Something New On Our Last Day Here In North Germany - Wednesday July 21, 2010

Something New On Our Last Day Here In North Germany - Wednesday July 21, 2010


We were anxious to make good use of our bikes today since we are leaving them here when we leave tomorrow. Annika and Andre here bought them from us and we are happy with that decision since the cost of shipping them back home is quite significant. As far as we can determine, Air Canada has one of the highest rates for shipping bicycles back home. Our tickets over were with Austrian Air and the bicycles shipped at a much lower cost.
We had not explored the nearest coastal town of Dagebull yet so headed in that direction. It has a dock for large ferry service to nearby islands and beyond. Along with the ferry terminal there are a number of hotels and a large swimming area along the sea.
What was new however was the fact that as well as renting little bamboo cabanas, they also rent little sheds about the size of a garden sheds - just plain square corners, flat roofs with a vendor type door that opens up on the ocean side as well as a man door at the side. They are rented by families to store their ‘stuff ‘ while swimming. These are all planted about 6 feet apart - all different colours.
It was very windy and we were riding into the wind along a path that was shared by many sheep. At places there was a gate that we had to open and close behind us to keep the sheep in their proper field. At places we rode along the top of one of the many dykes, originally designed to contain the high sea water. After about 2 hours we headed back to the car and decided to follow the Windmill route closeby. Supposedly there were to be windmills along the route or in the towns that connected the route. We found neither windmills in the towns nor along the routes - the only “windmills” visible were the wind turbines - of coarse they are everywhere anyway. At one of the towns we decided to park the car and ride our bikes for one last time to the next town about 7 km away to where we thought we remembered there was a McDonalds. After asking at the edge of town, the lady said “no McDonalds- only 15 km away“. We opted for a coffee and icecream cone instead at a local café.
After arriving home here, I removed the panniers from my bike and packaged them up for shipping with us on the plane. I oiled the bikes and shined them up for Annika and Andre then put them in her Grandpa‘s shed.
We took one last drive out into the countryside after supper. It will be difficult to leave here tomorrow - we have enjoyed northern Germany and Denmark and especially our “home “ for the last 7 days at Wera and Hans Carstensen in Klizbull, Germany. If you are ever in the area and looking for a great place to stay we highly recommend them.