August 2, 2014
It's great to be back on the bike
We are excited to get back on our bike, but we are sad to leave Karin. Our trip this year has been typified by meaningful connections with people and the friendships that we have made. We started our journey in May reconnecting with the Reitz family and this gave us the best possible start to a holiday in Europe. Our visit with Karin came about because of our friendship with her brother Kurt, but very quickly, we found that we had much in common with her and it quickly developed into a friendship. She made us feel at home instantly and through many laughs, conversation and good food, we developed memoriesthat we will cherish. Like the Reitz family, we hope that we see her someday in Canada.
We rode through dense pine forests on lovely paths, explored some charming villages as well as the city of Bad Belzig; we survived a hot day and generally loved the area.
When we planned this part of our route heading west from the Berlin area, our objective was to cycle to an area which offered good train connections back to Limburg. We fly home on the 13th and we want to have some time to visit with our friends there. We chose the R1 to ride from Fithchenwalde to Wittenburg, then along the Elbe to Dessau/Aken and on to Bernburg. Then we will ride the Saale River to Halle and take the train. We chose the route for practical reasons, and little did we know that we were heading in to a region of such beauty with National Forests and wildlife reserves. The scenery has been outstanding.
We know that bad weather is coming. Thunder storms and heavy rain are predicted for the next several days. We need to make some distance, so we will have to ride when we can.
We had hoped to make it to Wittenburg the first day, but riding on unpaved surfaces in the forest with hills thrown in slowed us down. We stopped in the Raden Flaming area and found a campsite a few km. off the trail. It was the only camping in the area and we are glad we made the attempt to get there. This small family run camp has only been open a few years and this low key campground offered excellent facilities in a fully stocked kitchen, plenty of picnic tables and a great view of the rural countryside. We are always impressed when a campground does not put tents in one area and the trailers in the prime spots. As their site numbers signs indicated: tent/trailer/motorhome are welcome in any spot.
Our good luck held as the rain didn't start until we were safely tucked in to the tent for the night. It rained most of the night but cleared in the morning. We were tired from the ride as we haven't ridden in over a week.
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Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 2,050 km (1,273 miles)
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