Day 11: Wittmund to Tossens

July 29, 2013

Today we had to open our wallets to stay afloat. 200, 300, 400 euros -it's just money, right?

The day began as we contemplated what we considered to be yesterday's 22 euro camping ripoff. As we left the campsite we had a look at the posted rates, and decided there was no way it could have totalled so high. We resolved to squeal to our German friends and get them to write to the management. Hah, just read on!

Our further adventures in the retail sector began right away, as I noticed that my front tire was mostly flat. Worse, there was a large divot in its sidewall. I pumped it up, and we set off anyway. Our plan this time was not to race down the highway, and not to grind along the dike either. That meant following the bike direction signs that are usually near roadways, but that will also take you on dedicated cycle paths among the villages.

The bike shop in Wittmund was not open yet, so we headed for the next town Jever. By the time we reached that far, the pressure in my tire had fallen in half, so some type of action was in order. We pulled the tire, and found to our horror that what had looked like some shallow holes or chafing on the outside, corresponded to delaminaton and shredding on the inside. So, we made our first monetary investment of the day, putting a 5 Euro note between the tube and the sidewall. Thus bolstered, we searched for and found the Jever bike shop. The man there, like most people in this region, spoke little or no English. Still, his position was clear: he did not have a tire for us. Our tires, he said, were specialty items and no one in this region would be able to help us.

We figured our 5 euros would at least buy our way to the next town, Schortens. As it happens, the bike directional signs put us beside the highway anyways, so we were soon in Schortens. The people there said they did not have a tire for us, however they began to look in the yellow pages to maybe find someone, somewhere, who did. While this was happening, we had a look around the shop. We found it to be stuffed with bikes using our 40-406 tires. so we went in the back and dragged the people away from the phone book, for a tour of their shop and all the tires that would work for us. Their position was that these tires were on bikes, and were either sold or soon would be. This we figured out, though no English was exchanged.

We did get them reluctantly to go to their overhead rack of spare tires and knock down a 40-406, and forced them to sell it to us, for 14 euros. The thing is, the tire admittedly was junk, intended for a kid's bike. Apparently both shops felt it would be better to walk to Copenhagen, or wherever, than discard a blown up Schwalbe and ride on a no name.

With the no name (Ok, it's a CST "Kids line" with a "protection rating" of 1 out of 5) safely strapped on the back, the injured Schwalbe took heart, and sailed us in to Wilhelmshaven. Except one thing - when I went to take a photo of our new tire the frame was strangely dark at the edges. A quick study showed that the automatic lense iris of our absolutely brand new Nikon Coolpix 6500 was neither openiing nor closinng completely.

So, on arriving in Wilhelmshaven our usual search for the old area of town, with the cafes and narrow streets, turned up a walking/shopping street. On that street was a Media Markt store. For North American readers, that is exactly the size and feel of a Best Buy. Leaving Dodie in the street, I zoomed in and bought - a Nikon Coolpix 6500. some people don't learn! The cost was 189 euros, or 48% more than I had paid at Costco in Montana!

Time required to blow 189 euros? 5 minutes. It would have been faster, but they would not take my credit/debit card. They must be trying to economize, to keep their prices down!

Next up was trying to find a better tire. As far as we can tell, Wilhelmshaven has 6 bikes shops, or which we found 5. They have scads of terribly interesting bikes, and racks and racks of Schwalbe tires. They all either sold the one I need yesterday, or could get more tomorrow. We struck out, but just barely. At least the price was right.

Wilhelmshaven is a fairly big small city, but it is low rise and lacks scarey big roads. So our tire search gave us an interesting extended tour of town. Only thing, there is little in town that is really old or really engaging. There is a southside beach area with a bit of history, but right now it is mostly new, and while clean and nice is not postcard material. There is a marine museum, featuring one S boat, WWII submarine, and other naval vessels. We did not go in or near, but even the distant sight of these famed and feared boats gave me the heebie jeebies.

Our boat was the much less fearsome ferry to Eckwarden. This 30 minute crossing put us on the same peninsula with Bremerhaven, where we expect to be tomorrow. On the ferry, we met Kristian and Sannah, from Copenhagen. They had cycled to Berlin, the Harz region, Amsterdam, and here, their first long trip. They seemed to be enjoying it a lot, and we tried to turn them on to Crazyguy, and the idea of doing even more trips. Perhaps we will meet up with them in Copenhagen.

As we checked out our last bike shop, and were thinking we might be late for the ferry, it decided to pour again. It kept it up as we raced through the streets, paused as we got on the ferry, and started again as we got off. Fortunately there is a camping right at the ferry landing. We went in, and the no english speaking man quickly got his teeth into the complex problem of how much to charge two cyclists with a tent. When he pulled out his calculator and started going tap tap tap tap, tension mounted. He came up with ... the same number as the previous lady .. only thing he also wanted 10 euros deposit for the washroom key. We explained as best we could, that to refund our 10 euros he would have to be up at about 6. The concepts werre too tough, so he got on his phone and called in the boss. The boss went tap tap tap tap and came up with 26.70 euros, plus deposit.

Whaaa, I told him in my two year old (or less) level German, we are only talking about two people and a tent. No he replied, two people, a tent, two bikes, two showers, washroom access, and tax. Rain or not, we flounced off. We talked aboout sleeping on the dike with the sheep. We talked about a Gasthouse where we might get more per euro spent. We in fact headed for the next camping, now 40 minutes behind Kristian and Sannah, who had not stopped in the first place.

As we cycled, we could see that this coast is a major vacation resort area.We came to a side road, where throngs strolled among food outlets. We tried one out - the Asian Imbiss. The German speaking, oriental couple that ran it were interested in our trip, as were some of the other customers. The food ws actually great too, really hit the spot.

Thus refreshed, we set out to find either some friendly sheep or some camping. We found some camping - offering a patch of grass beside a trailer. The cost? You got it, 26 euros. That's over $34 Canadian. Well heck, in today's expense account it's just a drop in the bucket!

,(Photos to follow!)

These tpes of signs will be our guides for today.

No this is not a Mcdonald's tour, rather, we are in East Friesland. That's "Frees- land"

We invest 5 euros in the tire. Art - we still also have the mylar you gave us, but the 5 euros is bigger.

This unicycle and many other wheels in the Schortens shop had tires that would have worked great

We forced them to sell us the only "loose" 406 tire they had.

"Best Buy" German style - all the same except the prices

On the Wilhelmmshaven south beach and "boardwalk"

Tires everywhere but how about one in our size?

Kristian and Sannah from Copenhagen - still having fun"

A sweet, German speaking, Asian coupple. Their food was cheap and good.

26 euro tent camping. We settled for it.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 728 km (452 miles)

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