Wesenberg to Copenhagen

And I thought yesterday was character building. Sigh L

When we woke up it was still raining, pouring down, not to mention windy L On top of that it seems Tony didn’t have a very good night, there was something about persistent thunder throughout the night…? He tried sleeping in the bathroom for a couple of hours until things quietened down. Must have been the rain J

We woke at 7 and did some packing. We’ve decided to catch a train to Rostok and avoid the rain and flooding. The trains not until 9:30, assuming it’s running, so we had a lazy morning which was nice. I’m getting an unexpected rest day which I think I need.

Ha Ha Ha. I wrote the previous sentence in the morning before we set off. Little did I know.

We packed at leisure, I had a cup of tea and then we rode up the main street to a Backerei and had a quick breakfast of a slice and drink. I bought another slice and roll for the train and then in the pouring rain we rode down to the station. The train was spot on time and we lugged the bikes up until the single carriage and paid for the ride to the nearest main station. Quite a pleasant little ride..

At Neustrelitz I quickly went and bought our tickets to Rostok and then we had a short, cold wait before walking our bikes onto the train. We had a nice rest on the train; we were able to watch the bikes from our seats. The train fairly rocketed along at times. It looked to be raining most of the way.

Some silly bugger, it may have been me, decided it would be a good idea to catch the ferry to Denmark since we were already wet. Tony was fine with that so once at Rostok we went out into the pouring, gusty, rain and (after going 1/2 a K in the wrong direction) set off for the port, about 12 Ks away.

The rain was probably worst when we left but never stopped. As we were riding we were fortunately quite warm and the route is reasonably well sign posted. So of course after about 12 Ks we arrived back at an intersection we’d already been too L Rather than trying to follow the signs again we used Tony’s GPS to get us to the port. This time successfully. Naturally it rained the entire way and then just as we were coming into the port my right rear pannier popped off on of its hooks (it’s done it a few times) so I pulled over to the side to put it back on and hit a rut in the road and went down. Bang. Bugger L

Fortunately I was hardly moving and the panniers stop the bike hitting you. Feeling more embarrassed than injured back on the bike and up to the terminal. I went in while Tony looked after the bikes and bought the ferry tickets; quite reasonable at Euro 38 including the bikes. We have 90 odd minutes so we went to the cafeteria and had a huge schnitzel meal with potatoes, a roll and a slice. Lovely and warm J, both the food and the café.

We rode, in the pouring rain and howl wind, to the entry gate and then through to the lane where we had to wait. There were buses queued here which at least kept us out of the wind. The ferry was just coming in so we had a bit of a wait. The staff called us over and had us wait behind a shipping container (out of the wind) which was nice.

The ferry unloaded surprisingly quickly and we were the first ones in, thankfully. We tied the bikes up (bungee cords) and went up to one of the internal decks. We grabbed a comfy pair of chairs and didn’t move for the entire trip. We were both cold and put on an extra layer for the trip over. It was sometime around now that I recalled that I’d planned to not eat lunch in case the seas were rough. oh…

Fortunately the trip was very calm. The seas looked a bit rough but on the ferry it was very relaxing. I dozed off and on and then we were already there (about 1h40). So we were back down into the hold and it was Cold! But it was only spitting lightly, so that at least was an improvement.

Denmark!

Of course all we needed was one thing to make it perfect. And of course there was nowhere to stay L So off we went heading north. We stopped several times at B&Bs and asked if they had a room but none of them did L We even checked out a camping ground that was 1K off the route; but it was a muddy swamp. In the end we decided to ride on to the next major town.

That could have been the end of the misery but, alas, there was more. We were making good time when I heard a very depressing sound coming from my rear tire. A puncture L I pulled over and popped a new tube in after pulling out a piece of rock shaped like a stone age flint. Fortunately (?) it didn’t start bucketing down until after I’d finished fixing the tire (and getting the chain back on after it dropped down below the 3rd chain ring). Sigh.

Still, with not too far to go we set off, the rain died down, the clothes started to dry out and finally we got to Nykobing Falster. It’s a lovely looking town, cobbled streets (we’re getting a bit sick of cobbled streets), historic buildings and not a hotel to be found L  We spent quite a while looking asked some people, the best suggestion was a place 10 minutes out of town.

What to do?

Well, again, we decided stuff it, let’s go to Copenhagen. So 40 minutes later we’d had a snack and we were on another train. 1h50 this time. It was pleasant enough on the train but of course we had no idea where we were going to stay once we go there. It rained most of the way there! (Should I be happy about that?)

We arrived at Copenhagen at just before 10pm, as we went out I was freezing again (all of our clothes are wet). We’d thought we’d use WiFi to try and book something, which we had a crack at. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a connection and a lot of the places were shutting. In the end we went outside and started trying hotels next to the station.

So now we’re at the Raddison Blu Royal!

Tony hasn’t told me what it costs yet…

It was such a relief to finally arrive in a warm dry room, with WiFi that worked, have a shower, and get all of our gear out so that it could dry.

I showered, rang home and went to bed. Something like midnight. Phew.