of Canada.
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