Hoerne to Otterndorf.. Wednesday 6 Aug.

Last night we stayed at the 'Zwei Linden' in Hoerne-Balje. It had a friendly, older style atmosphere with excellent staff in reception and in the restaurant.

Whilst we were enjoying our meal the four women, who we had seen earlier near Freiburg, turned up. We introduced ourselves and had an interesting and enjoyable chat. We thought they were heading for Cuxhaven, like us, but they were heading for Stade. We recommended the Thai restaurant, in the Fishmarkt, where we had had a 

good meal.

We set off late for Otterndorf this morning, ~9:20, and who did we pass first but the 4 women we chatted to yesterday. I just managed to catch them on my cell phone camera as they shot by.

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We were told at the hotel that the Sperrwerk bridge opened at 10:00 and we headed in that direction, initially retracing the end of yesterdays walk. Of the 3 shots below the first was a general view from the Deich. If you look carefully you can see a tanker on the Elbe. The second shot is a view of one of the many wind farms we passed on our trip. The Germans seem to have embraced wind farms much more readily than Britain or NZ. The final sot of the 3 is a view of Shiel on the Sperrwerk bridge. It opened shortly after 10:00 

am.

 The route then took a circuitous path south around a water feature near Neuhaus, which was a very scenic area, before we turned north again to the Deich and its sheep. The sheep are essential for keeping the grass at a reasonable length. This trip  the sheep have not been very vocal, but a group this morning replied vigorously to my tentative "Baa Barr?". They sounded a bit like a welcoming fan club.

When we returned to the Deich, again heading west we decided to walk along the top of the Deich. The grass was short, thanks to the sheep/cows, but about every 100 metres there was a stock gate we had to get through. Some were unlocked but many were not and had electric fences either side to add to our problems. We eventually dropped down from the Deich just before joining a very beautiful canal stretch which we  follwed into Ottrrndorf. A very new town by the look of it.

We tried a side track into Belum, to get something to eat but nothing was open so we really enjoyed our coffee and cake at a bakery in Otterdorf when we finally reached there around 3:30pm. Only 20km today and even less to Cuxhaven tomorrow.

Wischafen to Hoerne. Tuesday 5 Aug.

The Ferryhouse does a very good breakfast but l am trying to lose weight. Yesterday we got scrambled egg, among lots and lots of other things. We had to leave it. This morning I looked up the german for scrambled egg on my cell phone and practised saying "we don't want any scramble egg this morning" into it.
The Google, english voice translation came back "we don't want a whore today thank you".No wonder I've been getting some funny looks!

It was cool and overcast this morning, great for walking, when we set out again on the "Pilger Way" towards the Gluckstadt ferry. There were lots of cows in the way, on top of the deich, like this one we saw yesterday.

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We eventually reached untrodden territority and headed off beside the deich to Freiburg. The photovshows Shiel dealing with one of the interesting gates along the way.

The next two photographs give you some idea what it's like walking/cycling either side of the deich. One of the advantages you have as a walker is that you can sometimes walk along thr top of the deich where the view is better.

The next photo gives you some idea of the beautiful houses in the area, it is followed by a shot taken outside a bakery/cafe in Freiberg. A very pleasant place to stop for a break.

Whilst in the cafe four female cyclist passed by on the road and we heard them mention the town for which we we heading. We saw them again when they passed us going north, below. More about them later.

The next shot shows a typicsl view of what you can see from the top of the deich.Just to the left, at the base of the tower is whatvlooks like a power station at the far side of the Elbe.

By this time it was heating up as we finally turned from heading almost due north to due west. The nature of the deich roadway changed from tarseal to a concrete main paved way surrounded by thousands and thousands of concrete blocks. This path goes for miles and miles and is better for walking on. A lot cooler. There was also quite a breeze on this part of the walk and wind turbines visible in every directionvmaking electricity. 

We eventually turned south, away from the Elbe, heading to our hotel near Balje,

 passing massive corn fields on both side of the road, some being harvested as we passed. It was a long day, ~30km and we were both very pleased to reach the hotel.

Rest day Wischafen. Monday 4 Aug.

We stayed in the Ferryhouse at Wischafen, yesterday, from where we we able to see the Sperrwerk bridge we had been unable to cross, very frustrating. We had our evening meal in the restaurant and I've posted a picture, taken in the restaurant, for my sister. She will see a black bird on it which looks very much like the ones that live opposite her house. Are we being followed? Is it an NSA drone ? :)

For 'our day off' we decided to walk, via the northerni side of the Sper

Trwerk bridge, to the Wischsfen-Gluckstadt ferry. There is a 'pilger way' which passes very nearby and goes exactly in the idirection we wanted. Anyone walking from the direction of Gluckstadt to stay at the Ferryhouse hotel should look it out. It saves quite a bit of road walking and has some interesting, if dangerous looking, self closing  gates.

The path leads eventually to the northern side of the Sperrwerk bridge and I have posted a picture of Shiel on the northern side.

After the Sperrwerk we crossed the road to the cafe at the Wischafen side of the ferry. My JOGLE friends might find the name interesting, for a cafe in Germany.

We then boarded the ferry, only 2 Euro each and headed to Gluckstadt. The ferries are very, very frequent and you will probably see another 2 or 3 at various times in your crossing. 

On arriving at the Gluckstadt side, if on foot, you have about a 40 minute walk to the centre of The town. On the way we passed some of the most 'unphased' sheep we have ever seen. Cars doing 40km/hr pased literally within inches of them and they didn't flinch. 

 Gluckstadt is a small town but it has a fantastic bakery on the square. Well worth a visit!  It also has an interesting looking church, but sadly this was not open when we were there.

One the way back to Wischafen we passed another ferry heading to Gluckstadt and on approaching Wischafen we could still see the Sperrwerk bridge was open and the same sign was still in evidence. For the next weekend perhaps?

Stade to Wischafen. Sunday 3 Aug.

As we had to cross a 'tilting bridge' today, just south of Wischafen, which has only limited opening times, we went to the 'i' bureau in Stade yesterday to check if it was opening today."Yes it is" they said, "between 17:00 and 19:00," so we planned for an early departure from Stade. We left at 8:10am so as to reach the 'tilting bridge' (Sperrwerk) before 17:00.

The way out of Stade was on a very minor road, much nicer than the route in, with scenery typical of rural England. It was still cool and  as we headed north to the coast, but on reaching the Elbe the sun came out and the day was much hotter.

We walked by the Elbe for a few km. before the road headed more inland. For a while there were flat flood planes between the stop bank (Deich), on which we we walking, and the Elbe.

The path then returned to the Elbe and remained there. We stopped for liquid refreshment at a camping area called Krautsand on the way north. It was very hot and the sandy beaches on the Elbe were attracting lots of holidaymakers.

We finally reached the Sperrwerk at about 15:30.

However we were confonted by this sign.

We had seen a similar sign about 3 km earlier but believed it was an old one that had not been removed. After all only the previous day, in the tourist office in Stade, we had been told the bridge woud be open between 17:00 and 19:00. 

Note the sign is not dated, nor is there a phone number given where one can get information. The same sign was up this morning when we went past the northern side of the bridge. We did wonder if it has been there all summer.

By this time we were basically at the limit of our comfortable walking  range but we had to turn around and start walking back to the nearest bridge crossing to the main road.main road. This was at Dornbusch 8km to the south west.

We arrived at Dornbusch about 5pm and were fortunate in that a bus service was still running from  Stsde to Wischafen. It arrived on time at 17:46. We were booked into our hotel by 6pm with s view of the northern side of the open Sperrwerk bridge.

Rest day Stade. Saturday 2 Aug.

We planned for a rest day in Stade as it was a long walk yesterday. Stade is a very old town and well worth a visit. There are plenty of restaurants for your midday or evening meal. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of construction work going on in the centre at the moment. 

There are many fine old buildings in the town.

 

The garden on the left, is a wild flower garden and is shown in more detail, for Martin, below.

There is a band of water, like a moat, around the whole of the town with a walking/cycling path accompanying it for most of the way.

.In many of the gardens along the way you will find many interesting sculptures.

There are two very nice churches in the town but I forgot my camera on our first trip in so no good photos I'm afraid. They both have fine Baroque organs. The photograph below, taken on our circular tour is the only one I can find of one of the churches.

Cranz to Stade. Friday, Aug. 1

We left the hotel early,~7.10am, caught the train to Altona, and then the 150 bus to Cranz. There is a very good transport system in Hamburg. With one ticket you can travel seamlessly on train, bus or ferry. Just 1 ticket, and some of them are valid for up to 5 people!

We got off the bus at the Cranz ferry stop but could not find the ferry. We then had to walk back about 1km, along the way we had come in the bus, to the spot opposite Blankenese where the ferry first berths. See photo below.

We then set off NW beside the Elbe. We passed many orchards with trees full of fruit. It seemed a wealthy area with some fine old houses.

There was plenty of activity on the river with many large vessels entering and leaving Hamburg. A little north of Greunendeich we left the Elbe to walk inland to Stade. It was near where two very large power lines crossed the Elbe. I took a photograph of the pylons but it has been censored by Frau Barr.

 It was a very very hot day and the walk into Stade was spoilt by the presence of extensive road works, with mile upon mile of resurfacing vehicles. We finally reached Stade at about 5pm, after a hot 28km walk. The picture below is the view from our table at a Thai restaurant where we both had excellent meals. The final shot was also taken from the same restaurant looking along the road beside which we were seated. 

Robin please show this to the Torquay council so they can see how it is possible to make a busy tourist street inviting. No chewing gum or rubbish to be seen.