Today had it all. Sun, rain, wind, shelter, sealed paths, cobbles, dirt, rougher tracks, great sights, friendly cyclists.
We enjoyed our stay in Stralsund, what a gem of a city. Great hotel with our first buffet breakfast in one week away.
The bikes were stored in a lower level bike storage room. Great place for touring cyclists.
Leaving the city we followed the Stralsunder Fahrwasser around the coast.
As we turned slightly inland on the designated cycle route, adjacent to a busy arterial road we started what would be around 20 km of cobbles. At the start we had no idea it went so far as our maps showed a sealed surface, not what type.
Lots of rolling resistance and bumps that jar through your hands. After about 10 km of this, Tony had enough and headed to the busy road at a junction.
It was a busy and there was no verge, and he realised we were safer on the cobbles.
It went on and on. In villages the cobbles became a larger cut, very rough cobble.
We were in a crop growing farm region, interspersed with the occasional dairy farm. The cows were still in their sheds.
Elation when we hit this. Would it last?
A renovators delight.
Plenty of renovated boats in the first large town of the day, Greifswald. The river Ryck runs through and at the mouth through a series of bays into the Baltic Sea.
Small statues adorn the riverside. We found a place for a ‘coffee’ and a loo. The coffee was not the best, but it was warm.
We edged closer to the river mouth then headed slightly inland again.
Nice church in the little village Kemnitz.
We passed a sculpture park.
Wolgast was where we found some lunch. Being Sunday very few places were open, including supermarkets.
As we ate it started to lightly spit with rain, so we donned our over shoe booties and raincoats. Rain was forecast and you always hope they are wrong and you might reach your destination first. Today was not that day.
Wolgast is coastal and we were to cross a bridge to the island of Usedom, where our journey would continue.
Usedom is a Baltic Sea island, shared between Germany and Poland. It is the second largest Pomeranian island after Rugen (where we rode through yesterday from the ferry terminal at Sassnitz).
Interestingly it is the sunniest region in both Germany and Poland with 1906 hours of sunshine annually. Today was not using any of that ‘allocation’.
It is super popular as a holiday destination as we would see with very large villas ahead.
There are also heavily forested areas with really pretty walking and cycle trails.
Much of the rest of the day we utilised these paths. The forest provided protection from the rain as it got heavier (more nuisance level, not pouring) and the wind that was super strong along the beachfront.
There were various jetties and access points along the way.
Huge villas in the tourist haven of Ahlbeck.. In this area we were riding along a paved, wide boulevard adorned with places to buy food such as crepes, ice creams or beer. We could imagine that when the 1906 sunshine hours are in action, the place would be packed.
No one was swimming today.
Here I am, half in Germany, half in Poland. The boardwalk behind me heading to the beach had German coloured uprights to the left, Polish coloured to the right.
We were only a few km from our destination in the Polish town of Swinoujscie. We are in the far north west corner of Poland, in the region of Pomerania.
At our hotel when I checked in, I sorted out where the bikes would go. I had been given two options with booking. Upon checking both options, we took the dead end corridor only accessible from reception.
As I filled out the paperwork for our passport ID, I was aware I was dripping water on the forms and floor.
Tony had cleaned the grime of our bikes, relubed the chains ready for tomorrow and making them look decent enough to be in the building.
A welcome shower and we headed off to dinner at a recommended local restaurant. I had Polish chicken dumplings with cranberry sauce. Very tasty.
Rain is forecast for the start of tomorrow, then hopefully clearing and sun is forecast for the next few days.
Poland will be interesting as we weave our way along the Baltic coast.
Our route today is below. We rode 110 km and climbed just over 500 metres.
Thanks for reading.
❣️😊🚴💪
In between climbs (you tend not to stop and take photos whilst climbing), there were lovely views. At the end of the first longer climb, there was a cafe calling our name to stop! It had quirky ‘art work’ predominantly made from recycled horse shoes.
yakkablog 