Since I was asked, I decided to write another one of my travel journals. This time, it is about “Stralsund”, where I ride my bike along the Baltic Sea coast from Lübeck to Stralsund in three days.
The night before Wednesday in the double-decker sleeper from Munich East to Hamburg Central Station was really magnificent. We had a truly beautiful compartment just for the two of us, two beds, a table with two armchairs, two windows and two skylights.
Even the radio connection on my Android Smart Phone was sufficient for following the penalty drama in Madrid (as well as the game itself).
Before reaching Hamburg, we had plenty of time for breakfast, and the time for changing trains also seemed sufficient. Our train was supposed to arrive on platform 8 at 7:54 and the RE to Lübeck was scheduled for 8:06 at platform 7, which is just opposite. And night trains are basically always on time. After all, they pause often enough and thus have time to catch up if they are late somewhere.
Well, basically … But our ICN 1286 was late and on top of this arrived on the wrong platform: 23. Consequently, the train to Lübeck had already left and the change of trains was quite hard, as well. It meant we had to take the next train to Lübeck. Well, you could say it was quite normal, just like what we are used to from DB AG.
However, there was something not normal, and that was the weather! The forecast for Lübeck for this Thursday had said it was going to be as lousy as the Munich weather was fantastic. They had predicted a dream of a summer for Munich on April, 26th, whereas Lübeck was expected to have a thick black cloud with three raindrops in the weather map (one litre of rain per square metre).
We were absolutely lucky with the weather. Through all the 110 kilometres from Lübeck to the Baltic Spa Rerik, there was not a single rain shower! In between, we even had a little sunshine! And in the evening, when we arrived shortly after 6 p.m., there was even a little sunshine. This is how we started into Thursday, our first leg to Stralsund and then on to Berlin. Pure biker’s joy!
But there was also another assumption that proved wrong. I had intuitively assumed that the ride from Lübeck to Stralsund was going to be like softly rolling through flat landscape. Wrong! On the Baltic-Sea-Cyclist’s-Way, the first leg from Lübeck is really up and down all the time. Mind you, we are not talking really steep inclines and no real altitude, but you accumulate inclines and declines. It felt like 1,000 metres of altitude.
So what else was remarkable? There were many bikers. On the streets, there was little traffic. The cyclist’s paths were in really good condition. At least, it seems like there are more cyclist’s paths in MeckPomm than at home. It might be a little like with day-care centres for small children. And you see areas used for farming all over the place. Everything looks like big industry, reminding you of the mega Kolchoses of the GDR. And unfortunately, there is lots of rapeseed. More often than not, you see nothing else on the horizon. It looks nice, but it is a waste of good arable fields for Bio Diesel fuel.
And things are cheap in MeckPomm. Even during my (last but one) bike tour from Munich, I had noticed that staying overnight in the erstwhile expensive Chiemsee area was less expensive than in Austria or Italy. And also a short time ago, when we were in Southern Italy and Sicily, the hotels were more expensive than in Upper Bavaria. A few years ago, matters were quite different.
In MeckPomm, however, everything is a lot less expensive than at home in Munich and Bavaria, not just the hotels. It starts with the fish roll, which is not only cheaper, but also far better quality than at home. And I assume it is the same with all the other necessities of life.
Let me take Italian (?) ice cream as an example. At home in Ottobrunn, we have now arrived at 1 € for one ball of Crema Gelato. And I know ice-cream parlours in Munich City where I no longer can get any ice-cream for 1 €. In Wismar, we paid 0.70 cents for the same size ice cream ball. That is 30 Eurocents less and if you take 70 Eurocent as your unit, that means almost 43 %. It seems that the relative difference in prices is even higher with rents, baker’s products or public transportation.
But not everything is less expensive! There is one exception to the rule: fuel and diesel fuel. It costs just as much as in Bavaria. Well, this is another indication that those are very special juices, indeed.
For the biker, however, it can only mean joy. After all, by riding 100 kilometres and not needing 6 litres of Diesel fuel for it in MeckPomm, you can buy 12 balls of ice-cream and still have a little change left for the (also not quite as expensive) necessary visit of the toilet. In Munich, he would only get 9 balls of ice-cream and would have to spend an extra Euro for the toilet.
But back to biking:
The Baltic-Sea-Cyclist’s-Way was rather lonely and idyllic between Lübeck and the Baltic-Sea Spa of Rerik. Consequently, the name of the hotel where we spent the night and had an excellent dinner is quite fitting. We stayed at the “Schaffidylle”! And again, we had a really great bike day.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
So why do I go do Stralsund? It is quite simple: Gudrun – a highly cherished friend of Barbara and me – lives there. And she is about to celebrate an extremely important birthday. I simply must go there.
Well, but a journey from Munich to Stralsund just to spend one evening there is a little too much of an effort. On the other hand, I always wanted to ride my bike along the Baltic Sea and through the famous lake district. So there was a simple solution to the problem. We went to Hamburg in Wednesday night on the night train and then we ride our bikes for three days to Stralsund, where we will celebrate Gudrun’s birthday on Saturday.
And on Sunday morning, we will ride our bikes to Berlin. Another three days for us during which we can ride our bikes through a very highly spoken-of countryside. In Berlin, the train to Munich will wait for us in the afternoon of Tuesday, May, 1st. Incidentally, it is the only train – with the exception of the night train – that goes directly from Berlin to Munich and also allows us to take our bikes.
On the whole, we are talking six days of riding our bikes plus a beautiful party for the price of three weekdays. I will be back home in Riemerling and Unterhachng on Wednesday.
🙂 As I see it, you can call this quite efficient Slow Travelling!
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