Elbe Bike Path - Day 6
Dömitz to Wittenberge
Friday is an odd day as we get lost for the first and only time. Basically the Elbe bike signs just give out. We are consulting the Blackberry's satnav function when a German rides up. Being in his own country and holding an expensive map he must know where to go. He is extremely confident and after a chat rides on in the direction which we had already tried (and advised him was no good). A little later he catches us up after having climbed through a bush. We meet the same guy a few times over the next few days and he always rides faster than us but keeps getting lost. We feel very much like the tortoise not the hare.
Very little traffic on the path as we continue in the UNESCO bio-sphere so we see dykes, cattle, sheep, goats, our first pig (except on plates), rivers and birds. The dyke road has poles on it every 100m or so with a cross-piece on the top for the local birds of prey to perch on. They always fly off as we get to them, unfortunately.
Lunch turned out to be a cake and coffee in another empty town, Lentzer. Tourist Information was desperately attentive and told us of all the exciting things to do
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visit the bio-sphere
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look at the church
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marvel at the cake shop and
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look at the brass sculptures.
During our time in the town we only saw two cars. The local square had a number of odd brass sculptures, including 'the shitter' (I guess I don't need to describe that one except it was an old man and no, I took no photo). We ended up doing a long day of 60+km. It started overcast finished in light to medium rain.
We arrived in Wittenberge in the wet,which was a pity as the place looked nice and was very much a holiday destination. We hunted down the usual hidden Tourist Information office and, feeling in need of some luxury, said, 'Book us into best hotel in town' (in German, of course). They sent us to The Old Oil Press, which had only reently opened. B&B cost a very reasonable 78€. This rather posh hotel is part of a concert and dockside redevelopment. But at 8:30pm when we went looking for supper every restaurant was full.
We ended up in a pizza parlor, which wasn't bad and was less meaty than the usual German fare. En route we came across a woman walking 15 customers to eat different courses of their evening meal in different restaurants, which looked like fun. When we walked home at 10pm it was through an empty town in light drizzle.
These signs exist all over the place. There are other minor bike lanes but these are for the secondary bike paths. The major ones get their own logo, a large E for the Elbe route.
If you want to learn more about planning a self-guided bike holiday have a look at MyBikeGuide
And here is the big E.
More advice on self-guided bike tours? MyBikeGuide
