Thursday, May 18, 2006
End of Day 4: Stralsund to Sassnitz :45m (214 Total)
And now we are three !
This morning started off well as we met Marly at Stralsund train station (she had travelled overnight by train, Eurostar then a couple of connections in Germany).
It went decidedly down hill from there! It started raining and didn't stop till late afternoon, the cycle paths were mainly dirt tracks or bumpy concrete slabs through fields. We got lost following a cycle path sign that was now redundant ( the farmer told us this as we got to the far end of the track!)
We were now cold and wet ( mine and Ben`s high tech, lightweight 'condoms' not being as waterproof as once thought), and we were travelling really slow over the rough ground, so not generating any heat. Also waited too long to put our waterproof trousers on, so soaked by now. A real low point!
Made it back to the right road and eventually found a little café to get a bite to eat and warm up!(2.15pm) We were now behind schedule and had a ferry to catch. If we travelled at some of our best speeds from previous days we`d just make it, but we were all quite dejected by this point.
Amazingly we cycled like wild things (helped to keep warm !) and did 17 miles in an hour, still in the rain and up and down hill, but we were determined not to miss the ferry! We only had 6 miles to go and and and hour and a half to spare.
A leisurely ride along some nice cycle paths on the coast and we arrived in plenty of time and the sun came out. Perfect.
To cap it all at the duty free I found a reasonable hooded top (adidas still, but not looking like the Russian 70's gymnast team) and have solved my warm top problem (now just got to get rid of the other monstrosity!!)
Riding up the ramp to the ferry on our bikes was fun, behind the lorries and ahead of all the cars.
On board the ferry we all had nice warm showers and got changed into dry clothes and shoes - pure heaven, OK, the cold beer did help to cap it all off!
Have now eaten and are feeling much better, beers in hands and enjoying the ferry ride! Been an up and down kinda day, ending on a high as we pull into Trelleborg.
