Relacje uczestników

 

Alison Mary Walker
New Zealand

QUEDLINBURG – DRESDEN
Saturday Arrived in Quedlinburg by bus from Berlin. Whiled away several hours in Town square where we found a pleasant cafe with wireless access. The town was built in the 14th century and the old part has mostly been restored to its original. Wooden two storey buildings with narrow cobble-stone streets. This is Pentecost weekend and one of the two busiest weekends of the year. Many local people dressed in costume of the Middle Ages wander through town and some have set up displays of wood chopping, making traditional foods and crafts.

A local woman Veronica met us on Sunday and guided us around town. Climbed a hill-side where there’s the remains of a 14th century castle undergoing restoration. Views of the mainly flat landscape. Most of this province is Lutheran but we went to Mass at the only Catholic church an austere concrete building probably designed to complement Lutheran style.

Monday gathered in the Town Hall square for a group photo – 5 from Lithuania, Sigitas, Eva the driver and 3 young people; 5 from Germany including Joachim our guide, Peter organiser and bike mechanic and Maria who accompanied us to Istanbul; 4 from Poland including our old friend Stanislaus, 2 from USA Jan and Dug whom we met in Asia, Bob Scotsman who toured NZ earlier this year. We left together following the Elbe river along a radweg (cycle way) which stretches the length of the Elbe river. Frequent restaurant and Pensions situated along the way. Large green fields planted with wheat, potatoes and strawberries. Small hamlets of old houses mostly very well maintained. Often pass communal vegetable and flower gardens on the outskirts of the villages. Arrived in Magdaberg and crossed a bridge to an island. Rode in several directions before we found the camp-site – a rowing club. Slept inside as down-pour as we were about to set up tent.

Tuesday The sun is up at 5am and woke with a cold. Rode into Magdeburg to find a Sports shop to buy some gear. Looked at Domplatz baroque houses and base wall built in the 10th century. We were impressed with the Green Citadel. It is the last house designed by the Austrian Hundertwasser who also holidayed for many years in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. His style is very colourful with doors and windows decorated with ceramics, garden roofs. The temperatures have shot up and the sun shines all day. Most of the day is cycling on bike paths beside the river or through villages. As usual Brian has risen to the occasion and is finding the cycling a breeze. I’m fighting off a heavy head cold, saddle soreness and wondering what the attractions of BaltiCCycle are. And the terrain is dead flat! Arrived at a Canoe club in Aken, and started to set up camp only to find we were at the wrong site. However met a friendly German couple of canoeists and shared a few beers with them before locating BaltiCCyclists and our tent.

Wednesday A very windy cold night. Reluctantly vacated the tent and fled to the club verandah for shelter and breakfast where it was warm and cosy. Today the distance is only 60km but several places to visit. First stop was the town of Dessau where in 1930s it became famous for the Bashaus-school of Architecture and modern design. The Bauhaus style had a strong influence on design internationally.
Rode along wooded cycle path and eventually arrived at Worlitzer Park a huge area designed after Leopold 111 returned from a trip to England in 1764 and decided to recreate his impressions. Among buildings are a Gothic house, the Temple of Venus, the volcano Vesuv, a synagogue. We crossed a lot of wooden bridges, walked through a Chinese garden, saw tropical plants in huge containers and took row boats across large ponds covered in lily pads.
Brian bought a bottle of a Spanish Reserve Temperanilo 2002 for 2.5 Euro. Enjoyed with dinner so B has organised our driver to buy a dozen tomorrow.

Thursday Wittenburg where we stayed last night is the home of Martin Luther. It was an important regional and cultural centre from the 15th century. Visited the former Augustinian monastery which later became the home of Martin Luther and his family and now houses a museum of his life. We rode out to the Luther Secondary school which has been remodelled by Hundertwasser in his zany colourful style. Noticed 8 cars, 20 motorbikes and hundreds of bicycles outside the school buildings.

Saturday I am sitting in the Dresden Canoe Club on the banks of the Elbe looking cross to a hillside with an old castle and a vineyard coming down the slopes. Today I rode with our driver Eva to try and knock this cold. We had a lovely stop at Meissen where we walked up cobble-stoned streets and lots of staircases to Albrechtsburg, a palace and church built on the hill-side above the town. The walls of many of the rooms were covered in paintings depicting life in Albrecht’s time.

So highlights of the week have been the tail winds which brought us all the way to Grodel just out of Riesa. The radwegs following the Elbe, the comfortable amenities of the canoe clubs, being out in the country-side for much of the time but always having a small village within 5km. The courteous drivers (it must be against the law to toot your horn at a cyclist). Drivers give way all the time. Crossing substantial bridges built exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians.
Tomorrow is a “rest day” and Dresden looks like an amazing place to visit. Bring on the sunshine!
Dresden – Torun Now to remember what’s happened in the past 2 weeks. Hard to believe we have been cycling now for 3 weeks with only 3 rest days. Well I can tell you that the body has been complaining and Brian’s philosophy of no training just doesn’t work for me. Of course true to form he has been taking everything in his stride and doing most of the cooking. I think my last log ended with our hike in the boulder mountains of Sachsishe Schweiz in Germany. We had a hilly climb away from the Elbe river and an enjoyable forest trip for a few hours. Enjoyable because we by chance happened to be with the German guide Joachim who made all the right turns using his GPS. Some of the other cyclists like Bob arrived at camp cursing the forest trails. Camped in a state of the art camp ground where every time you approached a door it opened automatically. We were beside Lake Lesna although we didn’t sight it until we were cycling out in the drizzel next morning. The next day we cycled briefly into Czech Republic, back into East Germany and then into Poland where it was the Feast of Corpus Christi and observed as a holiday. All the Catholic churches very busy and people dressed in their best. The day was cold and showery as it seems to have been for a lot of the first 2 weeks. All was going well with a lunch of Polish perogi to sustain us and numerous chocolate stops. We missed the turn-off to the Youth Hostel and continued on down a 3km hill. Half an hour later we were back in the village of Maciejowka and trying to make ourselves understood in Polish. The pronunciation of town names is quite a feat. Finally found the sign post which was only visible on our return. Arrived wet and a little exasperated to find the Polish cyclists and a few local people were preparing a sumptious meal for us. Most of Poland has been cycling through rolling country-side, wheat fields, lots of wild poppies for miles, a lot of lakes and every 5km or so a small village. Each village has a large church or two or occasionally even more. The upkeep of these churches must be huge. Then again there has been the large scale restoration of churches and castles built 12th-14th century bombed badly during WW2. On Saturday over a week ago we were invited by Jan & his son Mikael, fellow cyclists to an annual celebration at their town in Gora. There they served us lunch with a beer and then invited us on to the stage where Sigitas told the crowd about the BaltiCCycle trips to promote peace and fitness. We have had a variety of accommodation from camping in school grounds, at a horse stud where the bathroom had a decidedly horsey smell, on a farm where the owner lit a bonfire and we cooked sausages, inside an aero club and last night camped beside the famous Malbork castle with a view of the Wisla river. We had a lovely stay in Torun situated on the Wisla river the biggest town from the Middle Ages still standing in Europe. Our accommodation was inside an old fort. It had all been renovated as a hotel but we got an upgrade as the first room we were shown had no windows and felt like a prison cell. Our rest day was taken up with a guided tour of the town and in the evening dinner at the fort sponsored by the Lithuanian Consul to Torun. Beer, Polish liquere in abundance. Yesterday after 112km we hit camp, pitched the tent and 30mins later started a 2 hour guided tour of the Malbork castle. It is the largest brick castle in Europe and heavily bombed during WW2. Mostly restored but the cathedral remains untouched and has only recently been opened. All built in XIIth century during Teutonic reign in Poland. Forgot to mention our interview by a Polish Cycle Tour magazine. The itinerary has been somewhat hectic with the distances growing and so much sight-seeing and so much beer to drink. Particularly memorable are the long forest rides where one hardly sees a car and the cycle paths which are through all towns and along long stretches of busy highways.

DRESDEN – TORUN
Now to remember what’s happened in the past 2 weeks. Hard to believe we have been cycling now for 3 weeks with only 3 rest days. Well I can tell you that the body has been complaining and Brian’s philosophy of no training just doesn’t work for me. Of course true to form he has been taking everything in his stride and doing most of the cooking.

I think my last log ended with our hike in the boulder mountains of Sachsishe Schweiz in Germany. We had a hilly climb away from the Elbe river and an enjoyable forest trip for a few hours. Enjoyable because we by chance happened to be with the German guide Joachim who made all the right turns using his GPS. Some of the other cyclists like Bob arrived at camp cursing the forest trails. Camped in a state of the art camp ground where every time you approached a door it opened automatically. We were beside Lake Lesna although we didn’t sight it until we were cycling out in the drizzel next morning.

The next day we cycled briefly into Czech Republic, back into East Germany and then into Poland where it was the Feast of Corpus Christi and observed as a holiday. All the Catholic churches very busy and people dressed in their best. The day was cold and showery as it seems to have been for a lot of the first 2 weeks. All was going well with a lunch of Polish perogi to sustain us and numerous chocolate stops. We missed the turn-off to the Youth Hostel and continued on down a 3km hill. Half an hour later we were back in the village of Maciejowka and trying to make ourselves understood in Polish. The pronunciation of town names is quite a feat. Finally found the sign post which was only visible on our return. Arrived wet and a little exasperated to find the Polish cyclists and a few local people were preparing a sumptious meal for us.

Most of Poland has been cycling through rolling country-side, wheat fields, lots of wild poppies for miles, a lot of lakes and every 5km or so a small village. Each village has a large church or two or occasionally even more. The upkeep of these churches must be huge. Then again there has been the large scale restoration of churches and castles built 12th-14th century bombed badly during WW2.

On Saturday over a week ago we were invited by Jan & his son Mikael, fellow cyclists to an annual celebration at their town in Gora. There they served us lunch with a beer and then invited us on to the stage where Sigitas told the crowd about the BaltiCCycle trips to promote peace and fitness.

We have had a variety of accommodation from camping in school grounds, at a horse stud where the bathroom had a decidedly horsey smell, on a farm where the owner lit a bonfire and we cooked sausages, inside an aero club and last night camped beside the famous Malbork castle with a view of the Wisla river.

We had a lovely stay in Torun situated on the Wisla river the biggest town from the Middle Ages still standing in Europe. Our accommodation was inside an old fort. It had all been renovated as a hotel but we got an upgrade as the first room we were shown had no windows and felt like a prison cell. Our rest day was taken up with a guided tour of the town and in the evening dinner at the fort sponsored by the Lithuanian Consul to Torun. Beer, Polish liquere in abundance.

Yesterday after 112km we hit camp, pitched the tent and 30mins later started a 2 hour guided tour of the Malbork castle. It is the largest brick castle in Europe and heavily bombed during WW2. Mostly restored but the cathedral remains untouched and has only recently been opened. All built in XIIth century during Teutonic reign in Poland.

Forgot to mention our interview by a Polish Cycle Tour magazine. The itinerary has been somewhat hectic with the distances growing and so much sight-seeing and so much beer to drink.

Particularly memorable are the long forest rides where one hardly sees a car and the cycle paths which are through all towns and along long stretches of busy highways.