A Hard Ride...: and caught in an intense thunder wind storm

August 3, 2014

It was great to be camping again. The campground was small and the sites were huge. We had a beautiful view of the surrounding farm fields from our site. The owners of the campground were very proud of their little campground. It had been only open for two years. We very impressed with the facilities. Our camp hosts provided the campers with the full use of a modern kitchen. We also enjoy staying in Pensions and Guesthouses, but there is something special about camping.

Our impression of today's route was that it would be a relatively simple ride. Our destination is Dessau. We know the area, have visited Wittenberg and Dessau earlier on the trip.....so what could be difficult about this?
We knew that the weather would be a factor. But, what we didn't appreciate was how challenging the terrain and riding would be. The 28 km to Wittenburg was on challenging paths that alternated from gravel to sand to rocky surfaces over hills, up and down. The rest of the route was on 2 narrow tracks with deep grass in the middle. It took us almost 3 hours to reach Wittenberg. We felt a bit beaten up after the ride.

We took a break in Wittenberg and wandered around a wine festival in the square and as the weather was beginning to look bad, we asked the local youth hostel to call ahead to Dessau and secure a room for us. We don't relish camping tonight in a thunder storm.

When we rode on the Elbe route from Wittenberg to Dessau a few weeks ago, we rode on the north side (main route) and didn't find it very interesting. The ride goes through abandoned industrial zones and follows the busy road. The good part was the historic Coswig ferry. This time we rode on the alternate route on the south side and it is so much better. The surface is paved and it follows a rural setting at times alongside the river - a much preferable option.

After we left Wittenberg, the sky started to become really ugly. It was early afternoon and the sky was black with an intense head and cross wind. Half way to Dessau, we were riding as hard as we could to beat the storm but the winds and lightning/thunder seemed to race toward us. As luck would have it, the heavy rain began in earnest when we were riding on the dike and had no chance of cover. So we rode until we found a tree and took what shelter we could. Trees are not the best option in a thunder storm, but we had little choice. Over an hour later the rain settled down a little bit and we headed out.

It was disappointing that the weather prevented us from stopping in Worlitz. This charming city has much to offer as well as its well known English gardens. We knew that we had to keep moving, so we rode on. A few detours later (the route near Dessau has had some problems since we were last here - perhaps the 2 weeks of heavy rain are the reason) we found ourselves on the outskirts of Dessau. We were grateful that we had been here a few weeks ago as we were able to find our way through the city and to the Youth Hostel. By this time, it was after seven and we were wet, muddy and very tired. We are glad to be back here as we really like this youth hostel. They gave us a room with a terrace and we quickly turned our room in to a modified laundry drying zone.

The weather forecast looks grim for tomorrow and the next day. We will evaluate our situation in the morning.