I am ready for a new day after a good night sleep here in Salzwedel. The weather report prepares me for heavy rain. At the moment the sun is shining, but how long will it last?
I’ve picked up my bicycle from the garage, had my breakfast and checked out. Outside I met a german bicycle show owner which is on a bicycle trip as well. It would be a understatement to say that his bicycle is a bit bigger than mine. I can’t describe this by words, you just have to see the picture.
We talk for about 15 minutes and then leave in different directions. The sun is gone and I can feel some raindrops in the air. It doesn’t take long before the roads are like a swimming pool, at least it feels like this for me. I can’t avoid hitting the water ponds and same with the cars, they give me quite some rain showers from time to time.
My reaction is to put on a smile and laugh. It’s funny how my head works. It’s often when it’s the worst conditions that I feel strongest. I put
on a smile and just laugh of it, in reality I should feel horrible and just stop, find a camping or maybe a hotel and wait for the sun to come back….NOT AN OPTION!
The route takes me away from the big roads and the traffic goes down. I’ve got music in my ears and are singing out loud. I have a good time, but will I be able to keep it like this for 110Km?
Finally the rain stops for a while. I mount my speaker on the bike again and can cycle without music directly in my ears. Much better while cycling long trips.
I cycle past a family which is on their way to the North Sea, it seems like this is very common here in Germany. I speak with them and they have a broken wheel on one of their many trailers. They will leave the trailer and cycle to a city which can repair the wheel for them and then go back to pick it up.
When you follow the Iron Curtain it seems like paved road is an exception. Most of the time you are cycling either in the woods, tractor roads, concrete roads, sand or gravel. Today is no exception. Most of the day you feel like you are cycling offroad. If I would do this trip again, I would definately be cycling on a MTB with suspension and I would have choosen the BOB YAK with suspension as well.
I pass several buildings and fences left from the Iron Curtain. It’s a pity that everything is written in german language. It would be very interesting to be able to understand more than just a few words. As far as I’ve seen, it’s only on the first day from Lübeck that I’ve seen signs written in both german and english.
My bicycle is so dirty, it looks like a mess. I stop at Weferlingen at a Shell station to clean it a bit. There’s obviously others that have 
the same issue. I meet some germans on their way to the North Sea. They are also washing their bicycles here. He borrows me his adapter for the valve on my tires, finally I can pump it up at the gas station and get some bar in the tire.
My goal today is a camping in Mariental. Nobody told me that to get there you have to climb for a kilometer or two. People are just looking at me when I come in these hills with my equipment and weight.
Finally I’m at the camping. It’s been a wet and long day, but it was never an option to stop before the camping. I was in a good mood the whole day, but I must say that I look forward for a day with good weather towards Ilsenburg tomorrow!
Picture album from todays wet day on the road:
GPS Data from todays wet trip:
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