Cooler In The Baltic - Tuesday July 13, 2010.
After a heavy rain storm, the temperature has dropped here considerably. It was 70 degrees on the car thermometer when last checked. More GPS woes however made the temperature hotter - at least in my mind. That new TomTom GPS we bought 2 days ago in Lubbeneau 300+ km south east of here decided to freeze on the main button "Plan New Trip". Other than the fact that it was real hot the day we bought it, cannot figure what happened. Even so we were in the car all day travelling and it seemed to work fine but when we fired it up yesterday it would not co-operate. A store clerk here had a look at it and in my limited German, he said something about a software problem. It was a shelf model, the only left and the box of coarse had been opened before. We tried today to survive without one but it was very frustrating. By about noon we had decided to send the other one back to where we bought it and purchase another one. They are about 1/2 the price here as in Canada but we just feel we need one for the remainder of the trip. Hopefully I will get money back from the store where it was returned or from TomTom.
This afternoon we drove out onto INSEL POEL an island out in the Baltic Sea just north of Wismar, Germany. There are numerous villages scattered around the fringes of the island so we parked and road our bikes on the trails connecting 4 or 5 of these villages. Most paths followed the road but most all villages are connected "through the back door" so to speak via dirt paths right up to paved/cemented paths through farmers fields. We biked for probably 16 km before heading back to the car. The villages are all connected to the beach culture be it sun bathers or beach walkers or campers enjoying the water. Except for the large farms of grain, beans or hay, the main activity in the communities centered around the beach - food stands - Zimmers for rent - bars and restaurants. The homes are mostly all Brick construction with tile roofs and lots of roses around the houses and along the streets. Some homes have thatched roofs and we saw one new home under construction with a roof 1/2 completed - it was interesting to stop and look at how they are building the 12" thick thatched roof. Our only comment was "hope they do not have a fire up there" but maybe they treat it somehow to prevent that. The weather for riding was very pleasant for a change and we enjoyed the paths through town and country.
Several stops on the way home - one to McDonalds for a salad and chicken fingers and another for tomorrow's groceries.
