2. day - Hamburg-Geesthacht

Trip: 57,4 km
Average speed: 16,5 km/h
Max. speed: 31,3 km/h
Overal time: 4:24 h

We started our day with another sight-seeing tour in Hamburg. As breakfast had not been included in our accomodation we went first to a cafeteria near the landing docks. We both had coffee and tea and some sandwiches. Actually, the sandwiches were pretty greasy and I was wondering, how I would survive the day. I thought a real biker would better have a somewhat more balance food, less fat more carbohydrates. After the breakfast we went to the harbour where we saw the fish market and the shipyards of Bloom&Voss. Our trip continued to Hamburg's most famous place: Reeperbahn. Many "red-light" bars and clubs on both side of the street. However there were not that many people walking around and the whole quarter appeared to me as kind of lame. I guess that was because it was around ten o'clock in the morning and this is probably not the peak time for such establishments.

We decided to buy a new kickstand for Mette's bike because the old one broke down under the weight of two heavy rear bike packs. Happily the next bike shop was pretty close. On our way there we passed again the inner city with its fashion boutiques and jewelery shops. Compared to yesterday, this Monday morning the streets of Hamburg had been much more busy. The guy at the bike shop seemed to be professional and friendly. It took me a little while to mount the kickstand on the bike, but once the work was finished I was very satisfied with the result. The new kickstand is working much better than the old one. It can hold the complete packed bike.

Right after this we started our trip towards Geesthacht, our today's destination. We cycled from the centre of Hamburg downwards to the river Elbe. After a shortwhile it started to rain. We seeked shelter under a bridge and changed our clothes. We continued our trip wearing rain clothes. Even when the rain and wind became stronger the clothes protected us well from the wet weather. The only downside is that, eventhough most manufacturers are promising this, all these "xxx-tex" are not really breathable. Even if one is protected from outside the jacket and the pants become wet from inside as the membrane prevent sweat from evaporating, or at least there is not enough evaporation. Anyway cycling in the rain was not that hard. I even enjoyed being exposed to the elements.

Our trip continued along the Elbe river banks. After five kilometres the view changed and the landscape switch from a loud and densly populated city to a more quiet and pitoresque country side. Twice we saw sheep cattles on the dyke. We mainly cycled on special bike roads. In Fünfhausen, about 20 kilometres south of Hamburg we took our first break and went to a supermarket to buy some drinks and snacks. Everything you eat and drink outside after doing sports tastes so good!!!

Happily it stopped raining shortly after our break. The sun came out again and we could take off our rainwear. We stopped a couple of times more to watch cow cattles, goats and storks. One of storks was walking along the beach of a little lake and we observed him catching and eating a frog.

Some ten kilometres before Geesthacht we took the wrong way and by mistake left the Elbe cycle road. However, we decided to take an alternative road which also goes to Geesthacht. It has been a good choice as the road led us directly to our hotel.

The hotel that we stay in tonight is really charming. Immediately when we arrived I felt like travelling back 30 years in time. Our host had been welcoming us personally. He and his wife run the "Hotel zur Post". He showed us the way to our room. The house is really big, with high sealings and one can easily see the grace and glory of the good old days. It kind of remains to those days of my childhood where I used to stay at my grandma's house. The hotel has quite the same style than my grandma's house used to be. This is certainly different hotel than all those look-alikes in other cities with their anonymous service. It is a real pleasure to stay in this hotel.

Geesthacht itself has a nice little pedestrian zone. We went there by bike and eat at a Croation restaurant. We also discovered other parts of the 30.000 inhabitants city. I learned that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in Geesthacht. Nowadays the city is famous for its nuclear powerplant. Actually there had been a fire in this power plant and the reactor is currently shutdown.

Tomorrow we will continue our trip from Geesthacht to Bleckede. The weather forecast promised more rain....