August 22, 2013
Day 35: Werder to Bergwitz
When I crawled out of the tent at 6:30 a.m. Manuela was just leaving. I went over to say goodbye. She said that we had her respect for doing such long distances (on such goofy little bikes). Coming from someone who does such long distances and long days, this was an appreciated compliment.
We, on the other hand, set about enjoying the extreme luxury of the paved area and tables in front of the (closed) food stand. We spread out our tent parts to dry on the pavement, and made a mess on a table with our various bags. Soon the family from Zwickau joined us, spreading out their tent, and making a mess. This made for a fun, communal experience. Simple things becomme fun when you are Crazy.
The firrst part of the day was spent on the smooth off road paths that are part of the Juterbog trail system. Lulled by the well marked and smooth going, we began to revise our assessment of the rest of the landscape. Maybe those crops are healthier than we thought, those houses better maintained, those cows happier?
Despite these helpful things, I found that I had started the day feeling just a little off: headache, slight chills. We decided it was dehydration, and I set out to drink a lot more. This helped, but I decided the real cure would lie at an Eis Cafe. The largest, blackst print coming up on our map was Zahna, so Zahna beame my target.
We soon cruised happily into Zahna, on our well marked path. But wham, right away we hit a construction roadblock. We needed to go way around that way, we were given to understand, by a construction engineer, in German. So around we went. My fading conciousness about Eis noted meanwhile that the town did not have the shiny veneer of an Eis centre, but was back to the dull disrepair we had seen just south of Berlin.
We followed one non-standard sign that did say Berlin-Leipzig Radweg, but that was the last indication of our former great route. A local lady on bike directed us this way and that (in German), and we found ourselves on a no shoulder road, though it was generally headed towards Leipzig.
Ok, so we pulled out the GPS and it showed we could reach the Radweg along a little dirt path. We grabbed this lifeline, and it did two things for us. First off, we met some large and very friendly horses in a field. Horses (and all animals, except camels) love Dodie. Secondly, we came to the Radweg. We knew it because of the official signs. But our friend the smooth paved radweg had somehow become a nasty dirt track. Like us, it had had a rough passage through Zahna.
Dirt track became loose gravel road became cobbles, until we began to approach Wittenberg. Wittenberg is the town where Martin Luther naild his manifesto to a church door. It is also where we cross the Elbe River and the famous Elbe Radweg. Unfortunately, it is also where our ow radweg signs decided to disappear again.
We finally came to a place where we had a choice - follow the Elbe radweg signs, into the city, or head for the River. The Elbe radweg signs were seductive, because we are conditioned to follow radweg signs, but (like with drugs) we knew that too much reliance would land us in trouble, in this case, in the North Sea!
Another helpful lady came, and directed us to the River. She assured us that she knew our intended camping at Bergwitz, and that this was the way. "Imer gerade aus" was the watchword. The lady was right, and we arrived at the camping in due course. However, we had completely bypassed the only interesting historic place on today's itinerary! (And by the way, no Eis for me!).
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Today's ride: 72 km (45 miles)
Total: 2,470 km (1,534 miles)
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