Loop ride from Eutin -- Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Today was an all around great day of cycling. Weather certainly makes a difference. It was warm enough to set off without a jacket; the forecast for 0% chance of rain proved accurate, and the wind has all but disappeared. I did the 40 mile loop which consisted of easy rolling hills through a number of small farm towns and villages.

We all started off together and stopped for pictures at “The Bridegroom's Oak,” an oak tree in the Dodauer Forest. It's important feature is a hole in the trunk, reached by a ladder that functions as a dead drop or public letter box for people seeking love partners. It is the only tree in the world that has a postal address. The story, greatly condensed, is that a young man and his lady love (whose father disapproved of the relationship) corresponded by letters left in the tree. When the father relented and they married, word of the tree's history leaked and people started writing to the tree in hopes of finding a partner. The postal service delivers several letters a day. It is a public letterbox; anyone can open, read, take, or answer the letters. At least 5, and reportedly more than 100, marriages, have been brought about by the Bridegroom's Oak.

Checking the mail

Colin reading a letter

Our next stop was Plon where we had coffee and visited the castle, one of the largest in the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the only one located on a hill. It is currently owned by an optometry association and is used as a training center.

Coffee in Plon

At the Castle in Plon

Many of us stopped in the lakeside village of Malente for lunch. I had a very tasty schnitzel with french fries (and mayonnaise – the German way to eat french fries) before setting off for the second half of the ride.^th century, and officialy registered as a church in the 16^th century (1529, if I remember correctly).

When pigs fly -- cows will walk on water?

Many of the group opted for the 2 hour boat tour of 5 of the region's lakes, followed by the short route back to the hotel. At the top of the region's highest hill (which is not all that high – 550 feet), I met up with John and Pat at an old church. It was originally started in the 13

Throughout this tour we have been seeing beautiful large fields of grain – in Denmark it was mostly rye; here is is apparently wheat. The bright green makes for some very appealing vistas.

Fellow rider Andy Jardin is celebrating his birthday today. At breakfast he was surprised by a nice vase of roses! Then, as we were cycling, I noticed that Ronny who was marking the route with chalked had written a birthday greeting on the pathway. (Andy and his wife, Gwen, were on the Chile tour that I did in 2016.)

Tonight we will be having a traditional German dinner together.

The hotel WiFi is currently out of service, so I will post this when we get back on line.

Oldenburg to Eutin, Germany -- Tuesday, June 13, 2017

We got off the train in Oldenburg, having crossed from Denmark to Germany. The van was waiting with our bikes, and we set off on the 25 mile ride to Eutin. We did have wind, but not as fierce as yesterday, and the ride was extremely pleasant, with rolling hills through farm country and small villages. The roads and bike paths were excellently maintained and I arrived at our hotel for the evening by around 1:30.

The hotel is a small family operation and the proprietors are extremely friendly. Before I even changed from my bike clothes, I had a light "lunch" consisting of a cross between a cream puff and strawberry shortcake, with a cup of coffee, served in the garden. It was homemade and absolutely delicious.

After settling in, I strolled around the town square and took a few pictures. We had our evening briefing to discuss tomorrow's options, since we will be in this hotel for two nights. We have the option of (1) a forty mile loop ride with some climbing, (2) a shorter loop ride without the hills, (3) either of the above with a two hour boat ride through five interconnected lakes, (4) a very short bike ride to the boat trip, or (5) take the day off. I am leaning toward the long bike ride, but the weather and the wind will be the determining factors.

After Monday's dinner

Andy is ready for the day's travels

 

At the train station

 

Windmill in Eutin (beer garden at night)

Morning update -- Tuesday June 13, 2017

Today is multimodal transportation day. We walked from our hotel to the train station and boarded the train (where I am now). In a few minutes the train will get on the ferry and we will leave the train for the 45 minute crossing. Five minutes before arriving in Germany we will get back on the train.

I am now on the ferry which is like a small city with multiple snack shops, coffee shops (including Starbucks), shopping and slot machines. The photo is of a much smaller ferry going the other way. (Surprisingly, it does not have WiFi, although the train has excellent WiFi.)

We are now passing a huge wind farm -- lots of turbines generating electricity.

We will have about 45 minutes more on the train and will then get on the bikes for about 25 miles.

Last night's hotel was not as fancy as many that we stay in but quite comfortable. The plumbing was unique, however. A single pair of faucets for both the shower and the sink.


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Guy Cunningham
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Rodvig to Vordingbord -- Monday, June 12, 2017

WIND

That could be the whole blog for today. The weather channel forecast wind all day, with gusts up to 40 MPH. I don't know if the gusts got that strong, but we sure did get lots of wind today. It was only a 35 mile ride, but the wind made for slow going.

Most of us stopped for lunch at a cafe by the Marina in Presto, glad to get indoors and out of the wind. The wind, however, did not take a break and had increased in intensity by the time we resumed our ride.

The weather forecast also called for rain, and we were concerned after lunch that we might get rained on before reaching the hotel. About three miles from the hotel we reached a major intersection where there was no discernible arrow marking our route. We later learned that a passing shower had obliterated the arrows. After a phone call and some detective work with Google Maps, we got back on the correct path. Our group of about eight people arrived at the hotel less than a minute before the rain started. A few of those behind us were not so lucky.

Last night's dinner was a buffet in our hotel (in which we appeared to be the only guests). There must have been at least half a dozen dishes featuring spinach, which seem odd. This morning we cycled past field after field planted with spinach -- it all made sense.

As I type this, I see that it is raining very heavily outside. We are lucky to be inside, nice and dry.

In about half an hour, we will have a tasting of local craft beers, followed by dinner at a restaurant across the street from the hotel.

I have been surprised by the number of homes and farm buildings with thatched roofs, which you can see in one of the attached photos.

Trish and Diane

Copenhagen to Rodvig -- Sunday, June 11, 2017

We had a perfect day for cycling. It was so perfect that I missed a turn and went 4 kilometers out of my way, having to retrace my steps, adding a total of 8 km to the day's ride, bringing my total to 53 miles for the day.

Missing a turn is hard to do on an ExperiencePlus bike tour because they mark the routes with chalk arrows. I must have been enjoying the bike path so much that I just buzzed on through a left turn arrow. The good part about this system is that if you go 3 or 4 km without seeing an arrow, you know something is wrong and you can backtrack until you pick up the arrows again.

We left our hotel in Copenhagen at 9 am. It is Sunday, so we did not have rush hour traffic to content with, and leaving the city was easy. It was all on bike lanes and bridges that are restricted to bikes and pedestrians. There is so much bicycle traffic in Copenhagen that they even have a procedure for the "Copenhagen left turn." Instead of getting in the left land and turning with the traffic as we do at home, you "box" the intersection -- go straight through, and then make a signal with your left hand (the signal we use for right turns in cars), then pull over to the right on the far side of the intersection, and wait for a green light to cross.

By 9:30, the sun was out and conditions were perfect for cycling. The next hour was all on a dedicated bike path where we didn't even see roads or cars. For the rest of the trip, the bike path generally ran parallel to the road, but we always had a path or a lane of our own. This is very different from most of the cycling that I have done where you generally share the road with the cars.

For the most part, we were riding close to the coast and the Baltic sea was visible most of the time. Our hotel in Rodvig is right on the sea, and I did get in the water briefly. It was too cold to stay in very long, but I have added one more sea to my list of seas and oceans that I have bathed in.

I mentioned to Philipp, one of our guides, that today was my anniversary and he recalled that this was not the first time that he and I have been together on my anniversary. As I said on Facebook, if you can't spend your anniversary with your wife, you can't beat a great bike ride in perfect weather.

A few might disagree with my characterization of the weather as perfect. We did have a fair amount of wind. But in Brentwood, CA, my home base, winds like we had today are pretty much the norm.

I got in early enough that I was able to do some laundry and hope that the Baltic sun will get the clothes dry this afternoon. The wind may help in that department, also.

Not many pictures today but here are shots of my laundry drying (the traveling clothesline is a great idea) and the fishin village of Rodvig.

Dinner tonight is in our hotel -- in about another hour.

Copenhagen -- Saturday, June 10, 2017

Last evening, almost the entire group (12 of us) gathered for a drink and then dinner at the Italian restaurant in our hotel. It was a pleasant evening, and kept me awake until 9:30 which was good for my jet lag. I felt fine today after a good night's sleep.

Our initial meeting was not until 1:30 this afternoon, so I did some exploring in the morning, starting with the canal tour -- a one hour tour which provides a good view of many of the principal sights in the city. We started from the very colorful district of Nyhavn, about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. I got there in time for the first tour -- good because the boat was not crowded; not so good because it was still quite cloudy and I didn't get the greatest pictures.

Canal Boats at Nyhavn

Copenhagen Opera House

Above are views of Nyhavn, the opera house, and the stockmarket.

After the tour, I had a leisurely walk back to the hotel stopping at an international market for lunch. I ate a traditional Danish open-faced sandwich called smorrebrod. They can be made of all sorts of ingredients -- mine was fried fish with a mayonnaise based dressing.

This afternoon we met for bike fitting and a short test ride through the city. 
I am used to being aware of the cars around me, but trying to get used to the very large number of bicycles (which make no noise) is a very different experience. Many of the intersections have separate traffic lights for the bicycles.

Our ride took us through many of the areas that I had seen from the canal boat this morning. The two highlights were the famous statue of the little mermaid (I was surprised how close to the shore it is), and the royal palace.

Compare this view of the little mermaid as seen from the canal boat.












Tonight we had our introductory dinner at the bustling Host restaurant featuring contemporary Nordic cuisine.  We lost count of how many courses we had, but they were all excellent.  We started dinner at 6pm, by which time the restaurant was already crowded -- quite a difference from the very late dinners that I have experienced in southern Europe.

I pronounce the first full day in Denmark a success. Tomorrow, we leave Copenhagen and will bicycle 49 miles to Rodvig.

Copenhagen -- June 9, 2017

After traveling close to 7000 miles from San Francisco to London to Copenhagen, I have arrived in this beautiful city to wonderful weather. My hotel, the Kong Arthur, is old but very pleasant with good WiFi, so I thought that I would try to do this initial blog entry while waiting for "cozy  hour," the hotel's version of "happy hour." I am hoping that some of my fellow cyclists also arrived a day early and that we can meet up in the hotel. There are about half a dozen people on this tour that I have ridden with previously (in Chile).

Copenhagen calls itself the most bicycle friendly city in the world, and after just a few hours here, I can see why. There are good bike lanes along most roads, and there are cyclists everywhere. Very few wear helmets. People leave their bicycles everywhere, with no more protection than a simple lock to immobilize the rear wheel. Naturally, with all of these cyclists, there are bike shops everywhere.

These three photos were all taken across the street from my hotel during my first brief walk-around. Tomorrow I will have lots of free time to explore Copenhagen (I have only been here once before, and that was only for one night) before we meet up at 2pm to officially start our cycling tour.  Tomorrow's ride is a loop tour of the city. It will only be 5.8 miles, but should provide lots of opportunities for picture taking. 

Speaking of picture taking -- I decided to travel light this year and brought only my small Canon Power Shot camera, leaving the big DSLR at home. And there is always the iPhone which gets some very good shots, especially for panoramas. Here are a couple of iPhone pictures taken out the plane window as we approached London early this morning.